1Mordecai found out about everything that had been done. So he tore his clothes. He put on the rough clothing people wear when they’re sad. He sat down in ashes. Then he went out into the city. He wept out loud. He cried bitter tears.2But he only went as far as the palace gate. That’s because no one dressed in that rough clothing was allowed to go through it.3All the Jews were very sad. They didn’t eat anything. They wept and cried. Many of them put on the rough clothing people wear when they’re sad. They were lying down in ashes. They did all these things in every territory where the king’s order and law had been sent.4Esther’s male and female attendants came to her. They told her about Mordecai. So she became very troubled. She wanted him to take off his rough clothing. So she sent him other clothes to wear. But he wouldn’t accept them.5Then Esther sent for Hathak. He was one of the king’s officials. He had been appointed to take care of her. She ordered him to find out what was troubling Mordecai. She wanted to know why he was so upset.6So Hathak went out to see Mordecai. He was in the open area in front of the palace gate.7Mordecai told him everything that had happened to him. He told him about the exact amount of money Haman had promised to add to the royal treasures. He said Haman wanted it to be used to pay some men to destroy the Jews.8Mordecai also gave Hathak a copy of the order. It commanded people to wipe out the Jews. The order had been sent from Susa. Mordecai told Hathak to show the order to Esther. He wanted Hathak to explain it to her. Mordecai told him to tell her to go and beg the king for mercy. Mordecai wanted her to make an appeal to the king for her people.9Hathak went back and reported to Esther what Mordecai had said.10Then Esther instructed him to give an answer to Mordecai. She told him to say,11‘There is a certain law that everyone knows about. All the king’s officials know about it. The people in the royal territories know about it. It applies to any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner courtyard without being sent for. It says they must be put to death. But there is a way out. Suppose the king reaches out his gold sceptre towards them. Then their lives will be spared. But 30 days have gone by since the king sent for me.’12Esther’s words were reported to Mordecai.13Then he sent back an answer. He said, ‘You live in the king’s palace. But don’t think that just because you are there you will be the only Jew who will escape.14What if you don’t say anything at this time? Then help for the Jews will come from another place. But you and your family will die. Who knows? It’s possible that you became queen for a time just like this.’15Then Esther sent a reply to Mordecai. She said,16‘Go. Gather together all the Jews who are in Susa. And fast for my benefit. Don’t eat or drink anything for three days. Don’t do it night or day. I and my attendants will fast just as you do. Then I’ll go to the king. I’ll do it even though it’s against the law. And if I have to die, I’ll die.’17So Mordecai went away. He carried out all Esther’s directions.
Esther 4
English Standard Version
Esther Agrees to Help the Jews
1When Mordecai learned all that had been done, Mordecai tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and he cried out with a loud and bitter cry. (2Sa 3:31)2He went up to the entrance of the king’s gate, for no one was allowed to enter the king’s gate clothed in sackcloth.3And in every province, wherever the king’s command and his decree reached, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting and weeping and lamenting, and many of them lay in sackcloth and ashes. (Es 4:16; Es 9:31; Isa 58:5; Da 9:3)4When Esther’s young women and her eunuchs came and told her, the queen was deeply distressed. She sent garments to clothe Mordecai, so that he might take off his sackcloth, but he would not accept them.5Then Esther called for Hathach, one of the king’s eunuchs, who had been appointed to attend her, and ordered him to go to Mordecai to learn what this was and why it was.6Hathach went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king’s gate,7and Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, and the exact sum of money that Haman had promised to pay into the king’s treasuries for the destruction of the Jews. (Es 3:9)8Mordecai also gave him a copy of the written decree issued in Susa for their destruction,[1] that he might show it to Esther and explain it to her and command her to go to the king to beg his favor and plead with him[2] on behalf of her people. (Es 3:14; Es 8:13)9And Hathach went and told Esther what Mordecai had said.10Then Esther spoke to Hathach and commanded him to go to Mordecai and say,11“All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that if any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court without being called, there is but one law—to be put to death, except the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter so that he may live. But as for me, I have not been called to come in to the king these thirty days.” (Es 5:1; Es 5:2; Es 6:4; Es 8:4; Da 2:9)12And they told Mordecai what Esther had said.13Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews.14For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”15Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai,16“Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.”[3] (Ge 43:14; Es 5:1)17Mordecai then went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him.