¹King Ahasuerus imposed forced labor on the land and islands of the sea. ²All the work of his authority and his ⌞powerful deeds⌟, and the full accounting of the greatness of Mordecai, to which the king advanced him, are they not written on the scroll of the ⌞chronicles⌟ of the kings of Media and Persia? ³For Mordecai the Jew was second-in-command to King Ahasuerus. He was great for the Jews and popular with many of his brothers, for he sought good for his people, ⌞interceding for the welfare of all his descendants⌟.