Mordecai Seeks Esther’s Aid
4 When Mordecai learned of all that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and sprinkled himself with ashes; then he rushed through the street of the city, shouting loudly: “An innocent nation is being destroyed!”(A)2 He got as far as the king’s gate, and there he stopped, because no one was allowed to enter the courtyard clothed in sackcloth and ashes. 3 And in every province where the letter had been posted there was crying, lamentation, and great mourning among the Jews, and they put on sackcloth and ashes.(B)4 When the queen’s maids and eunuchs came and told her, she was deeply troubled by what she heard had happened and sent instructions to clothe Mordecai and to remove his sackcloth, but he would not consent. 5 Then Esther summoned Hachratheus, the eunuch who attended her, and dispatched him to get accurate information for her from Mordecai.
7 So Mordecai told him what had happened and about the promise that Haman had promised the king: ten thousands talents for the royal treasury to bring about the destruction of the Jews.(C)8 He also gave him a copy of what had been posted in Susa for their destruction, to show to Esther, and he told him to charge her to go in to the king and plead for his favor in behalf of the people. “Remember,” he said, “the days when you were an ordinary person, being brought up under my care, for Haman, who is second to the king, has spoken against us and demands our death. Call upon the Lord; then speak to the king in our behalf and save us from death.”(D)
9 Hachratheus went in and told her all these things. 10 And Esther said to him, “Go to Mordecai and say: 11 All nations of the realm know that if any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court without being called, there is no escape for that person. Only the one to whom the king stretches out the golden scepter is safe—and it is now thirty days since I myself was called to go to the king.”(E)
12 So Hachratheus delivered Esther’s entire message to Mordecai, 13 and then Mordecai said to Hachratheus, “Go and say to her: Esther, do not say to yourself that you alone among all the Jews in the realm will escape alive. 14 For if you take no heed at such a time as this, help and protection will come to the Jews from another quarter, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows whether it was not for such a time as this that you were made queen?” 15 Then Esther gave the messenger this answer to take back to Mordecai: 16 “Go and gather the Jews who are in Susa and fast on my behalf; for three days and nights do not eat or drink, and my maids and I will also go without food. After that I will go to the king, contrary to the law, even if I must die.”(F)17 So Mordecai went away and did what Esther had told him to do.
Footnotes
- 4.4
- 4.5
Cross references
- 4.1 : 2 Sam 3.31; 1 Kings 20.31; Jdt 4.10
- 4.3 : v 16; Esth 9.31; Isa 58.5; Dan 9.3
- 4.7 : Add Esth 3.9
- 4.8 : Add Esth 3.14; 8.13
- 4.11 : Esth 5.1, 2; Add Esth 8.4; 15.11
- 4.16 : Add Esth 15.6
