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Esther
Learns of Haman's Plot |
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| Esther 4:1 |
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When Mordecai learned all that had been done,
he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of
the city and wailed loudly and bitterly. |
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| Esther 4:2 |
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He went as far as the king's gate, for no one
was to enter the king's gate clothed in sackcloth. |
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| Esther 4:3 |
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In each and every province where the command
and decree of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting,
weeping and wailing; and many lay on sackcloth and ashes. |
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| Esther 4:4 |
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Then Esther's maidens and her eunuchs came and
told her, and the queen writhed in great anguish. And she sent garments to clothe
Mordecai that he might remove his sackcloth from him, but he did not accept them.
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| Esther 4:5 |
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Then Esther summoned Hathach from the king's
eunuchs, whom the king had appointed to attend her, and ordered him to go to Mordecai
to learn what this was and why it was. |
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| Esther 4:6 |
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So Hathach went out to Mordecai to the city
square in front of the king's gate. |
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| Esther 4:7 |
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Mordecai told him all that had happened to him,
and the exact amount of money that Haman had promised to pay to the king's treasuries
for the destruction of the Jews. |
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| Esther 4:8 |
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He also gave him a copy of the text of the edict
which had been issued in Susa for their destruction, that he might show Esther
and inform her, and to order her to go in to the king to implore his favor and
to plead with him for her people. |
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| Esther 4:9 |
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Hathach came back and related Mordecai's words
to Esther. |
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| Esther 4:10 |
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Then Esther spoke to Hathach and ordered him
to reply to Mordecai: |
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| Esther 4:11 |
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"All the king's servants and the people of the
king's provinces know that for any man or woman who comes to the king to the inner
court who is not summoned, he has but one law, that he be put to death, unless
the king holds out to him the golden scepter so that he may live. And I have not
been summoned to come to the king for these thirty days." |
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| Esther 4:12 |
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They related Esther's words to Mordecai. |
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| Esther 4:13 |
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Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther,
"Do not imagine that you in the king's palace can escape any more than all the
Jews. |
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| Esther 4:14 |
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"For if you remain silent at this time, relief
and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father's
house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such
a time as this?" |
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Esther
Plans to Intercede |
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| Esther 4:15 |
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Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai,
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| Esther 4:16 |
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"Go, assemble all the Jews who are found in
Susa, and fast for me; do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and
my maidens also will fast in the same way. And thus I will go in to the king,
which is not according to the law; and if I perish, I perish." |
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| Esther 4:17 |
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So Mordecai went away and did just as Esther
had commanded him. |
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