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Esther 4
Now when Mordecai knew all that was done, Mordecai rent his clothes, and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the middle of the city, and cried with a loud and a bitter cry; 2 and he came even before the king’s gate: for no one might enter within the king’s gate clothed with sackcloth. 3 And in every province, wherever the king’s commandment and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.
4 And Esther’s maidens and her chamberlains came and told it her; and the queen was very grieved: and she sent raiment to clothe Mordecai, and to take his sackcloth from off him; but he received it not. 5 Then Esther called for Hathach, one of the king’s chamberlains, whom he had appointed to attend upon her, and charged him to go to Mordecai, to know what this was, and why it was. 6 So Hathach went forth to Mordecai to the broad place of the city, which was before the king’s gate. 7 And Mordecai told him of all that had happened to him, and the exact sum of the money that Haman had promised to pay to the king’s treasuries for the Jews, to destroy them. 8 Also he gave him the copy of the writing of the decree that was given out in Shushan to destroy them, to show it to Esther, and to declare it to her, and to charge her that she should go in to the king, to make supplication to him, and to make request before him, for her people.
9 And Hathach came and told Esther the words of Mordecai. 10 Then Esther spoke to Hathach, and gave him a message to Mordecai, saying: 11 All the king’s servants, and the people of the king’s provinces, do know, that whoever, whether man or woman, shall come to the king into the inner court, who is not called, there is one law for him, that he be put to death, except those to whom the king shall hold out the golden scepter, that he may live: but I have not been called to come in to the king these thirty days. 12 And they told to Mordecai Esther’s words.
13 Then Mordecai bid them return answer to Esther, Think not with yourself that you shall escape in the king’s house, more than all the Jews. 14 For if you altogether hold your peace at this time, then will relief and deliverance come to 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? 15 Then Esther bid them return answer to Mordecai, 16 Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast in like manner; and so will I go in to the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish. 17 So Mordecai went his way, and did according to all that Esther had commanded him.
Esther 5
Now it came to pass on the third day, that Esther put on her royal apparel, and stood in the inner court of the king’s house, over against the king’s house: and the king sat upon his royal throne in the royal house, over against the entrance of the house. 2 And it was so, when the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, that she obtained favor in his sight; and the king held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. So Esther drew near, and touched the top of the scepter. 3 Then the king said to her, What do you want, queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given to you even to the half of the kingdom. 4 And Esther said, If it seems good to the king, let the king and Haman come this day to the banquet that I have prepared for him.
5 Then the king said, Cause Haman to make haste, that it may be done as Esther has said. So the king and Haman came to the banquet that Esther had prepared. 6 And the king said to Esther at the banquet of wine, What is your petition? It shall be granted to you: and what is your request? Even to the half of the kingdom it shall be performed. 7 Then answered Esther, and said, My petition and my request is: 8 if I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it please the king to grant my petition, and to perform my request let the king and Haman come to the banquet that I shall prepare for them, and I will do tomorrow as the king has said.
9 Then went Haman forth that day joyful and glad of heart: but when Haman saw Mordecai in the king’s gate, that he stood not up nor moved for him, he was filled with wrath against Mordecai. 10 Nevertheless Haman refrained himself, and went home; and he sent and brought his friends and Zeresh his wife. 11 And Haman recounted to them the glory of his riches, and the multitude of his children, and all the things in which the king had promoted him, and how he had advanced him above the princes and servants of the king. 12 Haman said moreover, Yes, Esther the queen let no man come in with the king to the banquet that she had prepared but myself; and tomorrow also I am invited by her together with the king. 13 Yet all this avails me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate. 14 Then said Zeresh his wife and all his friends to him, Let a gallows be made fifty cubits high, and in the morning speak to the king that Mordecai may be hanged on it: then go in merrily with the king to the banquet. And the thing pleased Haman; and he caused the gallows to be made.
Esther 6
On that night the king could not sleep; and he commanded to bring the book of records of the chronicles, and they were read before the king. 2 And it was found written, that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s chamberlains, of those that kept the threshold, who had sought to lay hands on the king Ahasuerus. 3 And the king said, What honor and dignity has been bestowed on Mordecai for this? Then said the king’s servants that ministered to him, There is nothing done for him. 4 And the king said, Who is in the court? Now Haman had come into the outward court of the king’s house, to speak to the king to hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him. 5 And the king’s servants said to him, Behold, Haman stands in the court. And the king said, Let him come in. 6 So Haman came in. And the king said to him, What shall be done to the man whom the king delights to honor? Now Haman said in his heart, To whom would the king delight to do honor more than to myself? 7 And Haman said to the king, For the man whom the king delights to honor, 8 let royal apparel be brought which the king uses to wear, and the horse that the king rides upon, and on the head of which a crown royal is set: 9 and let the apparel and the horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king’s most noble princes, that they may array the man with it whom the king delights to honor, and cause him to ride on horseback through the street of the city, and proclaim before him, In this manner shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor.
10 Then the king said to Haman, make haste, and take the apparel and the horse, as you have said, and do even so to Mordecai the Jew, that sits at the king’s gate: let nothing fail of all that you have spoken. 11 Then took Haman the apparel and the horse, and arrayed Mordecai, and caused him to ride through the street of the city, and proclaimed before him, In this manner shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor. 12 And Mordecai came again to the king’s gate. But Haman hurried to his house, mourning and having his head covered. 13 And Haman recounted to Zeresh his wife and all his friends everything that had happened to him. Then said his wise men and Zeresh his wife to him, If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, be of the seed of the Jews, you shall not prevail against him, but shall surely fall before him. 14 While they were yet talking with him, came the king’s chamberlains, and hurried to bring Haman to the banquet that Esther had prepared.
