The Greatness of Mordecai

10 King Xerxes imposed tribute throughout the empire, to its distant shores.^(A)

The Birth of Jesus

2 In those days Caesar Augustus^(A) issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.^(B)

¹⁸ Then he will turn his attention to the coastlands^(A) and will take many of them, but a commander will put an end to his insolence and will turn his insolence back on him.^(B)

¹¹ In that day^(A) the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the surviving remnant^(B) of his people from Assyria,^(C) from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt,^(D) from Cush,^[a](E) from Elam,^(F) from Babylonia,^[b] from Hamath^(G) and from the islands^(H) of the Mediterranean.^(I)

⁹ At once the royal secretaries were summoned—on the twenty-third day of the third month, the month of Sivan. They wrote out all Mordecai’s orders to the Jews, and to the satraps, governors and nobles of the 127 provinces stretching from India to Cush.^[a](A) These orders were written in the script of each province and the language of each people and also to the Jews in their own script and language.^(B)

Queen Vashti Deposed

1 This is what happened during the time of Xerxes,^[a](A) the Xerxes who ruled over 127 provinces^(B) stretching from India to Cush^[b]:^(C)