But the queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s commandment by the eunuchs. Therefore the king was very angry, and his anger burned in him.
Parallel translations
- KJV But the queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s commandment by his chamberlains: therefore was the king very wroth, and his anger burned in him.
- BSB Queen Vashti, however, refused to come at the king’s command brought by his eunuchs. And the king became furious, and his anger burned within him.
- NKJV But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s command brought by his eunuchs; therefore the king was furious, and his anger burned within him.
- NASB But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s order delivered by the eunuchs. So the king became very angry, and his wrath burned within him.
- NLT But when they conveyed the king’s order to Queen Vashti, she refused to come. This made the king furious, and he burned with anger.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Vashti refuses to come, and the king is enraged. Her defiance ignites a crisis that reshapes the throne.
Overview
The text does not explain Vashti's motive, and faithful readers differ on whether her refusal was noble self-respect or an act of disobedience; the narrator simply records it and the king's fury. Her refusal, and the king's anger, become the providential means by which the throne is opened for Esther. What looks like mere palace drama is the first turn in God's hidden plan to preserve His people.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Prov 19:12The king’s wrath is like the roaring of a lion, but his favor is like dew on the grass.
- Prov 20:2The terror of a king is like the roaring of a lion. He who provokes him to anger forfeits his own life.
- 1 Pet 3:1In the same way, wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; so that, even if any don’t obey the Word, they may be won by the behavior of their wives without a word;
- Nah 1:6Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the fierceness of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken apart by him.
- Exod 32:22Aaron said, “Don’t let the anger of my lord grow hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil.
- Ps 74:1A contemplation by Asaph. God, why have you rejected us forever? Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture?
- Deut 29:20Yahweh will not pardon him, but then Yahweh’s anger and his jealousy will smoke against that man, and all the curse that is written in this book will fall on him, and Yahweh will blot out his name from under the sky.
- Eph 5:24But as the assembly is subject to Christ, so let the wives also be to their own husbands in everything.
- Gen 3:16To the woman he said, “I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth. In pain you will bear children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”
- Exod 32:19As soon as he came near to the camp, he saw the calf and the dancing. Then Moses’ anger grew hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands, and broke them beneath the mountain.
- Dan 3:13Then Nebuchadnezzar in rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Then they brought these men before the king.
- Eph 5:22Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
- Dan 2:12For this cause the king was angry and very furious, and commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon.
- Ps 79:5How long, Yahweh? Will you be angry forever? Will your jealousy burn like fire?
- Rev 6:16–17They told the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb,
- Dan 3:19Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his appearance was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He spoke, and commanded that they should heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated.
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Christ at the center
Though God is never named, his hidden hand preserves the people from whom the Messiah will come — a deliverance 'for such a time as this' that anticipates the open deliverance of Christ.
How Esther 1:12 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.