Bible Strands
Esther 1:16
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.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Memucan addresses King Xerxes and his assembled princes, responding directly to the monarch’s inquiry about the legal penalty for Queen Vashti’s refusal to appear.
The words — מְמוּכָ֗ן (Memucan) = Memucan; לֹ֤א (lo') = not. The Hebrew construction explicitly negates the boundary of the offense, marking it as extending beyond the monarch to the entire provincial population.
The thread — The pattern of addressing legal proceedings and the nature of wrongdoing before authority runs through Acts 18:14, Acts 25:10, and 1 Corinthians 6:7.
Why it lands — The text states that a queen’s private refusal is immediately classified as a public crisis threatening provincial order, demanding readers recognize how royal decrees frame personal disobedience as systemic insubordination.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Acts 18:14 But just as Paul was about to speak, Gallio told the Jews, “If this matter involved a wrongdoing or vicious crime, O Jews, it would be reasonable for me to hear your complaint.
- Acts 25:10 Paul replied, “I am standing before the judgment seat of Caesar, where I ought to be tried. I have done nothing wrong to the Jews, as you yourself know very well.
- 1 Corinthians 6:7 The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means that you are thoroughly defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated?