The King’s Banquet

1 These events happened in the days of King Xerxes,^[a] who reigned over 127 provinces stretching from India to Ethiopia.^[b]

Daniel’s Prayer for His People

9 It was the first year of the reign of Darius the Mede, the son of Ahasuerus, who became king of the Babylonians.^[a]

⁹ So on June 25^[a] the king’s secretaries were summoned, and a decree was written exactly as Mordecai dictated. It was sent to the Jews and to the highest officers, the governors, and the nobles of all the 127 provinces stretching from India to Ethiopia.^[b] The decree was written in the scripts and languages of all the peoples of the empire, including that of the Jews.

Daniel in the Lions’ Den

6 ^[a]Darius the Mede decided to divide the kingdom into 120 provinces, and he appointed a high officer to rule over each province.

³⁰ Letters wishing peace and security were sent to the Jews throughout the 127 provinces of the empire of Xerxes.

Later Opposition under Xerxes and Artaxerxes

⁶ Years later when Xerxes^[a] began his reign, the enemies of Judah wrote a letter of accusation against the people of Judah and Jerusalem.

⁹ Soon afterward King Sennacherib received word that King Tirhakah of Ethiopia^[a] was leading an army to fight against him. Before leaving to meet the attack, he sent messengers back to Hezekiah in Jerusalem with this message:

A Message about Ethiopia