Esther B–C

Now the copy of the letter is as follows. The great king Artaxerxes writeth these things to the princes of one hundred and twenty-seven provinces from India to Ethiopia, and to the subordinate governors.

Having become lord of many nations and attained dominion over the whole world, not as though I am elated with the presumption of power, but as one who ever rule my life with moderation and mildness, I desire to establish the lives of my subjects in a lasting tranquillity, and, making my kingdom peaceable and safe for passage to its furthest bounds, to restore that peace which is desired of all men.

But having made inquiry of my advisers how this might be brought to pass, Haman, who excels in prudence among us, and is approved for his unswerving goodwill and firm faithfulness and is exalted to the second place in the kingdom, has shown us that among all the nations in the world there is scattered a certain evilly-disposed people, which sets itself in opposition to every nation by its laws, and which habitually neglects the ordinances of the kings, so that the consolidation of the kingdom honourably intended by us cannot be brought about.

Having understood therefore that this nation stands alone in opposition to all men continually, observing perversely an alien manner of life in respect of its laws and being ill-affected towards our government, working all the damage it can that our kingdom may not attain to security, we have decreed accordingly that they that are indicated to you in the letters of Haman, who is set over our affairs and is our second father, be all with wives and children destroyed root and branch by the sword of their enemies without pity or mercy, on the ^†fourteenth^† day of the twelfth month Adar in the present year; that they who in days past and even now are malicious may in one day go down violently into Hades, and may henceforth leave our state secure and unthreatened.

And Mardocheus besought the Lord, calling to remembrance all the works of the Lord, and said, ‘Lord, Lord, King that rulest over all, for in Thy power is the whole world, and there is none that gainsayeth Thee when Thou willest to save Israel: for Thou didst make heaven and earth, and every wondrous thing beneath the heaven; and Thou art Lord of all, and there is not one that shall resist Thee, the Lord.

‘Thou knowest all things; Thou knowest, Lord, that it was not in insolence or in pride or in vainglory that I did this, to wit, that I did not bow before proud Haman.

‘For I had been content to kiss the soles of his feet for the salvation of Israel.

‘But I did this that I might not set the glory of a man above the glory of God: and I will bow before none save before Thee, my Lord, and I will not do it in pride.

‘And now, Lord, God and King, the God of Abraham, spare Thy people; for the eyes of our enemies are against us to consume us, and they seek to destroy the heritage that is Thine from the beginning.

‘Despise not Thy portion which Thou didst redeem unto Thyself out of the land of Egypt. Hearken to my prayer, and be gracious unto Thine heritage; and turn our mourning into feasting, that we may live and sing Thy Name, O Lord; and destroy not the mouth of them that praise Thee.’

And all Israel cried out with their might, for their death was before their eyes.

And Esther, the queen, fled in prayer unto the Lord, being seized with an agony of death. And taking off her glorious raiment, she put on garments of anguish and mourning; and instead of the choice ointments, she covered her head with ashes and dung, and she humbled her body with much fasting, and every place of the ornament of her joy she filled with her tangled hair. And she besought the Lord God of Israel and said, ‘My Lord, our King, Thou art God alone; help me who stand alone, and have no helper save Thee: for my danger is in my hand.

‘I have heard ever since I was born in the tribe of my family that Thou, Lord, didst take Israel out of all the nations, and our fathers from their progenitors, for an everlasting inheritance, and that Thou didst for them all that Thou didst promise.

‘And now we have sinned before Thee, and Thou hast delivered us into the hands of our enemies, because we have given glory to their gods. Righteous art Thou, O Lord.

‘And now they have not been satisfied with the bitterness of our captivity, but they have laid their hands ^〈in the hands of their idols^〈, to remove the ordinance of Thy mouth, and to destroy Thine inheritance, and to stop the mouth of them that praise Thee, and to quench the glory of Thy house, and Thy altar, and to open the mouth of the nations to give praise to vain idols, and that a king of flesh should be magnified for ever.’

‘Surrender not, O Lord, Thy sceptre unto them that be not gods; and let not them that are our enemies mock at our fall; but turn their counsel against themselves, and make an example of him that began to do this against us.

‘Remember ^〈us^〈, O Lord; make Thyself known to us in the time of our tribulation, and give me courage, O King of the gods and Lord over all dominion.

‘Put eloquent speech into my mouth before the lion; and turn his heart to hatred of him that fighteth against us, that there may be an end of him and of them that are likeminded with him.

‘But save us by Thy hand, and help me who stand alone, and have none save Thee, O Lord.

‘Knowledge hast Thou of all things, and Thou knowest that I hate the glory of the wicked, and I detest the bed of the uncircumcised and of any alien. Thou knowest my necessity, that I abhor the sign of my proud estate, which is upon my head in the days when I show myself openly; I abhor it as a menstruous rag, and I wear it not in the days of my leisure.

‘And Thy servant hath not eaten at the table of Haman, and I have not honoured the king’s feast, neither have I drunk the wine of the libations.

‘And Thy servant hath known no joy since the day I was brought here until now, save in Thee, Lord God of Abraham. O God, whose strength is over all, hear the voice of the hopeless, and save us from the hand of them that deal wickedly, and save me out of my fear.’