Chapter 4

Esther Learns of Haman’s Plot

1 When 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.

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

3 In 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.

4 Then 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.

5 Then 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.

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

7 Mordecai 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.

8 He 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.

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

10 Then 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.”

12 They related Esther’s words to Mordecai.

13 Then 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

15 Then 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.”

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

Chapter 5

Esther Plans a Banquet

1 Now 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.

2 When 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.

3 Then 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.”

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

5 Then 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.

6 1As 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.”

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

8 aif 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

9 Then 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.

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

11 Then 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.

12 Haman 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.”

14 Then 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.

Chapter 6

The King Plans to Honor Mordecai

1 During that night 1the king acould not sleep so he gave an order to bring bthe book of records, the chronicles, and they were read before the king.

2 It was found written what aMordecai had reported concerning Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs who were doorkeepers, that they had sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus.

3 The king said, “What honor or dignity has been bestowed on Mordecai for this?” Then the king’s servants who attended him said, “Nothing has been done for him.”

4 So the king said, “Who is in the court?” Now Haman had just aentered the outer court of the king’s palace in order to speak to the king about bhanging Mordecai on the gallows which he had prepared for him.

5 The king’s servants said to him, “Behold, Haman is standing in the court.” And the king said, “Let him come in.”

6 So Haman came in and the king said to him, “What is to be done for the man awhom the king desires to honor?” And Haman said 1to himself, “Whom would the king desire to honor more than me?”

7 Then Haman said to the king, “For the man whom the king desires to honor,

8 let them bring a royal robe which the king has worn, and athe horse on which the king has ridden, and on whose head ba royal crown has been placed;

9 and let the robe and the horse be handed over to one of the king’s most noble princes and let them array the man whom the king desires to honor and lead him on horseback through the city square, aand proclaim before him, ‘Thus it shall be done to the man whom the king desires to honor.’ ”

Haman Must Honor Mordecai

10 Then the king said to Haman, “Take quickly the robes and the horse as you have said, and do so for Mordecai the Jew, who is sitting at the king’s gate; do not fall short in anything of all that you have said.”

11 So Haman took the robe and the horse, and arrayed Mordecai, and led him on horseback through the city square, and proclaimed before him, “Thus it shall be done to the man whom the king desires to honor.”

12 Then Mordecai returned to the king’s gate. But Haman hurried home, mourning, awith his head covered.

13 Haman recounted ato Zeresh his wife and all his friends everything that had happened to him. Then his wise men and Zeresh his wife said to him, “If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is 1of Jewish origin, you will not overcome him, but will surely fall before him.”

14 While they were still talking with him, the king’s eunuchs arrived and hastily abrought Haman to the banquet which Esther had prepared.