<t /><n id="1" /><p class="bodytext">The following events happened<n id="2" /> in the days of Ahasuerus.<n id="3" /> (I am referring to<n id="4" /> that Ahasuerus who used to rule over a hundred and twenty-seven provinces<n id="5" /> extending all the way from India to Ethiopia.<n id="6" />)

<t /><p class="bodytext">King Ahasuerus then imposed forced labor on the land and on the coastlands of the sea.

<t /><n id="1" /><p class="bodytext">At the beginning of the reign of Ahasuerus<n id="2" /> they filed an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.<n id="3" />

In those days, as King Ahasuerus sat on his royal throne in Susa<n id="1" /> the citadel,<n id="2" />

Queen Vashti<n id="1" /> also gave a banquet for the women in King Ahasuerus&#8217; royal palace.p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">In the first year of Darius<n id="1" /> son of Ahasuerus,<n id="2" /> who was of Median descent and who had been<n id="3" /> appointed king over the Babylonian<n id="4" /> empire &#8211;

The king asked,<n id="1" /> &#8220;By law,<n id="2" /> what should be done to Queen Vashti in light of the fact that she has not obeyed the instructions of King Ahasuerus conveyed through the eunuchs?&#8221;p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">When these things had been accomplished<n id="1" /> and the rage of King Ahasuerus had diminished, he remembered<n id="2" /> Vashti and what she had done and what had been decided<n id="3" /> against her.

Then Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus at his royal residence in the tenth<n id="1" /> month (that is, the month of Tebeth) in the seventh<n id="2" /> year of his reign.

<p class="bodytext">Then King Ahasuerus responded<n id="1" /> to Queen Esther, &#8220;Who is this individual? Where is this person to be found who is presumptuous enough<n id="2" /> to act in this way?&#8221;p>

This was to take place on a certain day throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus &#8211; namely, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month (that is, the month of Adar).

<p class="bodytext">Mordecai wrote these matters down and sent letters to all the Jews who were throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far,

Letters were sent<n id="1" /> to all the Jews in the hundred and twenty-seven provinces of the empire of Ahasuerus &#8211; words of true peace<n id="2" /> &#8211;

Mordecai the Jew was second only to King Ahasuerus. He was the highest-ranking<n id="1" /> Jew, and he was admired by his numerous relatives.<n id="2" /> He worked enthusiastically<n id="3" /> for the good of his people and was an advocate for the welfare of<n id="4" /> all his descendants.<n id="5" />p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">On the seventh day, as King Ahasuerus was feeling the effects of the wine,<n id="1" /> he ordered Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, the seven eunuchs who attended him,<n id="2" />

<p class="bodytext">Memucan then replied to the king and the officials, &#8220;The wrong of Queen Vashti is not against the king alone, but against all the officials and all the people who are throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus.

For the matter concerning the queen will spread to all the women, leading them to treat their husbands with contempt, saying, &#8216;When King Ahasuerus gave orders to bring Queen Vashti into his presence, she would not come.&#8217;

If the king is so inclined,<n id="1" /> let a royal edict go forth from him, and let it be written in the laws of Persia and Media that cannot be repealed,<n id="2" /> that Vashti<n id="3" /> may not come into the presence of King Ahasuerus, and let the king convey her royalty to another<n id="4" /> who is more deserving than she.<n id="5" />

<p class="bodytext">At the end of the twelve months that were required for the women,<n id="1" /> when the turn of each young woman arrived to go to King Ahasuerus &#8211; for in this way they had to fulfill their time of cosmetic treatment: six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with perfume and various ointments used by women &#8211;

<t /><p class="bodytext">Some time later<n id="1" /> King Ahasuerus promoted<n id="2" /> Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, exalting him and setting his position<n id="3" /> above that of all the officials who were with him.