Vashti Is Removed From Her Position as Queen
1King Xerxes ruled over the 127 territories in his kingdom. They reached from India all the way to Cush. Here is what happened during the time Xerxes ruled over the whole Persian kingdom. 2He was ruling from his royal throne in the fort of Susa. 3In the third year of his rule King Xerxes gave a feast. It was for all his nobles and officials. The military leaders of Persia and Media were there. So were the princes and the nobles of the territories he ruled over.
4Every day for 180 days he showed his guests the great wealth of his kingdom. He also showed them how glorious his kingdom was. 5When those days were over, the king gave another feast. It lasted for seven days. It was held in the garden of the king’s courtyard. It was for all the people who lived in the fort of Susa. Everyone from the least important person to the most important was invited. 6The garden was decorated with white and blue linen banners. They hung from ropes that were made out of white linen and purple cloth. The ropes were connected to silver rings on marble pillars. There were gold and silver couches in the garden. They were placed on a floor that was made out of small stones. The floor had purple crystal, marble, mother-of-pearl and other stones of great value. 7Royal wine was served in gold cups. Each cup was different from all the others. There was plenty of wine. The king always provided as much as his guests wanted. 8He commanded that they should be allowed to drink as much or as little as they wished. He directed all his servants to give his guests what they asked for.
9Queen Vashti also gave a feast. Only women were invited. It was held in the royal palace of King Xerxes.
10On the seventh day Xerxes was in a good mood because he had drunk a lot of wine. So he gave a command to the seven officials who served him. They were Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar and Karkas. 11King Xerxes told them to bring Queen Vashti to him. He wanted her to come wearing her royal crown. He wanted to show off her beauty to the people and nobles. She was lovely to look at. 12The attendants told Queen Vashti what the king had ordered her to do. But she refused to come. So the king became very angry.
13It was the king’s practice to ask for advice about matters of law and fairness. So he spoke with the wise men who understood what was going on at that time. 14They were the men closest to the king. Their names were Karshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena and Memukan. They were the seven nobles of Persia and Media. They were the king’s special advisers and the most important men in the kingdom.
15“You know the law,” the king said. “What should I do to Queen Vashti? She hasn’t obeyed my command. The officials told her what I ordered her to do, didn’t they?”
16Then Memukan gave a reply to the king and the nobles. He said, “Queen Vashti has done what is wrong. But she didn’t do it only against you, King Xerxes. She did it also against all the nobles. And she did it against the people in all the territories you rule over. 17All the women will hear about what the queen has done. Then they won’t respect their husbands. They’ll say, ‘King Xerxes commanded Queen Vashti to be brought to him. But she wouldn’t come.’ 18Here is what will start today. The leading women in Persia and Media who have heard about the queen’s actions will act in the same way. They’ll disobey all your nobles, just as she disobeyed you. They won’t have any respect for their husbands. They won’t honor them.
