e wise men answered before the king and the princes,
"Vashti the queen hath not done wrong {62} to the king only, but also
to all the princes, and to all the peoples who are in all the
provinces of the king Ahasuerus. For this deed of the queen will come
abroad to all women, to make their husbands contemptible in their
eyes, when it shall be reported, 'The king Ahasuerus commanded Vashti
the queen to be brought in before him, but she came not.' And this day
will the princesses of Persia and Media which have heard of the deed
of the queen say the like unto all the king's princes. So shall there
arise much contempt and wrath. If it please the king, let there go
forth a royal commandment from him, and let it be written among the
laws of the Persians and the Medes, that it be not altered, that
Vashti come no more before King Ahasuerus; and let the king give her
royal estate to another who is better than she.

"And when the king's decree which he shall make shall be published
throughout all his kingdom, all the wives shall give to their husbands
honor, both to great and small."

And the saying pleased the king and the princes; and the king did
according to the word of the wise men: for he sent letters into all
the king's provinces, into every province according to the writing
thereof, and to every people after their language, that every man
should bear rule in his own house, and should publish it according to
the language of his people.

After these things, when the wrath of King Ahasuerus was pacified, he
remembered Vashti and what she had done, and what was decreed against
her. Then said the king's servants that ministered unto him, "Let
there be fair young {63} maidens sought for the king: and let the king
appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, that they may
gather together all the fair young maidens to Shushan the palace, to
the house of the women, unto the custody of Hegai the king's
chamberlain, keeper of the women; and let the maiden which pleaseth
the king be queen instead of Vashti." And the thing pleased the king;
and he did so.

There was a certain Jew in Shushan the palace, whose name was
Mordecai, a Benjamite; who had been carried away from Jerusalem with
the captives which had been carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah,
whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away. And he
brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter: for she
had neither father nor mother, and the