The first Chapter.
3 King Ahasuerus maketh a royall feast. 10 Wherevnto the queene Vasthi will not come. 19 For which cause she is diuorced. 20 The kinges decree touching the preeminence of man.
[unspec A] 1 IT came to passe that in the dayes of Ahasuerus, (this is Ahasue∣rus whiche raig∣ned from India vnto Ethiopia, ouer an hundred and twentie and seuen prouinces)
2 Euen in those dayes when the king A∣hasuerus sate on his seate royall, which was in Susan the chiefe citie:
3 In the third yere of his raigne, he made a feast vnto all his princes & seruauntes: and the mightie men of Persia and Me∣dia, the captaynes also and rulers of his countreys were before hym.
4 And he shewed the richesse and glorie of his kingdome, and the glorious wor∣ship of his greatnesse many dayes long, [euen] an hundred and fourescore dayes.
5 And when these dayes were expired, the king made a feast vnto al the people that were in Susan the chiefe citie, both vn∣to great & small, seuen dayes long, in the court of the garden by the kinges pa∣lace.
6 Where there hanged white, greene, and “ 1.1yelowe clothes, fastened with cordes of fine silke and purple, in siluer ringes, vpon pillers of marble stones: The “ 1.2benches also were of golde and siluer made vpon a pauement of * 1.3 greene, white, yelowe, and blacke marble.
7 And they dranke in vessels of gold, and [unspec B] chaunged vessel after vessel, and royal wine in aboundaunce, according to the power of the king.
8 And the drinking was by an order, none might compell: for so the king had ap∣poynted to all the officers of his house, that they shoulde do according to euery mans pleasure.
9 And the queene Vasthi made a feast al∣so for the women in the palace of Aha∣suerus.
10 And on the seuenth day when the king was mery after the wine, he commaun∣ded Nehuma, Biztha, Harbona, Big∣tha, Abagthan, Zethar, and Charchas, the seuen chamberlayns that did seruice in the presence of king Ahasuerus,
11 To fetch the queene Vasthi with the crowne regall into the kinges presence, that he might shewe the people & princes her fairenesse: for she was beautifull.
12 But the queene Vasthi would not come at the kinges worde by his chamber∣laynes: Then was the king very wroth, and his indignation kindled in hym.
13 And the king spake to the wyse men which knewe the times (for so was the kinges maner towardes all that knewe the lawe and the iudgementes:
14 And the next vnto hym were, Carse∣na, [unspec C] Sethar, Admata, Thersis, Mares, Marsena, and Memuchan, the seuen princes of Persia and Media, whiche sawe the kinges face, and sate the first in the kingdome.)
15 What, shall we do vnto the queene Va∣sthi according to the lawe, because she dyd not according to the worde of the king Ahasuerus whiche he commaun∣ded by his chamberlaynes?
16 And Memuchan aunswered before the king & the princes: The queene Vasthi hath not onely done euyll against the king, but also against all the princes, and against all the people that are in all the prouinces of king Ahasuerus.
17 For this deede of the queene shall come abrode vnto all women, so that they shall despise their husbandes before their eyes, and shall say: The king Ahasuerus commaunded Vasthi the queene to be brought in before hym, but she woulde not come.