Additions to Esther 11

CHAPTER 11

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 [or Purim] 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 , [or 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 Artaxerxes the most reigned/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 ;[#11:2 In the Hebrew Esther, this king is called Ahasuerus; his son is called Artaxerxes (though historically the son may have been “Artaxerxes II” and the father “Artaxerxes I”). In order to avoid confusion, and to aid comprehension, the Hebrew name of the king will be used in this translation henceforth.]

3and Mordecai was a man a Jew, that dwelled in the city of Susa, a great man, and among the chief men or the first men of the king’s hall.

4And he was of that number of prisoners [or captives] , which Nebu-chadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had translated or brought over 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 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 evils, was disturbed, and made ready to 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, and devoured 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.

Wycliffe’s Bible with Modern Spelling ©2017 Wycliffe’s Apocrypha ©2013, 2015 Wycliffe’s Bible © 2012, 2015 Wycliffe’s New Testament ©2001, 2011 Wycliffe’s Old Testament ©2001, 2010 
Published by: Terence P. Noble