1And King Ahasuerus (Xerxes) imposed a tax upon the land, and upon the seacoasts. 2And all the acts of his power and of his might, and the declaration of the greatness of Mordecai, to which the king advanced him, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia? 3For Mordecai, the Jew, was second only to King Xerxes, and preeminent among the Jews, and held in high esteem by the multitude of his brethren, working for the welfare of his people, and speaking peace to all the Jews.