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Esther 4
EasyEnglish Bible

Mordecai asks Queen Esther to help the Jews

4 Mordecai discovered what Haman had done. He tore his clothes and he dressed in sackcloth and ashes, because he was very upset. He went into the city. He cried and he wept loudly as he went.

2 Nobody who was wearing sackcloth could go into the yard of the palace. So Mordecai stopped at the king's gate. 3 Jews who lived in all the regions of Xerxes' kingdom heard the king's command. So they were very sad. They were weeping and they were fasting.[a] Many of them lay on sackcloth and ashes.

4 Esther's female servants the eunuchs who took care of her told her what Mordecai was doing. So Esther was very upset. She sent clothes for Mordecai to put on instead of the sackcloth, but Mordecai refused to wear them. 5 Hathach was one of the king's eunuchs who served Esther. Esther asked him to discover what was the matter with Mordecai.[b]

6 So Hathach went to speak to Mordecai. Mordecai was outside the king's gate, in an open place. 7 Mordecai told Hathach everything that had happened. He told Hathach how much money Haman would pay to the king when people destroyed all the Jews.[c] 8 Mordecai gave Hathach a copy of the law that they had read aloud to the people in Susa. He told Hathach to show the law to Esther and explain it to her. Mordecai also said that Esther must go and speak to the king. She must ask the king to let her people live.

9 Hathach went back into the palace. He told Esther what Mordecai had said. 10 Then Esther sent Hathach back to Mordecai with this message: 11 ‘Everybody knows the law. People cannot go to meet the king in his own part of the palace unless the king asks them to come. All the king's officers and all his people know that that is the law. If somebody decides to go to the king when the king has not asked to see him, that person must die. He will only stay alive if the king holds out his gold sceptre towards him. As for me, the king has not asked me to go to him for the last 30 days.’[d]

12 When Mordecai heard this message from Esther, 13 he sent this answer back to her: ‘Do not think that you will be safe because you live in the king's palace. You will not escape when they kill all the other Jews. 14 You must speak now on behalf of all the Jewish people. If you do not, they will receive help from another place to make them safe and free. Then you and your father's family will come to an end. But I think that perhaps you have become queen so that you can help at a time like this.’[e]

15 Then Esther sent this answer to Mordecai: 16 ‘Tell all the Jews in Susa to meet together. Tell them to fast and to pray for me. They must not eat or drink for three days, during the day and the night. My female servants and I will also do that. After three days, I will go and speak to the king. I know that I will do that against the king's law. But if I must die because of that, I agree to die.’

17 Then Mordecai left the king's gate. He did everything that Esther had told him to do.

Footnotes

  1. 4:3 While the Jews fasted, they usually prayed to God. They fasted because they wanted to ask God for his help.
  2. 4:5 Esther could not leave the palace because she was one of the king's wives. Mordecai could not come into the palace because he was wearing sackcloth.
  3. 4:7 See Esther 3:9. Haman had promised to give the king a lot of silver.
  4. 4:11 The king would let Queen Esther come near to him. But only if he asked for her. So it would be dangerous for Esther to go to him at another time.
  5. 4:14 Mordecai trusted God that God would save his people, the Jews. Mordecai thought that God had put Esther in the palace as queen. Because Esther was queen, she could speak to the king. She could ask him to save the Jews.'
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Esther 4
New International Version

Mordecai Persuades Esther to Help

4 When Mordecai learned of all that had been done, he tore his clothes,(A) put on sackcloth and ashes,(B) and went out into the city, wailing(C) loudly and bitterly. 2 But he went only as far as the king’s gate,(D) because no one clothed in sackcloth was allowed to enter it. 3 In every province to which the edict and order of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing. Many lay in sackcloth and ashes.

4 When Esther’s eunuchs and female attendants came and told her about Mordecai, she was in great distress. She sent clothes for him to put on instead of his sackcloth, but he would not accept them. 5 Then Esther summoned Hathak, one of the king’s eunuchs assigned to attend her, and ordered him to find out what was troubling Mordecai and why.

6 So Hathak went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king’s gate. 7 Mordecai told him everything that had happened to him, including the exact amount of money Haman had promised to pay into the royal treasury for the destruction of the Jews.(E) 8 He also gave him a copy of the text of the edict for their annihilation, which had been published in Susa, to show to Esther and explain it to her, and he told him to instruct her to go into the king’s presence to beg for mercy and plead with him for her people.

9 Hathak went back and reported to Esther what Mordecai had said. 10 Then she instructed him to say to Mordecai, 11 “All the king’s officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned(F) the king has but one law:(G) that they be put to death unless the king extends the gold scepter(H) to them and spares their lives. But thirty days have passed since I was called to go to the king.”

12 When Esther’s words were reported to Mordecai, 13 he sent back this answer: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. 14 For if you remain silent(I) at this time, relief(J) and deliverance(K) for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”(L)

15 Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: 16 “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast(M) for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.”(N)

17 So Mordecai went away and carried out all of Esther’s instructions.

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Esther 3
Esther 5
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