Esther 13–14

Chapter 13

And this was the copy of the letter: Artaxerxes the great king who reigneth from India to Ethiopia, to the princes and governors of the hundred and twenty-seven provinces, that are subject to his empire, greeting.

²Whereas I reigned over many nations, and had brought all the world under my dominion, I was not willing to abuse the greatness of my power, but to govern my subjects with clemency and that they might live quietly without any terror, and might enjoy peace, which is desired by all men,

³But when I asked my counsellors how this might be accomplished, one that excelled the rest in wisdom and fidelity, and was second after the king, Aman by name,

⁴Told me that there was a people scattered through the whole world, which used new laws, and acted against the customs of all nations, despised the commandments of kings, and violated by their opposition the concord of all nations.

⁵Wherefore having learned this, and seeing one nation in opposition to all mankind using perverse laws, and going against our commandments, and disturbing the peace and concord of the provinces subject to us,

⁶We have commanded that all whom Aman shall mark out, who is chief over all the provinces, and second after the king, and whom we honour as a father, shall be utterly destroyed by their enemies, with their wives and children, and that none shall have pity on them, on the fourteenth day of the twelfth month Adar of this present year:

⁷That these wicked men going down to hell in one day, may restore to our empire the peace which they had disturbed.

⁸But Mardochai besought the Lord, remembering all his works,

⁹And said: O Lord, Lord, almighty king, for all things are in thy power, and there is none that can resist thy will, if thou determine to save Israel.

¹⁰Thou hast made heaven and earth and all things that are under the cope of heaven.

¹¹Thou art Lord of all, and there is none that can resist thy majesty.

¹²Thou knowest all things, and thou knowest that it was not out of pride and or any desire of glory, that I refused to worship the proud Aman,

¹³(For I would willingly and readily for the salvation of Israel have kissed even the steps of his feet,)

¹⁴But I feared lest I should transfer the honour of my God to a man, and lest I should adore any one except my God.

¹⁵And now, O Lord, O king, O God of Abraham, have mercy on thy people, because our enemies resolve to destroy us, and extinguish thy inheritance.

¹⁶Despise not thy portion, which thou hast redeemed for thyself out of Egypt.

¹⁷Hear my supplication, and be merciful to thy lot and inheritance, and turn our mourning into joy, that we may live and praise thy name, O Lord, and shut not the mouths of them that sing to thee.

¹⁸And all Israel with like mind and supplication cried to the Lord, because they saw certain death hanging over their heads.

Chapter 14

Queen Esther also, fearing the danger that was at hand, had recourse to the Lord.

²And when she had laid away her royal apparel, she put on garments suitable for weeping and mourning: instead of divers precious ointments, she covered her head with ashes and dung, and she humbled her body with fasts: and all the places in which before she was accustomed to rejoice, she filled with her torn hair.

³And she prayed to the Lord the God of Israel, saying: O my Lord, who alone art our king, help me a desolate woman, and who have no other helper but thee.

⁴My danger is in my hands.

⁵I have heard of my father that thou, O Lord, didst take Israel from among all nations, and our fathers from all their predecessors, to possess them as an everlasting inheritance, and thou hast done to them as thou hast promised.

⁶We have sinned in thy sight, and therefore thou hast delivered us into the hands of our enemies:

⁷For we have worshipped their gods. Thou art just, O Lord.

⁸And now they are not content to oppress us with most hard bondage, but attributing the strength of their hands to the power of their idols.

⁹They design to change thy promises, and destroy thy inheritance, and shut the mouths of them that praise thee, and extinguish the glory of thy temple and altar,

¹⁰That they may open the mouths of Gentiles, and praise the strength of idols, and magnify for ever a carnal king.

¹¹Give not, O Lord, thy sceptre to them that are not, lest they laugh at our ruin: but turn their counsel upon themselves, and destroy him that hath begun to rage against us.

¹²Remember, O Lord, and shew thyself to us in the time of our tribulation, and give me boldness, O Lord, king of gods, and of all power:

¹³Give me a well ordered speech in my mouth in the presence of the lion, and turn his heart to the hatred of our enemy, that both he himself may perish, and the rest that consent to him.

¹⁴But deliver us by thy hand, and help me, who have no other helper, but thee, O Lord, who hast the knowledge of all things.

¹⁵And thou knowest that I hate the glory of the wicked, and abhor the bed of the uncircumcised, and of every stranger.

¹⁶Thou knowest my necessity, that I abominate the sign of my pride and glory, which is upon my head in the days of my public appearance, and detest it as a menstruous rag, and wear it not in the days of my silence,

¹⁷And that I have not eaten at Aman’s table, nor hath the king’s banquet pleased me, and that I have not drunk the wine of the drink offerings:

¹⁸And that thy handmaid hath never rejoiced, since I was brought hither unto this day but in thee, O Lord, the God of Abraham.

¹⁹O God, who art mighty above all, hear the voice of them, that have no other hope, and deliver us from the hand of the wicked, and deliver me from my fear.