Esther 4

1 When Mordecai ascertained all that had been done, Mordecai rent his clothes, and put on sackcloth [strewed] with ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and cried with a loud and bitter cry;

ὁ δὲ Μαρδοχαῖος ἐπιγνοὺς τὸ συντελούμενον διέρρηξεν τὰ ἱμάτια αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐνεδύσατο σάκκον καὶ κατεπάσατο σποδὸν καὶ ἐκπηδήσας διὰ τῆς πλατείας τῆς πόλεως ἐβόα φωνῇ μεγάλῃ αἴρεται ἔθνος μηδὲν ἠδικηκός

2 And thus he came up to the front of the king's gate; for none dared to enter into the king's gate clothed with sackcloth.

καὶ ἦλθεν ἕως τῆς πύλης τοῦ βασιλέως καὶ ἔστη οὐ γὰρ ἦν ἐξὸν αὐτῷ εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὴν αὐλὴν σάκκον ἔχοντι καὶ σποδόν

3 And in each and every province, in every place whither the king's decree and his law had reached, there was great mourning for the Jews, with fasting and weeping and wailing; and a sackcloth [strewed] with ashes became the bed of the great.

καὶ ἐν πάσῃ χώρᾳ οὗ ἐξετίθετο τὰ γράμματα κραυγὴ καὶ κοπετὸς καὶ πένθος μέγα τοῖς Ιουδαίοις σάκκον καὶ σποδὸν ἔστρωσαν ἑαυτοῖς

4 Then came the maidens of Esther with her chamberlains and told it her; and the queen was exceedingly terrified; and she sent garments to clothe Mordecai, and to remove his sackcloth from him, but he accepted them not.

καὶ εἰσῆλθον αἱ ἅβραι καὶ οἱ εὐνοῦχοι τῆς βασιλίσσης καὶ ἀνήγγειλαν αὐτῇ καὶ ἐταράχθη ἀκούσασα τὸ γεγονὸς καὶ ἀπέστειλεν στολίσαι τὸν Μαρδοχαῖον καὶ ἀφελέσθαι αὐτοῦ τὸν σάκκον ὁ δὲ οὐκ ἐπείσθη

5 Then called Esther for Hatach, one of the king's chamberlains, whom he had appointed to attend upon her, and gave him a charge for Mordecai to know what this was, and why this was.

ἡ δὲ Εσθηρ προσεκαλέσατο Αχραθαῖον τὸν εὐνοῦχον αὐτῆς ὃς παρειστήκει αὐτῇ καὶ ἀπέστειλεν μαθεῖν αὐτῇ παρὰ τοῦ Μαρδοχαίου τὸ ἀκριβές

6 So Hatach went forth to Mordecai unto the street of the city, which was before the king's gate.

7 And Mordecai told him all that had happened unto him, and of the fixed sum of money which Haman had promised to weigh out into the treasuries of the king for the Jews, to destroy them.

ὁ δὲ Μαρδοχαῖος ὑπέδειξεν αὐτῷ τὸ γεγονὸς καὶ τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν ἣν ἐπηγγείλατο Αμαν τῷ βασιλεῖ εἰς τὴν γάζαν ταλάντων μυρίων ἵνα ἀπολέσῃ τοὺς Ιουδαίους

8 Also the copy of the writing of the law that had been given out in Shushan to destroy them he gave to him, to show it unto Esther, and to tell her [all], and to charge her that she should go in unto the king, and to make supplication unto him, and to present a request before him for her people.

καὶ τὸ ἀντίγραφον τὸ ἐν Σούσοις ἐκτεθὲν ὑπὲρ τοῦ ἀπολέσθαι αὐτοὺς ἔδωκεν αὐτῷ δεῖξαι τῇ Εσθηρ καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ ἐντείλασθαι αὐτῇ εἰσελθούσῃ παραιτήσασθαι τὸν βασιλέα καὶ ἀξιῶσαι αὐτὸν περὶ τοῦ λαοῦ μνησθεῖσα ἡμερῶν ταπεινώσεώς σου ὡς ἐτράφης ἐν χειρί μου διότι Αμαν ὁ δευτερεύων τῷ βασιλεῖ ἐλάλησεν καθ’ ἡμῶν εἰς θάνατον ἐπικάλεσαι τὸν κύριον καὶ λάλησον τῷ βασιλεῖ περὶ ἡμῶν καὶ ῥῦσαι ἡμᾶς ἐκ θανάτου

