1. And it cometh to pass, in the days of Ahasuerus--he [is] Ahasuerus who is reigning from Hodu even unto Cush, seven and twenty and a hundred provinces--
2. in those days, at the sitting of the king Ahasuerus on the throne of his kingdom, that [is] in Shushan the palace,
3. in the third year of his reign, he hath made a banquet to all his heads and his servants; of the force of Persia and Media, the chiefs and heads of the provinces [are] before him,