Esther 4–5

Chapter 4

Esther Learns of Haman’s Plot

¹When Mordecai learned ^aall that had been done, ¹he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city and wailed loudly and bitterly.

²He went as far as the king’s gate, for no one was to enter the king’s gate clothed in sackcloth.

³In each and every province where the command and decree of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with ^afasting, weeping and wailing; and many lay on sackcloth and ashes.

⁴Then Esther’s maidens and her eunuchs came and told her, and the queen writhed in great anguish. And she sent garments to clothe Mordecai that he might remove his sackcloth from him, but he did not accept them.

⁵Then Esther summoned Hathach from the king’s eunuchs, whom ¹the king had appointed to attend her, and ordered him to go to Mordecai to learn what this was and why it was.

⁶So Hathach went out to Mordecai to the city square in front of the king’s gate.

⁷Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, and ^athe exact amount of money that Haman had promised to pay to the king’s treasuries for the destruction of the Jews.

⁸He also gave him ^aa copy of the text of the edict which had been issued in Susa for their destruction, that he might show Esther and inform her, and to order her to go in to the king to implore his favor and to plead with him for her people.

⁹Hathach came back and related Mordecai’s words to Esther.

¹⁰Then Esther spoke to Hathach and ordered him to reply to Mordecai:

¹¹“All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that for any man or woman who ^acomes to the king to the inner court who is not summoned, ^bhe has but one law, that he be put to death, unless the king holds out ^cto him the golden scepter so that he may live. And I have not been summoned to come to the king for these thirty days.”

¹²They related Esther’s words to Mordecai.

¹³Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not imagine that you in the king’s palace can escape any more than all the Jews.

¹⁴“For if you remain silent at this time, relief and ^adeliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?”

Esther Plans to Intercede

¹⁵Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai,

¹⁶“Go, assemble all the Jews who are found in Susa, and fast for me; ^ado not eat or drink for ^bthree days, night or day. I and my maidens also will fast in the same way. And thus I will go in to the king, which is not according to the law; and if I perish, I perish.”

¹⁷So Mordecai went away and did just as Esther had commanded him.

Chapter 5

Esther Plans a Banquet

¹Now it came about ^aon the third day that Esther put on her royal robes and stood ^bin the inner court of the king’s palace in front of the king’s ¹rooms, and the king was sitting on his royal throne in the ²throne room, opposite the entrance to the palace.

²When the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, ^ashe obtained favor in his sight; and ^bthe king extended to Esther the golden scepter which was in his hand. So Esther came near and touched the top of the scepter.

³Then the king said to her, “What is troubling you, Queen Esther? And what is your request? ^aEven to half of the kingdom it shall be given to you.”

⁴Esther said, “If it pleases the king, may the king and Haman come this day to the banquet that I have prepared for him.”

⁵Then the king said, “^aBring Haman quickly that we may do ¹as Esther desires.” So the king and Haman came to the banquet which Esther had prepared.

⁶¹As they drank their wine at the banquet, ^athe king said to Esther, “^bWhat is your petition, for it shall be granted to you. And what is your request? Even to half of the kingdom it shall be done.”

⁷So Esther replied, “My petition and my request is:

^8aif I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and do ¹what I request, may the king and Haman come to ^bthe banquet which I will prepare for them, and tomorrow I will do ²as the king says.”

Haman’s Pride

⁹Then Haman went out that day glad and pleased of heart; but when Haman saw Mordecai ^ain the king’s gate and ^bthat he did not stand up or ¹tremble before him, Haman was filled with anger against Mordecai.

¹⁰Haman controlled himself, however, went to his house and ¹sent for his friends and his wife ^aZeresh.

¹¹Then Haman recounted to them the glory of his riches, and the ^1anumber of his sons, and every instance where the king had magnified him and how he had ^2bpromoted him above the princes and servants of the king.

¹²Haman also said, “Even Esther the queen let no one but me come with the king to the banquet which she had prepared; and ^atomorrow also I am ¹invited by her with the king.

¹³“Yet all of this ¹does not satisfy me every time I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at ^athe king’s gate.”

¹⁴Then Zeresh his wife and all his friends said to him, “^aHave a ¹gallows fifty cubits high made and in the morning ask the king to have Mordecai hanged on it; then go joyfully with the king to the banquet.” And the ²advice pleased Haman, so he had the gallows made.