Addition A Mordecai’s dream 1In the second year of the rule of
Artaxerxes the Great, on the first day of Nisan,#March–April
Mordecai had a dream. He was Jair’s son, Shimei’s grandson, and
Kish’s great-grandson, from the tribe of Benjamin. 2He was a Jew
living in the city of Susa, an important man serving in the
royal court. 3He was one of the prisoners of war whom King
Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had brought from Jerusalem along with
Judea’s King Jeconiah. 4This was his dream: Look! Noise and
confusion, thunder and earthquake, and chaos on the earth.
5Look! Two mighty dragons came forward, both ready to fight, and
they roared loudly. 6At their roar every nation got ready for
battle, to make war on the righteous nation. 7Look! A day of
darkness and gloom, misery and suffering, distress and chaos on
the earth. 8The entire righteous nation was thrown into a state
of panic, dreading the evil that was coming against them.#Or
dreading their own evils They expected to die. 9So they cried
out to God. Their cry was smal