9 Also Vashti the queen made a banquet for the women in the palace where King Ahashverosh lived. 10 Now on the seventh day, the king, being merry, told Haman, Bazan, Teresh, Baraze, Zatholtha, Abataza, and Tharaba, the seven chamberlains, servants of King Ahashverosh, 11 to bring in the queen to him, to[fn] enthrone her, and crown her with the diadem, and to show her to the princes, and her beauty to the nations, for she was beautiful. 12 But queen Vashti refused to come with the chamberlains; so the king was grieved and angered. 13 And he said to his friends, “This is what Vashti said. Therefore pronounce your legal judgement on this case.”

14 So Arkesaeus, Sarsathaeus, and Malisear, the princes of the Persians and Madim (Medes), who were near the king, who sat chief in rank by the king, drew near to him, 15 and reported to him according to the laws what it was proper to do to queen Vashti, because she hadn’t done the things commanded by the king through the chamberlains. 16 And Memukan said to the king and to the princes, “Queen Vashti hasn’t wronged the king only, but also all the king’s rulers and princes; 17 for he’s told them the queen’s words, and how she[fn] disobeyed the king. As she then refused to obey King Ahashverosh, 18 so this day the other wives of the chiefs of the Persians and Madim, having heard what she said to the king, will dare in the same way to dishonour their husbands. 19 If then it seems good to the king, let him make a royal decree, and let it be written according to the laws of the Madim and Persians, and let him not alter it: ‘Don’t allow the queen to come in to him any more. Let the king give her royalty to a woman better than she.’ 20 Let the king’s law which he’ll have made be widely proclaimed in his kingdom. Then all the women will give honour to their husbands, from the poor even to the rich.” 21 This advice pleased the king and the princes; and the king did as Memukan had said, 22 and sent into all his kingdom through the several provinces, according to their language, so that men might be feared in their own houses.