¹⁷ For the queen’s conduct will become known to all the women, and so they will despise their husbands and say, ‘King Xerxes commanded Queen Vashti to be brought before him, but she would not come.’ ¹⁸ This very day the Persian and Median women of the nobility who have heard about the queen’s conduct will respond to all the king’s nobles in the same way. There will be no end of disrespect and discord.^(A)

¹⁹ “Therefore, if it pleases the king,^(B) let him issue a royal decree and let it be written in the laws of Persia and Media, which cannot be repealed,^(C) that Vashti is never again to enter the presence of King Xerxes. Also let the king give her royal position to someone else who is better than she.