Esther 1:15
What does Esther 1:15 mean?
A plain-English look at Esther 1:15 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Esther 1:15 means
The king asks a precise legal question: What should be done to Queen Vashti according to law, because she did not obey the command given by the chamberlains? He frames the issue not merely as personal insult but as a breach requiring legal remedy. This casts the situation as precedent-setting: the response will signal how disobedience to royal edicts—especially by someone of high status—will be handled. The verse shifts the standard from emotion to statute, yet the earlier anger still hovers, likely influencing the counsel he will accept. The court is poised to define order within the household and the empire through its ruling.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000What shall we do unto the queen Vashti according to law, because she hath not done the bidding of the king Ahasuerus by the chamberlains?
KJV
King James Version · 1611What shall we do unto the queen Vashti according to law, because she hath not performed the commandment of the king Ahasuerus by the chamberlains?
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901What shall we do unto the queen Vashti according to law, because she hath not done the bidding of the king Ahasuerus by the chamberlains?
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949What is to be done by law to Vashti the queen, because she has not done what King Ahasuerus, by his servants, gave her orders to do?
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862`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?'
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752What sentence ought to pass upon Vasthi the queen, who had refused to obey the commandment of king Assuerus, which he had sent to her by the eunuchs?
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890What shall be done to the queen Vashti according to law, because she has not performed the word of the king Ahasuerus by the chamberlains?
Context
After naming the advisers, the narrative presents the king’s pivotal question. It clarifies that the matter is not to be settled privately but by appeal to law and judgment. Next, Memucan will answer, widening the problem from Vashti’s personal disobedience to a perceived threat to social order across the provinces. The legal inquiry thus becomes the launchpad for a sweeping policy that aims to guard male authority throughout the realm.
v.14and the next unto him were Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, the seven princes of Persia and Media, who saw the king’s face, and sat first in the kingdom),
v.15This passage
v.16And Memucan answered before the king and the princes, Vashti the queen hath not done wrong to the king only, but also to all the princes, and to all the peoples that are in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Esther 6:6
So Haman came in. And the king said unto him, What shall be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honor? Now Haman said in his heart, To whom would the king delight to do honor more than to myself?