Mordecai’s Dream

In the second year of the reign of Ahasu-e′rus the Great, on the first day of Nisan, Mor′decai the son of Ja′ir, son of Shim′e-i, son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, had a dream. He was a Jew, dwelling in the city of Susa, a great man, serving in the court of the king. He was one of the captives whom Nebuchadnez′zar king of Babylon had brought from Jerusalem with Jeconi′ah king of Judea. And this was his dream: Behold, noise and confusion, thunders and earthquake, tumult upon the earth! And behold, two great dragons came forward, both ready to fight, and they roared terribly. And at their roaring every nation prepared for war, to fight against the nation of the righteous. And behold, a day of darkness and gloom, tribulation and distress, affliction and great tumult upon the earth! And the whole righteous nation was troubled; they feared the evils that threatened them, and were ready to perish. Then they cried to God; and from their cry, as though from a tiny spring, there came a great river, with abundant water; light came, and the sun rose, and the lowly were exalted and consumed those held in honor. Mor′decai saw in this dream what God had determined to do, and after he awoke he had it on his mind and sought all day to understand it in every detail.

A Plot against the King

Now Mor′decai took his rest in the courtyard with Gab′atha and Tharra, the two eunuchs of the king who kept watch in the courtyard. He overheard their conversation and inquired into their purposes, and learned that they were preparing to lay hands upon Ahasu-e′rus the king; and he informed the king concerning them. Then the king examined the two eunuchs, and when they confessed they were led to execution. The king made a permanent record of these things, and Mor′decai wrote an account of them. And the king ordered Mor′decai to serve in the court and rewarded him for these things. But Haman, the son of Hammeda′tha, a Bougae′an, was in great honor with the king, and he sought to injure Mor′decai and his people because of the two eunuchs of the king.

King Ahasu-erus Deposes Queen Vashti

In the days of Ahasu-e′rus, the Ahasu-e′rus who reigned from India to Ethiopia over one hundred and twenty-seven provinces,

In the first month, which is the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasu-e′rus, they cast Pur, that is the lot, before Haman day after day; and they cast it month after month till the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar.

Then the king’s secretaries were summoned on the thirteenth day of the first month, and an edict, according to all that Haman commanded, was written to the king’s satraps and to the governors over all the provinces and to the princes of all the peoples, to every province in its own script and every people in its own language; it was written in the name of King Ahasu-e′rus and sealed with the king’s ring.