以斯帖記 1
1 亞哈隨魯作王，從印度直到古實，統管一百二十七省。
And it cometh to pass, in the days of Ahasuerus — he [is] Ahasuerus who is reigning from Hodu even unto Cush, seven and twenty and a hundred provinces —
2 亞哈隨魯王在書珊城的宮登基；
in those days, at the sitting of the king Ahasuerus on the throne of his kingdom, that [is] in Shushan the palace,
3 在位第三年，為他一切首領臣僕設擺筵席，有波斯和米底亞的權貴，就是各省的貴冑與首領，在他面前。
in the third year of his reign, he hath made a banquet to all his heads and his servants; of the force of Persia and Media, the chiefs and heads of the provinces [are] before him,
4 他把他榮耀之國的豐富和他美好威嚴的尊貴給他們看了許多日，就是一百八十日。
in his shewing the wealth of the honour of his kingdom, and the glory of the beauty of his greatness, many days — eighty and a hundred days.
5 這日子滿了，又為所有住書珊城的大小人民在御園的院子裏設擺筵席七日。
And at the fulness of these days hath the king made to all the people who are found in Shushan the palace, from great even unto small, a banquet, seven days, in the court of the garden of the house of the king —
6 有白色、綠色、藍色的帳子，用細麻繩、紫色繩從銀環內繫在白玉石柱上；有金銀的床榻擺在紅、白、黃、黑玉石的鋪石地上。
white linen, white cotton, and blue, fastened with cords of fine linen and purple on rings of silver, and pillars of marble, couches of gold, and of silver, on a pavement of smaragdus, and white marble, and mother-of-pearl, and black marble —
7 用金器皿賜酒，器皿各有不同。御酒甚多，足顯王的厚意。
and the giving of drink in vessels of gold, and the vessels [are] divers vessels, and the royal wine [is] abundant, as a memorial of the king.
8 喝酒有例，不准勉強人，因王吩咐宮裏的一切臣宰，讓人各隨己意。
And the drinking [is] according to law, none is pressing, for so hath the king appointed for every chief one of his house, to do according to the pleasure of man and man.
9 王后瓦實提在亞哈隨魯王的宮內也為婦女設擺筵席。
Also Vashti the queen hath made a banquet for women, in the royal house that the king Ahasuerus hath.
10 第七日，亞哈隨魯王飲酒，心中快樂，就吩咐在他面前侍立的七個太監米戶幔、比斯他、哈波拿、比革他、亞拔他、西達、甲迦，
On the seventh day, as the heart of the king is glad with wine, he hath said to Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, and Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, the seven eunuchs who are ministering in the presence of the king Ahasuerus,
11 請王后瓦實提頭戴王后的冠冕到王面前，使各等臣民看她的美貌，因為她容貌甚美。
to bring in Vashti the queen before the king, with a royal crown, to shew the peoples and the heads her beauty, for she [is] of good appearance,
12 王后瓦實提卻不肯遵太監所傳的王命而來，所以王甚發怒，心如火燒。
and the queen Vashti refuseth to come in at the word of the king that [is] by the hand of the eunuchs, and the king is very wroth, and his fury hath burned in him.
13 那時，在王左右常見王面、國中坐高位的，有波斯和米底亞的七個大臣，就是甲示拿、示達、押瑪他、他施斯、米力、瑪西拿、米母干，都是達時務的明哲人。按王的常規，辦事必先詢問知例明法的人。王問他們說：
And the king saith to wise men, knowing the times — for so [is] the word of the king before all knowing law and judgment,
and he who is near unto him [is] Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, Memucan, seven heads of Persia and Media seeing the face of the king, who are sitting first in the kingdom —
15 「王后瓦實提不遵太監所傳的王命，照例應當怎樣辦理呢？」
'According to law, what — to do with queen Vashti, because that she hath not done the saying of the king Ahasuerus by the hand of the eunuchs?'
16 米母干在王和眾首領面前回答說：「王后瓦實提這事，不但得罪王，並且有害於王各省的臣民；
And Memucan saith before the king and the heads, 'Not against the king by himself hath Vashti the queen done perversely, but against all the heads, and against all the peoples that [are] in all provinces of the king Ahasuerus;
17 因為王后這事必傳到眾婦人的耳中，說：『亞哈隨魯王吩咐王后瓦實提到王面前，她卻不來』，她們就藐視自己的丈夫。
for go forth doth the word of the queen unto all the women, to render their husbands contemptible in their eyes, in their saying, The king Ahasuerus said to bring in Vashti the queen before him, and she did not come;
18 今日波斯和米底亞的眾夫人聽見王后這事，必向王的大臣照樣行；從此必大開藐視和忿怒之端。
yea, this day do princesses of Persia and Media, who have heard the word of the queen, say [so] to all heads of the king, even according to the sufficiency of contempt and wrath.
19 王若以為美，就降旨寫在波斯和米底亞人的例中，永不更改，不准瓦實提再到王面前，將她王后的位分賜給比她還好的人。
'If to the king [it be] good, there goeth forth a royal word from before him, and it is written with the laws of Persia and Media, and doth not pass away, that Vashti doth not come in before the king Ahasuerus, and her royalty doth the king give to her companion who [is] better than she;
20 所降的旨意傳遍通國（國度本來廣大），所有的婦人，無論丈夫貴賤都必尊敬他。」
and the sentence of the king that he maketh hath been heard in all his kingdom — for it [is] great — and all the wives give honour to their husbands, from great even unto small.'
21 王和眾首領都以米母干的話為美，王就照這話去行，
And the thing is good in the eyes of the king, and of the princes, and the king doth according to the word of Memucan,
22 發詔書，用各省的文字、各族的方言通知各省，使為丈夫的在家中作主，各說本地的方言。
and sendeth letters unto all provinces of the king, unto province and province according to its writing, and unto people and people according to its tongue, for every man being head in his own house — and speaking according to the language of his people.
