Vashti

Vashti is a woman living at the time of the exile and return. She is named in 10 verses of the Bible, first in Esther 1:9.

Family

Verses

Esther

• Esther 1:9
  Also Vashti the queen made a feast for the women in the royal house which belonged to king Ahasuerus.Queen Vashti also gave a banquet for the women in the royal palace of King Xerxes.
• Esther 1:11
  To bring Vashti the queen before the king with the crown royal, to shew the people and the princes her beauty: for she was fair to look on.to bring Queen Vashti before him, wearing her royal crown, to display her beauty to the people and officials. For she was beautiful to behold.
• Esther 1:12
  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.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.
• Esther 1:15
  What shall we do unto the queen Vashti according to law, because she hath not performed the commandment of the king Ahasuerus by the chamberlains?“According to law,” he asked, “what should be done with Queen Vashti, since she refused to obey the command of King Xerxes delivered by the eunuchs?”
• Esther 1:16
  And 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 people that are in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus.And in the presence of the king and his princes, Memucan replied, “Queen Vashti has wronged not only the king, but all the princes and the peoples in all the provinces of King Xerxes.
• Esther 1:17
  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.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.’
• Esther 1:19
  If it please the king, let there go a royal commandment from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes, that it be not altered, That Vashti come no more before king Ahasuerus; and let the king give her royal estate unto another that is better than she.So if it pleases the king, let him issue a royal decree, and let it be recorded in the laws of Persia and Media so that it cannot be repealed, that Vashti shall never again enter the presence of King Xerxes, and that her royal position shall be given to a woman better than she.
• Esther 2:1
  After these things, when the wrath of king Ahasuerus was appeased, he remembered Vashti, and what she had done, and what was decreed against her.Some time later, when the anger of King Xerxes had subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she had done, and what had been decreed against her.
• Esther 2:4
  And let the maiden which pleaseth the king be queen instead of Vashti. And the thing pleased the king; and he did so.Then let the young woman who pleases the king become queen in place of Vashti.” This suggestion pleased the king, and he acted accordingly.
• Esther 2:17
  And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favour in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti.And the king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she found grace and favor in his sight more than all of the other virgins. So he placed the royal crown upon her head and made her queen in place of Vashti.

Notes

1. Names, family links and verses from STEPBible's Translators Individualised Proper Names (TIPNR), STEPBible.org (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0.
2. Where several people share a name, which verses belong to which person, and the family links, follow STEPBible's identifications; some are uncertain and are marked so.