Esther 4

1 And Mordecai has known all that has been done, and Mordecai tears his garments, and puts on sackcloth and ashes, and goes forth into the midst of the city and cries—a cry loud and bitter,

Now when Mardochai had heard these things, he rent his garments, and put on sackcloth, strewing ashes on his head: and he cried with a loud voice in the street in the midst of the city, shewing the anguish of his mind.

2 and he comes to the front of the gate of the king, but none is to come to the gate of the king with a sackcloth-garment.

And he came lamenting in this manner even to the gate of the palace: for no one clothed with sackcloth might enter the king’s court.

3 And in each and every province, the place where the word of the king, even his law, is coming, the Jews have a great mourning, and fasting, and weeping, and lamenting: sackcloth and ashes are spread for many.

And in all provinces, towns, and places, to which the king’s cruel edict was come, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, wailing, and weeping, many using sackcloth and ashes for their bed.

4 And young women of Esther come in and her eunuchs, and declare [it] to her, and the queen is exceedingly pained, and sends garments to clothe Mordecai, and to turn aside his sackcloth from off him, and he has not received [them].

Then Esther’s maids and her eunuchs went in, and told her. And when she heard it she was in a consternation: and she sent a garment, to clothe him, and to take away the sackcloth: but he would not receive it.

5 And Esther calls to Hatach, of the eunuchs of the king, whom he has stationed before her, and gives him a charge for Mordecai, to know what this [is], and why this [is].

And she called for Athach the eunuch, whom the king had appointed to attend upon her, and she commanded him to go to Mardochai, and learn of him why he did this.

6 And Hatach goes out to Mordecai, to a broad place of the city, that [is] before the gate of the king,

And Athach going out went to Mardochai, who was standing in the street of the city, before the palace gate:

7 and Mordecai declares to him all that has met him, and the explanation of the money that Haman said to weigh to the treasuries of the king for the Jews, to destroy them,

And Mardochai told him all that had happened, how Aman had promised to pay money into the king’s treasures, to have the Jews destroyed.

8 and the copy of the writing of the law that had been given in Shushan to destroy them he has given to him, to show Esther, and to declare [it] to her, and to lay a charge on her to go in to the king, to make supplication to him, and to seek from before him, for her people.

He gave him also a copy of the edict which was hanging up in Susan, that he should shew it to the queen, and admonish her to go in to the king, and to entreat him for her people.

9 And Hatach comes in and declares to Esther the words of Mordecai,

And Athach went back and told Esther all that Mardochai had said.

10 and Esther speaks to Hatach, and charges him for Mordecai:

She answered him, and bade him say to Mardochai:

11 “All servants of the king, and people of the provinces of the king, know that any man and woman who comes to the king, into the inner court, who is not called—one law of his [is] to put [them] to death, apart from him to whom the king holds out the golden scepter, then he has lived; and I have not been called to come in to the king these thirty days.”

All the king’s servants, and all the provinces that are under his dominion, know, that whosoever, whether man or woman, cometh into the king’s inner court, who is not called for, is immediately to be put to death without any delay: except the king shall hold out the golden sceptre to him, in token of clemency, that so he may live. How then can I go in to the king, who for these thirty days now have not been called unto him?

12 And they declare to Mordecai the words of Esther,

And when Mardochai had heard this,

13 and Mordecai commands to send back to Esther: “Do not think in your soul to be delivered [in] the house of the king, more than all the Jews,

He sent word to Esther again, saying: Think not that thou mayst save thy life only, because thou art in the king a house, more than all the Jews:

14 but if you keep entirely silent at this time, respite and deliverance remains to the Jews from another place, and you and the house of your fathers are destroyed; and who knows whether for a time like this you have come to the kingdom?”

For if thou wilt now hold thy peace, the Jews shall be delivered by some other occasion: and thou, and thy father’s house shall perish. And who knoweth whether thou art not therefore come to the kingdom, that thou mightest be ready in such a time as this?

15 And Esther commands to send back to Mordecai:

And again Esther sent to Mardochai in these words:

16 “Go, gather all the Jews who are found in Shushan, and fast for me, and do not eat nor drink three days, by night and by day; also I and my young women fast likewise, and so I go in to the king, that [is] not according to law, and when I have perished—I have perished.”

Go, and gather together all the Jews whom thou shalt find in Susan, and pray ye for me. Neither eat nor drink for three days and three nights: and I with my handmaids will fast in like manner, and then I will go in to the king, against the law, not being called, and expose myself to death and to danger.

17 And Mordecai passes on, and does according to all that Esther has charged on him.

So Mardochai went, and did all that Esther had commanded him.