Mordecai Appeals to Esther 1 UST When Mordecai found out about Haman’ s plan{ to kill all the Jews, as signs of grief} he tore his clothes and put on rough sackcloth and threw ashes over himself. Then he started walking towards the city center,{ towards the king’ s palace}, crying out in anguish. BSB BSB: When Mordecai learned of all that had happened, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the middle of the city, wailing loudly and bitterly.
2 UST But no one who was wearing sackcloth was allowed inside the king’ s gate. So when Mordecai reached the gate, he had to stay just outside of it. BSB BSB: But he went only as far as the king’s gate, because the law prohibited anyone wearing sackcloth from entering that gate.
3 UST In every province of the empire, the letter that said to destroy the Jews{ was announced in public. When} the Jews{ heard about it, they} mourned greatly. They went without food and wailed loudly. Many of them also put on sackcloth and threw ashes on themselves and lay on the ground. BSB BSB: In every province to which the king’s command and edict came, there was great mourning among the Jews. They fasted, wept, and lamented, and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.
4 UST Esther’ s female attendants came with her guardians and told her{ that Mordecai was sitting outside the gate wearing sackcloth. When she heard about this,} Queen Esther herself became very afraid. She sent Mordecai some good clothes to wear instead of the sackcloth, but he refused to put them on. BSB BSB: When Esther’s maidens and eunuchs came and told her about Mordecai, the queen was overcome with distress. She sent clothes for Mordecai to wear instead of his sackcloth, but he would not accept them.
5 UST The king had assigned some of the royal guardians to Esther personally. So Esther called for one of them, a man named Hathak. She told him to go out and speak with Mordecai and find out why he was so distressed{ that he was sitting at the king’ s gate wearing sackcloth}. BSB BSB: Then Esther summoned Hathach, one of the king’s eunuchs appointed to her, and she dispatched him to Mordecai to learn what was troubling him and why.
6 UST So Hathak went out to{ speak with} Mordecai, who was in the plaza in front of the king’ s gate. BSB BSB: So Hathach went out to Mordecai in the city square in front of the king’s gate,
7 UST Mordecai told Hathak everything that Haman was planning to do{ to the Jews}. He even told him how much money Haman said the king would get for his treasuries{ if the king commanded people} to kill all of the Jews. BSB BSB: and Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, including the exact amount of money that Haman had promised to pay into the royal treasury in order to destroy the Jews.
8 UST Mordecai also gave Hathak a copy of the letter that the heralds had read out loud in Susa and that said that people must kill all of the Jews. He told Hathak to show the letter to Esther so that she would know exactly what it said. He also told him to urge her to go to the king personally and to beg him desperately to save her people from destruction. BSB BSB: Mordecai also gave Hathach a copy of the written decree issued in Susa for the destruction of the Jews, to show and explain to Esther, urging her to approach the king, implore his favor, and plead before him for her people.
9 UST So Hathak returned to Esther and told her what Mordecai had said. BSB BSB: So Hathach went back and relayed Mordecai’s response to Esther.
10 UST Then Esther told Hathak to go back to Mordecai with this message: BSB BSB: Then Esther spoke to Hathach and instructed him to tell Mordecai,
11 UST “There is a law{ about going to the king} that applies to{ everyone in the kingdom}, both men and women. If anyone goes into the inner courtyard of the palace,{ where the king can see them}, and the king has not summoned them, that person will die. Only if the king holds out his golden scepter to them, then they will live. Everyone in the whole empire knows this law.{ So I cannot go and speak to the king as you have requested.} The king has not called for me in over a month,{ and if I go without being summoned, I could be put to death}.” BSB BSB: “All the royal officials and the people of the king’s provinces know that one law applies to every man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned—that he be put to death. Only if the king extends the gold scepter may that person live. But I have not been summoned to appear before the king for the past thirty days.”
12 UST So{ Hathak} went back to Mordecai and told him what Esther had said. BSB BSB: When Esther’s words were relayed to Mordecai,
13 UST Mordecai told{ Hathak} to tell this to Esther:“Do not imagine that just because you live there in the king’ s palace that you will be safe when they kill all the other Jews. BSB BSB: he sent back to her this reply: “Do not imagine that because you are in the king’s palace you alone will escape the fate of all the Jews.
14 UST If you say nothing at all now, someone from some other place will rescue the Jews, but you and your relatives will not survive. Who knows, perhaps it was for just such a time as this that you became queen.” BSB BSB: For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows if perhaps you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
15 UST { After Hathak told this to} Esther, she told him to go back to Mordecai and say this to him: BSB BSB: Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai:
16 UST “Gather together all the Jews who live here in Susa and tell them to fast for my sake. Tell them to not eat or drink anything for three days and three nights. My female attendants and I will also fast in the same way. At the end of the three days, I will go to{ talk to} the king, even though doing that is against the law. I will do that even if it costs me my life.” BSB BSB: “Go and assemble all the Jews who can be found in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day, and I and my maidens will fast as you do. After that, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish!”
17 UST So{ after Hathach told this to} Mordecai, he went and did everything that Esther had told him to do. BSB BSB: So Mordecai went and did all that Esther had instructed him.
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