19“So if it pleases you, send out a royal order. Let it be written down in the laws of Persia and Media. Those laws can never be changed. Let the royal order say that Vashti can never see you again. Also let her position as queen be given to someone who is better than she is. 20And let your order be announced all through your entire kingdom. Then all women will have respect for their husbands, from the least important to the most important.”
21The king and his nobles were pleased with that advice. So he did what Memukan had suggested. 22The king sent messages out to every territory in the kingdom. He sent them to each territory in its own writing. He sent them to every nation in its own language. The messages announced that every man should rule over his own family, using his own language.
ንግሥት አስጢን ከክብሯ ወረደች
1ከህንድ ጀምሮ እስከ ኢትዮጵያ ድረስ ያሉትን አንድ መቶ ሃያ ሰባት አገሮች ይገዛ በነበረው በጠረክሲስ ዘመነ መንግሥት እንዲህ ሆነ፤ 2በዚያን ዘመን ንጉሡ ጠረክሲስ የገዛው በሱሳ ግንብ ባለው ንጉሣዊ ዙፋኑ ሆኖ ነበር። 3እርሱም በነገሠ በሦስተኛው ዓመት ለመኳንንቱና ለሹማምቱ ሁሉ ታላቅ ግብዣ አደረገ። በግብዣውም የፋርስና የሜዶን የጦር አዛዦች፣ መሳፍንትና የየአውራጃው መኳንንት ተገኝተው ነበር።
4ለእነርሱም የመንግሥቱን ሰፊ ሀብት፣ የግርማውን ታላቅነትና ክብር አንድ መቶ ሰማንያ ቀን ሙሉ አሳያቸው። 5እነዚህ ቀናት ካለፉ በኋላ፣ ንጉሡ በሱሳ ግንብ ለነበሩት፣ ከትንሽ እስከ ትልቅ ላለው ሕዝብ ሁሉ፣ በቤተ መንግሥቱ ውስጥ ዙሪያውን በአትክልት በተከበበው አደባባይ ሰባት ቀን የፈጀ ግብዣ አደረገ። 6አደባባዩም ከነጭና ከሰማያዊ በፍታ የተሠሩ መጋረጃዎች ነበሩት፤ እነርሱም የብር ቀለበት በተበጀላቸው፣ ከነጭ በፍታና ከሐምራዊ ቀለም በተሠሩ ገመዶች በዕብነ በረዱ ምሰሶዎች ላይ ተንጠልጥለው ነበር። ነጭና ቀይ ቀለማት ተሰበጣጥረው በተነጠፉበት ወለል ላይ የወርቅና የብር ድንክ ዐልጋዎች ነበሩ፤ እነርሱም ከዕብነ በረድ፣ ቀስተ ደመና ከሚመስሉ ቀለሞችና ከሌሎች የከበሩ ድንጋዮች የተሠሩ ነበሩ። 7የወይን ጠጁም አንዱ ከሌላው ልዩ በሆነ የወርቅ ዋንጫ ይቀርብ ነበር፤ ከንጉሡም ልግስና የተነሣ የቤተ መንግሥቱ የወይን ጠጅ የተትረፈረፈ ነበር። 8ንጉሡ ለእያንዳንዱ ሰው የሚፈልገውን ያህል እንዲያቀርቡለት የወይን ጠጅ አሳላፊዎቹን ሁሉ አዝዞ ስለ ነበረ፣ በንጉሡ ትእዛዝ መሠረት እያንዳንዱ ተስተናጋጅ እንዲጠጣ ተፈቅዶለት ነበር።
9ንግሥት አስጢንም በንጉሥ ጠረክሲስ ቤተ መንግሥት እንደዚሁ ለሴቶች ግብዣ አድርጋ ነበር።
10በሰባተኛው ቀን ንጉሥ ጠረክሲስ ከወይን ጠጁ የተነሣ ደስ ስለ ተሰኘ፣ አገልጋዮቹ የሆኑትን ሰባቱን ጃንደረቦች ምሁማንን፣ ባዛንን፣ ሐርቦናን፣ ገበታን፣ ዘቶልያንን፣ ዜታርንና ከርከስን እንዲህ ብሎ አዘዛቸው፤ 11ይኸውም ንግሥት አስጢን የደስ ደስ ያላት ነበረችና ውበቷ ለሕዝቡና ለመኳንንቱ እንዲታይ ዘውዷን ጭና ንጉሡ ፊት እንዲያመጧት ነበር። 12አገልጋዮቹ የንጉሡን ትእዛዝ በነገሯት ጊዜ ግን፣ ንግሥት አስጢን መሄድ አልፈለገችም። ከዚያም ንጉሡ በጣም ተቈጣ፤ እጅግም ተናደደ።
13ሕግንና ፍትሕን በተመለከተ የሊቃውንቱን ምክር መጠየቅ በንጉሥ ዘንድ የተለመደ ነበርና፣ ስለ ዘመናት ሁኔታ ዕውቀት ካላቸው ጠቢባን ጋር ተነጋገረበት፤ 14እነዚህ አርቄስዮስ፣ ሼታር፣ አድማታ፣ ተርሺሽ፣ ሜሬስ፣ ማሌሴዓር፣ ምሙካ የተባሉ ሰባቱ የፋርስና የሜዶን መኳንንት በንጉሡ ዘንድ የተለየ ስፍራና በመንግሥቱም አመራር ውስጥ ከፍተኛ ቦታ ያላቸው ነበሩ።
15ንጉሡም፣ “በጃንደረቦቹ በኩል የተላከባትን የንጉሥ ጠረክሲስን ትእዛዝ ስላልፈጸመች፣ በሕጉ መሠረት በንግሥት አስጢን ላይ ምን መደረግ አለበት?” ሲል ጠየቃቸው።
16ከዚያም ምሙካ በንጉሡና በመኳንንቱ ፊት እንዲህ ሲል መለሰ፤ “ንግሥት አስጢን የበደለችው ንጉሡን ብቻ ሳይሆን፣ መኳንንቱን ሁሉና በመላው የንጉሥ ጠረክሲስ አውራጃዎች የሚኖሩትን ሕዝቦች ጭምር ነው። 17ይህ የንግሥቲቱ አድራጎት በሌሎቹ ሁሉ ዘንድ ስለሚሰማ፣ ባሎቻቸውን ይንቃሉ፤ ‘ንጉሥ ጠረክሲስ ንግሥት አስጢን ወደ እርሱ እንድትመጣ ቢያዛትም፣ እርሷ ግን መሄድ አልፈለገችም’ ይላሉ። 18በዚህች በዛሬዪቱም ዕለት የንግሥቲቱን አድራጎት የሰሙ የፋርስና የሜዶን መኳንንት ሚስቶች፣ ለንጉሡ መኳንንት ሁሉ በዚሁ ዐይነት ሊመልሱ ነው፤ እንዲህ ከሆነ ደግሞ ማብቂያ የሌለው ንቀትና ጠብ ይፈጠራል።
19“ስለዚህ ነገሩ ንጉሡን ደስ የሚያሰኘው ከሆነ፣ አስጢን ወደ ንጉሡ ወደ ጠረክሲስ ዘንድ ከእንግዲህ ወዲህ ፈጽሞ እንዳትገባ ንጉሣዊ ዐዋጅ ይውጣ፤ ይህም የማይሻር ሆኖ በፋርስና በሜዶን ሕጎች ይጻፍ፤ እንዲሁም ንጉሡ የእቴጌነቷን ክብር ከእርሷ ለምትሻል ለሌላዪቱ ይስጥ። 20ከዚያም የንጉሡ ዐዋጅ በሰፊው ግዛቱ ሁሉ ሲነገር፣ ከትንሽ እስከ ትልቅ ያሉት ሴቶች ሁሉ ባሎቻቸውን ያከብራሉ።”
21ንጉሡና መኳንንቱ ሁሉ በዚህ ምክር ተደሰቱ፤ ንጉሡም ምሙካ ያቀረበውን ሐሳብ በሥራ ላይ አዋለው። 22እያንዳንዱ ሰው በራሱ ቤተ ሰብ ላይ ገዥ እንዲሆን መልእክት አስተላለፈ፤ መልእክቱም ለየአውራጃዎቹ በየራሳቸው ጽሑፍና ለእያንዳንዱ ሕዝብ በየራሱ ቋንቋ ተጽፎ በግዛቱ ሁሉ ተበተነ።
