1King Ahasuerus laid tribute on the land and on the islands of the sea. 2All the acts of his power and might, and the full account of the high honor of Mordecai, to which the king advanced him, are they not written in the annals of the kings of Media and Persia? 3For Mordecai the Jew was next in rank to King Ahasuerus, and he was powerful among the Jews and popular with his many kindred, for he sought the good of his people and interceded for the welfare of all his descendants. Addition FMordecai’s Dream Fulfilled4[a] And Mordecai said, “These things have come from God; 5for I remember the dream that I had concerning these matters, and none of them has failed to be fulfilled. 6There was the little spring that became a river, and there was light and sun and abundant water—the river is Esther, whom the king married and made queen. 7The two dragons are Haman and myself. 8The nations are those that gathered to destroy the name of the Jews. 9And my nation, this is Israel, who cried out to God and was saved. The Lord has saved his people; the Lord has rescued us from all these evils; God has done great signs and wonders, wonders that have never happened among the nations. 10For this purpose he made two lots, one for the people of God and one for all the nations, 11and these two lots came to the hour and moment and day of decision before God and among all the nations. 12And God remembered his people and vindicated his inheritance. 13So they will observe these days in the month of Adar, on the fourteenth and fifteenth[b] of that month, with an assembly and joy and gladness before God, from generation to generation forever among his people Israel.” Postscript11In the fourth year of the reign of Ptolemy and Cleopatra, Dositheus, who said that he was a priest and a Levite,[c] and his son Ptolemy brought to Egypt[d] the preceding Letter about Purim, which they said was authentic and had been translated by Lysimachus son of Ptolemy, one of the residents of Jerusalem. End of Addition FFootnotes
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