Esther 4

Esther 4:1 When Mordecai learned everything that had happened, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, went out into the city square, and cried loudly and bitterly.

Esther 4:2 He went only as far as the King’s Gate, as the law prohibited anyone wearing sackcloth from entering it.

Esther 4:3 There was great mourning among the Jewish people in every province where the king’s command and edict came. They fasted, wept, and lamented; many lay in sackcloth and ashes.

Esther 4:4 Esther’s girls and her eunuchs came and reported the news to her, and the queen was overcome with fear. She sent clothes for Mordecai to wear so that he would take off his sackcloth, but he did not accept them.

Esther 4:5 Esther summoned Hathach, one of the king’s eunuchs, who was before her, and dispatched him to Mordecai to learn what he was doing and why.

Esther 4:6 So Hathach went to Mordecai in the city square before the King’s Gate.

Esther 4:7 Mordecai told him everything that had happened, as well as the exact amount of money Haman had promised to pay the royal treasury for the destruction of the Jews.

Esther 4:8 Mordecai also gave him a copy of the written decree issued in Susa ordering their extermination, so that Hathach might show it to Esther, explain it to her, and command her to approach the king, implore his favor, and plead with him for her people.

Esther 4:9 Hathach came and repeated Mordecai’s response to Esther.

Esther 4:10 Esther spoke to Hathach and commanded him to tell Mordecai,

Esther 4:11 “All the royal slaves and the people of the royal provinces know that one law applies to every man or woman who approaches the king in the inner courtyard and who has not been summoned—the death penalty—unless the king extends the gold scepter, allowing that person to live. I have not been summoned to appear before the king for thirty days.”

Esther 4:12 Esther’s response was reported to Mordecai.

Esther 4:13 Mordecai told the messenger to reply to Esther, “Don’t think that you will escape the fate of all the Jews because you are in the king’s house.

Esther 4:14 If you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will come to the Jewish people from another source, but you and your father’s house will be destroyed. Who knows, maybe you have come to your royal position for such a time as this.

Esther 4:15 Esther sent this reply to Mordecai:

Esther 4:16: “Go and assemble all the Jews who can be found in Susa and fast for me. Don’t eat or drink for three days, night or day. My girls and I will also fast in the same way. After that, I will go to the king even if it is against the law. If I am destroyed, I am destroyed.”

Esther 4:17 So Mordecai went and did everything Esther had commanded him.

links:

for such a time as this

for this time

The Esther shelf in my library