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Esther 1:17

in Esther 1

For the conduct of the queen will become known to all women, causing them to despise their husbands and say, ‘King Xerxes ordered Queen Vashti to be brought before him, but she did not come.’

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

For this deed of the queen will come abroad unto 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.

KJV

For this deed of the queen shall come abroad unto all women, so that they shall despise their husbands 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.

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This verse in Esther 1

Commentary

8 notes on this verse

A commentator

Rabanus Maurus

EXPLANATION ON THE BOOK OF ESTHER 2 · Written before 856.

The advice which King Ahasuerus asks of his seven sages who were, according to royal custom always by his side, concerning the insolent Vashti—as well as the sentence he orders them to pass concerning her—undoubtedly signifies the sentence our Savior passes against the arrogance of …

This site's exposition

Queen Vashti has wronged

on Esther 1:16-18

Memucan widens one refusal into a wrong against the whole empire. He says Vashti has wronged "all the princes and the peoples in all the provinces," because her conduct "will become known to all women". The noble women, he warns, "will say the same thing to all the king’s officials".

This site's exposition

For the conduct of the queen

Memucan puts the king's own words into every wife's mouth. Clarke called the reasoning false, for Vashti had refused in one matter and could be no precedent for the women of Persia. In his reading the counsellors agreed out of drunkenness or a wish to reduce the women to vassalage.

The record, by era

The Medieval Church1 voice

A commentator

Rabanus Maurus

Commentary on Esther · Written before 856.

proposed

But let us hear what Scripture has to say about the stubbornness of Vashti, that most foolish of queens: "So the king was angered, and enflamed by his excessive rage he questioned his wise men, who were always at his side according to royal custom; …

The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

8 And the drinking was according to the law; none did compel: for so the king had appointed to all the officers of his house, that they should do according to every man's pleasure. 9 Also Vashti the queen made a feast for the women in the royal house which belonged to king Ahasuerus. Which of the kings of Persia this Ahasuerus was the learned are not agreed.

quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — scripture-overlap:88%@v8-10

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

proposed

How does this Heathen prince shame many, that are called Christians, who think they do not make their friends welcome, unless they make them drunk, and under pretense of sending the health round, send the sin round, and death with it! Women - While the king entertained the men. For this was the common custom of the Persians, that men and women did not feast together.
For this deed of the queen shall come abroad unto all women,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

The combined wisdom of all, it seems, was enlisted to consult with the king what course should be taken after so unprecedented an occurrence as Vashti's disobedience of the royal summons. It is scarcely possible for us to imagine the astonishment produced by such a refusal in a country and a court where the will of the sovereign was absolute.

The words behind it

21 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • כִּֽי־for

    ki-H3588 →4482 times

  • יֵצֵ֤אit will go forth

    yetze'H3318 →1067 times

  • דְבַר־[the] matter of

    devar-H1697 →1440 times

  • הַמַּלְכָּה֙the queen

    hamalkahH4436 →35 times

  • עַל־to

    ʾal-H5921 →5755 times

  • כָּל־all

    kol-H3605 →5413 times

  • הַנָּשִׁ֔יםthe women

    hanashimH802 →781 times

  • לְהַבְז֥וֹתto make despicable

    lehavzotH959 →

  • בַּעְלֵיהֶ֖ןhusbands their

    ba'leihenH1167 →

  • בְּעֵינֵיהֶ֑ןin view their

    beeineihenH5869 →887 times

  • בְּאָמְרָ֗םbecause will say they

    beameramH559 →5305 times

  • הַמֶּ֣לֶךְthe king

    hamelekhH4428 →2525 times

  • אֲחַשְׁוֵר֡וֹשׁAhasuerus

    ʾachashverooshH325 →31 times

  • אָמַ֞רhe said

    ʾamarH559 →5305 times

  • לְהָבִ֨יאto bring

    lehavi'H935 →2568 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • וַשְׁתִּ֧יVashti

    vashtiH2060 →10 times

  • הַמַּלְכָּ֛הthe queen

    hamalkahH4436 →35 times

  • לְפָנָ֖יו<to> before him

    lefanavH6440 →2123 times

  • וְלֹא־and not

    velo'-H3808 →5168 times

  • בָֽאָה׃she came

    vaahH935 →2568 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

2 in all, six open

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Ephesians 5:33

    Nevertheless, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

    it leads to

    • 1 Peter 3:2–7

      when they see your pure and reverent demeanor.

    • Esther 1:20

      The edict the king issues will be heard throughout his vast kingdom—and so all women, from the least to the greatest, will honor their husbands.”

    • Ephesians 5:22

      Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.

    • Ephesians 5:25

      Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her

    • Colossians 3:19

      Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.

  • Through

    2 Samuel 6:16

    As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Saul’s daughter Michal looked down from a window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, and she despised him…

    it leads to

    • 1 Corinthians 2:14

      The natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.

    • 1 Chronicles 15:29

      As the ark of the covenant of the LORD was entering the City of David, Saul’s daughter Michal looked down from a window and saw King David dancing and celebrating, and she despised him…

    • Acts 2:13

      But others mocked them and said, “They are drunk on new wine!”

Where this verse is studied

About Esther

Queen Vashti Refuses to Obey Ahasuerus' Command — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Queen Vashti Refuses to Obey Ahasuerus' Command — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Esther: the study guide →Read Esther 1 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Rabanus Maurus, EXPLANATION ON THE BOOK OF ESTHER 2 and Rabanus Maurus, Commentary on Esther.

Read on in Esther 1 →