וַיְהִ֖י בִּימֵ֣י אֲחַשְׁוֵר֑וֹשׁ ה֣וּא אֲחַשְׁוֵר֗וֹשׁ הַמֹּלֵךְ֙ מֵהֹ֣דּוּ וְעַד־כּ֔וּשׁ שֶׁ֛בַע וְעֶשְׂרִ֥ים וּמֵאָ֖ה מְדִינָֽה׃
Nangyari ito noong mga araw ni Ahasuero — ang Ahasuerong ito na naghari mula India hanggang Cush, sa isandaan at dalawampu't pitong lalawigan —
Megillah
But why not say that the villages [should read] on the fourteenth, and those in walled towns not at all? But are they not also Israelites? And moreover is it not written, From India into Ethiopia (Esther 1:1)?
Megillah
And it came to pass in the days of Ahashverosh. R. Levi, or some say R. Yonatan said: The following remark is a tradition handed down to us from the Men of the Great Assembly: Wherever it says vayehi [and it was, and it came to pass], it indicates [the approach of] trouble.
Megillah
Vayehi in the days of Ahashverosh (Esther 1:1) — there was Haman. Vayehi in the days when the judges judged (Ruth 1:1) — there was a famine. Vayehi when man began to multiply (Genesis 6:1) — then God Saw that the wickedness of man was great.