Estĕr (Esther) 4

¹And Mordeḵai learned of all that had been done, and Mordeḵai tore his garments and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and cried out with a loud and bitter cry.

²And he went up to the front of the sovereign’s gate, for no one might enter the sovereign’s gate wearing sackcloth.

³And in every province where the sovereign’s command and decree came, there was great mourning among the Yehuḏim, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing. And many lay in sackcloth and ashes.

⁴And Estĕr’s young women and eunuchs came and told her, and the sovereigness was deeply pained, and sent garments to Mordeḵai to wear, and to take away his sackcloth from him, but he refused.

⁵And Estĕr called Hathaḵ, one of the sovereign’s eunuchs whom he had appointed to attend her, and she gave him a command concerning Mordeḵai, to learn what and why this was.

⁶And Hathaḵ went out to Mordeḵai, to an open space of the city, in front of the sovereign’s gate.

⁷And Mordeḵai told him all that befell him, and all about the silver that Haman promised to pay into the sovereign’s treasuries to destroy the Yehuḏim.

⁸And he gave him a copy of the written decree to destroy them, which was given at Shushan, to show it to Estĕr and explain it to her, and to command her to go in to the sovereign to make supplication to him, and plead before him for her people.

⁹And Hathaḵ came and told Estĕr the words of Mordeḵai.

¹⁰And Estĕr spoke to Hathaḵ, and gave him a command for Mordeḵai,

¹¹“All the sovereign’s servants and the people of the sovereign’s provinces know that any man or woman who goes into the inner court to the sovereign, who has not been called, he has but one law: to be put to death, except the one to whom the sovereign holds out the golden sceptre, who then shall live. But I have not been called to come in to the sovereign these thirty days.”

¹²And they declared to Mordeḵai the words of Estĕr.

¹³And Mordeḵai commanded them to answer Estĕr, “Do not think within yourself to escape in the sovereign’s palace any more than all the other Yehuḏim.

¹⁴“For if you keep entirely silent at this time, relief and deliverance shall arise for the Yehuḏim from another place, while you and your father’s house perish. And who knows whether you have come to the reign for such a time as this?”

¹⁵And Estĕr commanded to reply to Mordeḵai,

¹⁶“Go, gather all the Yehuḏim who are present in Shushan, and fast for me, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I too, and my young women shall fast in the same way, then I shall go to the sovereign, which is against the law. And if I shall perish, I shall perish!”

¹⁷Mordeḵai then went away and did according to all that Estĕr commanded him.