Esther 10

¹ The king levied a tax upon his kingdom both by land and sea.

² As for his strength and valour, and the wealth and glory of his kingdom, behold, they are written in the book of the Persians and Medes for a memorial.

³ Mordecai was viceroy to King Ahasuerus, and was a great man in the kingdom, honored by the Jews, and lived his life loved by all his nation.

⁴ [Mordecai said, “These things have come from God.

⁵ For I remember the dream which I had concerning these matters; for not one detail of them has failed.

⁶ There was the little spring which became a river, and there was light, and the sun and much water. The river is Esther, whom the king married and made queen.

⁷ The two serpents are Haman and me.

⁸ The nations are those which combined to destroy the name of the Jews.

⁹ But as for my nation, this is Israel, even those who cried to God and were delivered; for the Lord delivered his people. The Lord rescued us out of all these calamities; and God worked such signs and great wonders as have not been done among the nations.

¹⁰ Therefore he ordained two lots. One for the people of God, and one for all the other nations.

¹¹ And these two lots came for an appointed season, and for a day of judgment, before God, and for all the nations.

¹² God remembered his people and vindicated his inheritance.

¹³ They shall observe these days in the month Adar, on the fourteenth and on the fifteenth day of the month, with an assembly, joy, and gladness before God, throughout the generations forever among his people Israel.

¹⁴ In the fourth year of the reign of Ptolemeus and Cleopatra, Dositheus, who said he was a priest and Levite, and Ptolemeus his son brought this letter of Purim, which they said was authentic, and that Lysimachus the son of Ptolemeus, who was in Jerusalem, had interpreted.]

¹ AAnd king Assuerus made all the land, and all the islands of the sea tributary.

² And his strength and his empire, and the dignity and greatness wherewith he exalted Mardochai, are written in the books of the Medes, and of the Persians:

³ And how Mardochai of the race of the Jews, was next after king Assuerus: and great among the Jews, and acceptable to the people of his brethren, seeking the good of his people, and speaking those things which were for the welfare of his seed.

⁴ Then Mardochai said: God hath done these things.

⁵ I remember a dream that I saw, which signified these same things: and nothing thereof hath failed.

⁶ The little fountain which grew into a river, and was turned into a light, and into the sun, and abounded into many waters, is Esther, whom the king married, and made queen.

⁷ But the two dragons are I and Aman.

⁸ The nations that were assembled are they that endeavoured to destroy the name of the Jews.

⁹ And my nation is Israel, who cried to the Lord, and the Lord saved his people: and he delivered us from all evils, and hath wrought great signs and wonders among the nations:

¹⁰ And he commanded that there should be two lots, one of the people of God, and the other of all the nations.

¹¹ And both lots came to the day appointed already from that time before God to all nations:

¹² And the Lord remembered his people, and had mercy on his inheritance.

¹³ And these days shall be observed in the month of Adar on the fourteenth, and fifteenth day of the same month, with all diligence, and joy of the people gathered into one assembly, throughout all the generations hereafter of the people of Israel.