9 And Hatach came and told Esther the words of Mordecai.

εἰσελθὼν δὲ ὁ Αχραθαῖος ἐλάλησεν αὐτῇ πάντας τοὺς λόγους τούτους

10 And Esther said unto Hatach, and gave him a charge unto Mordecai,

εἶπεν δὲ Εσθηρ πρὸς Αχραθαῖον πορεύθητι πρὸς Μαρδοχαῖον καὶ εἰπὸν ὅτι

11 All the king's servants, and the people of the king's provinces, do know, that every one, whether man or woman, who should come unto the king into the inner court, who is not called, there is but one law for him, to put him to death, except the one to whom the king should hold out the golden sceptre, for he will be suffered to live; but I have not been called to come in unto the king these thirty days.

τὰ ἔθνη πάντα τῆς βασιλείας γινώσκει ὅτι πᾶς ἄνθρωπος ἢ γυνή ὃς εἰσελεύσεται πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα εἰς τὴν αὐλὴν τὴν ἐσωτέραν ἄκλητος οὐκ ἔστιν αὐτῷ σωτηρία πλὴν ᾧ ἐκτείνει ὁ βασιλεὺς τὴν χρυσῆν ῥάβδον οὗτος σωθήσεται κἀγὼ οὐ κέκλημαι εἰσελθεῖν πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα εἰσὶν αὗται ἡμέραι τριάκοντα

12 And they told Mordecai the words of Esther.

καὶ ἀπήγγειλεν Αχραθαῖος Μαρδοχαίῳ πάντας τοὺς λόγους Εσθηρ

13 Then said Mordecai to bring this answer back to Esther, Imagine not in thy soul to be able to escape in the king's house out of all the Jews.

καὶ εἶπεν Μαρδοχαῖος πρὸς Αχραθαῖον πορεύθητι καὶ εἰπὸν αὐτῇ Εσθηρ μὴ εἴπῃς σεαυτῇ ὅτι σωθήσῃ μόνη ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ παρὰ πάντας τοὺς Ιουδαίους

14 For if thou do indeed maintain silence at this time, enlargement and deliverance will arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father's house will perish: and who knoweth whether thou hast not for a time like this attained to the royal dignity?

ὡς ὅτι ἐὰν παρακούσῃς ἐν τούτῳ τῷ καιρῷ ἄλλοθεν βοήθεια καὶ σκέπη ἔσται τοῖς Ιουδαίοις σὺ δὲ καὶ ὁ οἶκος τοῦ πατρός σου ἀπολεῖσθε καὶ τίς οἶδεν εἰ εἰς τὸν καιρὸν τοῦτον ἐβασίλευσας

15 Then said Esther to bring this answer back to Mordecai,

καὶ ἐξαπέστειλεν Εσθηρ τὸν ἥκοντα πρὸς αὐτὴν πρὸς Μαρδοχαῖον λέγουσα

16 Go, assemble together all the Jews who are now present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, so that ye neither eat nor drink three days, either night or day; also I myself with my maidens will fast in like manner; and then will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law; and if I then perish, I perish.

βαδίσας ἐκκλησίασον τοὺς Ιουδαίους τοὺς ἐν Σούσοις καὶ νηστεύσατε ἐπ’ ἐμοὶ καὶ μὴ φάγητε μηδὲ πίητε ἐπὶ ἡμέρας τρεῖς νύκτα καὶ ἡμέραν κἀγὼ δὲ καὶ αἱ ἅβραι μου ἀσιτήσομεν καὶ τότε εἰσελεύσομαι πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα παρὰ τὸν νόμον ἐὰν καὶ ἀπολέσθαι με ᾖ

17 And Mordecai went about, and did in accordance with all that Esther had charged him.

καὶ βαδίσας Μαρδοχαῖος ἐποίησεν ὅσα ἐνετείλατο αὐτῷ Εσθηρ