1In the fourth year, when Ptolemy and Cleopatra reigned, Dositheus, that said himself to be a priest and of the kin of Levi, and Ptolemy, his son, brought this epistle of lots into Jerusalem, which epistle they said, that Lysimachus, the son of Ptolemy, translated. This is a rubric; for this beginning was in the common translation, which beginning is not told in Hebrew, neither at any of the translators. The fourth year, reigning Ptolemy and Cleopatra, Dositheus, that a priest and of Levi kindred said himself to be, and Ptolemy, his son, brought this epistle of Purim, the which they said, Lysimachus, the son of Ptolemy, in Jerusalem to have interpreted. This forsooth was the beginning in the common translation, that neither in Hebrew, nor with any of the interpreters is told.
2In the second year, when Arta-xerxes*, (that is, Xerxes, or Ahasuerus), the mightiest king reigned, Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, of the lineage of Benjamin, saw a dream in the first day of the month Nisan, that is, June; The second year, reigning Arta-xerxes* the most, the first day of the month Nisan, Mordecai, the son of Jair, son of Shimei, son of Kish, of the lineage of Benjamin,
3and Mordecai was a man a Jew, that dwelled in the city of Susa, a great man, and among the chief or the first men, of the king’s hall. a man Jew, that dwelt in the city of Susa, a great man, and among the first of the king’s hall, saw a sweven (or a dream).
4And he was of that number of prisoners or captives, which Nebu-chadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had translated (or had transferred) from Jerusalem with Jeconiah, king of Judah. And this was his dream.
5He saw that voices, and noises, and thunders, and earth-movings or earthquakes, and great troubling or disturbing, appeared upon the earth.
6And lo! two great dragons, and they were made ready against them-selves into battle;
7at whose cry all (the) nations were stirred together, to fight against the folk of just or rightwise men.
8And that was a day of darknesses, and of peril, of tribulation, and of anguish, and great dread or great fear was then upon the earth.
9And the folk of just or rightwise men, dreading their (own) evils, was disturbed (or troubled), and made ready to (or for the) death.
10And they cried to God; and when they cried, a little well increased or waxed into a full great flood, and it turned again into full many waters.
11And then the light and the sun rose up; and meek men were enhanced (or exalted), and devoured (the) noble men.
12And when Mordecai in his sleep had seen this thing, and had risen from his bed, he thought, what God would do, and he had fast set or fixed in his soul this vision, and coveted to know, what the dream signified.
