Section 10:1–3

Mordecai received honor in all the kingdom of Xerxes

The book began with a reference to the greatness of King Xerxes. It ends with how the king honored Mordecai, one of the heroes of the story.

Paragraph 10:1–3

10:1

tribute: The Hebrew is more “forced labor.” However the word also came to mean tribute, a sort of tax which the king made the people throughout his kingdom pay. Because of the expenses of the long war against Greece, the king needed money. These taxes would have been paid mainly by food which the people grew or by animals which they reared.

throughout the land, even to its farthest shores: Literally “upon the land and the regions of the sea.” Scholars differ in how they understand this, especially the expression “the regions of the sea.” The two main possibilities are:

(1) “Regions of the sea” means the coast, as distinguished from the interior (Berean Standard Bible, Revised Standard Version, New International Version, Good News Translation, New Living Translation (2004)).

(2) “Regions of the sea” means the islands, as distinguished from the mainland (Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures, God’s Word, Contemporary English Version, Jerusalem Bible).

The expression “regions of the sea” can mean either. The important thing is that the expression “upon the land and the regions of the sea” means that the whole empire was included, and you should make sure that your translation makes this clear.

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