Esther 14

Queen Esther also, being in fear of death, resorted unto the Lord: ²and laid away her glorious apparel, and put on ^athe garments of anguish and mourning: and ^binstead of precious ointments, ^ashe covered her head with ashes and dung, and ^cshe humbled her body greatly, and all the places of her joy she filled ^bdwith her torn hair. ³And she prayed unto the Lord God of Israel, saying,

O my Lord, thou only art our King: help me, desolate woman, which have no helper but thee: ⁴for ^emy danger is in mine hand. ⁵From my youth up I have heard in the tribe of my family, that thou, O Lord, ^ftookest Israel from among all people, and ^gour fathers from all their predecessors, for a perpetual inheritance, and thou hast performed whatsoever thou didst promise them. ^6hAnd now we have sinned before thee: therefore hast thou given us into the hands of our enemies, ⁷because we worshipped their gods: O Lord, ⁱthou art righteous. ⁸Nevertheless it satisfieth them not, that we are in bitter captivity: but they have ^kstricken hands with their idols, ⁹that they will abolish the thing that thou with thy mouth hast ordained, and destroy thine inheritance, and ^lstop the mouth of them that praise thee, and quench the glory of thy house, and of thine altar, ¹⁰and open the mouths of the heathen to set forth the praises of the idols, and ^mto magnify a fleshly king for ever. ¹¹O Lord, give not thy sceptre unto them that be nothing, and let them not laugh at our fall; but turn their device upon themselves, and ⁿmake him an example, that hath begun this against us. ¹²Remember, O Lord, ^omake thyself known in time of our affliction, and give me boldness, O King of the nations, and Lord of all power. ¹³Give me eloquent speech in my mouth before ^pthe lion: turn his heart to hate ^qhim that fighteth against us, that there may be an end of him, and of all that are likeminded to him: ¹⁴but deliver us with thine hand, and help me that am desolate, and which have no other helper but thee. ^15rThou knowest all things, O Lord; thou knowest that I hate the glory of the unrighteous, and abhor the bed of the uncircumcised, and of all the heathen. ¹⁶Thou knowest my necessity: for I abhor the sign of my high estate, ^swhich is upon mine head in the days wherein I shew myself, and that I abhor it ^tas a menstruous rag, and that I wear it not when I am private by myself. ¹⁷and that thine handmaid ^uhath not eaten at Aman’s table, and that I have not greatly esteemed the king’s feast, nor drunk the wine of the drink offerings. ¹⁸Neither had thine handmaid any joy since the day that I was brought hither to this present, but in thee, O Lord God of Abraham. ¹⁹O thou mighty God above all, hear the voice of the ^xforlorn, and deliver us out of the hands of the mischievous, and deliver me out of ^ymy fear.

XV.