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The Book of Esther

⭑ Catholic Public Domain Version 2009 ⭑

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- Chapter 11 -

1
In the fourth year of the reigns of Ptolemy and Cleopatra, Dositheus, who was himself a priest and born of the Levites, and Ptolemy his son, brought this epistle of Purim, which they said was a translation by Lysimachus the son of Ptolemy in Jerusalem.(a)
3
(2) In the second year of the reign of Artaxerxes the great, on the first day of the month of Nisan, Mordecai the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin,(3) a Jewish man who lived in the city of Susa, a great gentleman, and among the first ones of the king’s court, saw a dream.(b)
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Now he was one of a number of captives, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away from Jerusalem with Jeconiah king of Judah.
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And this was his dream: voices appeared, and confusion, and thunders, and earthquakes, and a disturbance upon the earth.
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And behold, there were two great dragons making preparations against one another for battle.
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And at their cry all peoples rushed forth to fight against the nation of the just.(c)
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And that was a day of darkness and division, of tribulation and anguish, and there was an unnatural dread over the earth.(d)
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And the nation of the just was disturbed, fearing their own evils, and was prepared for death.
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And they cried out to God, and from their loud crying, a little fountain grew into a very great river and overflowed into many waters.
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The light and the sun rose up, and the humble were exalted, and they devoured the illustrious.
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When Mordecai had seen this, and he arose from bed, he was considering what God might want to do, and he kept it fixed in his soul, desiring to know what the dream might signify.

Footnotes

(a)15:14 The phrase “qui se Sacerdotem” is often translated as “who said he was a priest” or “who claimed he was a priest.” But the word “se” does not indicate that this man claimed something; it is merely a reflexive pronoun, a way of emphasizing that this man “was himself a priest.”(Conte)
(b)1:2 The phrase “vir magnus” is usually translated as “a great man,” but in Latin the word vir is different that the word for man. Vir is derived from a word meaning virtuous or strong, so it carries within it a certain complementary connotation, much like the word “gentleman.”(Conte)
(c)1:6 Or, against a people of justice; or, against a just people.(Conte)
(d)1:7 Perhaps this is a reference to the three days of darkness.(Conte)
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