Ester, starting at chapter 4
{4:1} Now when Mordekhai knew all that was done, Mordekhai tore his
clothes, and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the midst
of the city, and cried with a loud and a bitter cry; {4:2} and he came
even before the king's gate: for none might enter within the king's
gate clothed with sackcloth. {4:3} In every province, wherever the
king's [1>]mitzvah[<1] and his decree came, there was great mourning
among the Yehudim, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing; and many lay
in sackcloth and ashes. {4:4} Ester's maidens and her chamberlains
came and told it her; and the queen was exceedingly grieved: and she
sent clothing to clothe Mordekhai, and to take his sackcloth from off
him; but he didn't receive it. {4:5} Then called Ester for Hatakh, one
of the king's chamberlains, whom he had appointed to attend on her,
and charged him to go to Mordekhai, to know what this was, and why it
was. {4:6} So Hatakh went forth to Mordekhai to the broad place of the
city, which was before the king's gate. {4:7} Mordekhai told him of
all that had happened to him, and the exact sum of the money that
Haman had promised to pay to the king's treasuries for the Yehudim, to
destroy them. {4:8} Also he gave him the copy of the writing of the
decree that was given out in Shushan to destroy them, to show it to
Ester, and to declare it to her, and to charge her that she should go
in to the king, to make supplication to him, and to make request
before him, for her people. {4:9} Hatakh came and told Ester the words
of Mordekhai. {4:10} Then Ester spoke to Hatakh, and gave him a
message to Mordekhai [saying]: {4:11} All the king's servants, and the
people of the king's provinces, do know, that whoever, whether man or
woman, shall come to the king into the inner court, who is not called,
there is one law for him, that he be put to death, except those to
whom the king shall hold out the golden scepter, that he may live: but
I have not been called to come in to the king these thirty days.
{4:12} They told to Mordekhai Ester's words. {4:13} Then Mordekhai
bade them return answer to Ester, Don't think to yourself that you
shall escape in the king's house, more than all the Yehudim. {4:14}
For if you altogether hold your shalom at this time, then will relief
and deliverance arise to the Yehudim from another place, but you and
your father's house will perish: and who knows whether you haven't
come to the kingdom for such a time as this? {4:15} Then Ester bade
them return answer to Mordekhai, {4:16} Go, gather together all the
Yehudim who are present in Shushan, and fast you for me, and neither
eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will
fast in like manner; and so will I go in to the king, which is not
according to the law: and if I perish, I perish. {4:17} So Mordekhai
went his way, and did according to all that Ester had commanded him.
{5:1} Now it happened on the third day, that Ester put on her royal
clothing, and stood in the inner court of the king's house, over
against the king's house: and the king sat on his royal throne in the
royal house, over against the entrance of the house. {5:2} It was so,
when the king saw Ester the queen standing in the court, that she
obtained favor in his sight; and the king held out to Ester the golden
scepter that was in his hand. So Ester drew near, and touched the top
of the scepter. {5:3} Then said the king to her, What will you, queen
Ester? and what is your request? it shall be given you even to the
half of the kingdom. {5:4} Ester said, If it seem good to the king,
let the king and Haman come this day to the banquet that I have
prepared for him. {5:5} Then the king said, Cause Haman to make haste,
that it may be done as Ester has said. So the king and Haman came to
the banquet that Ester had prepared. {5:6} The king said to Ester at
the banquet of wine, What is your petition? and it shall be granted
you: and what is your request? even to the half of the kingdom it
shall be performed. {5:7} Then answered Ester, and said, My petition
and my request is: {5:8} if I have found favor in the sight of the
king, and if it please the king to grant my petition, and to perform
my request, let the king and Haman come to the banquet that I shall
prepare for them, and I will do tomorrow as the king has said. {5:9}
Then went Haman forth that day joyful and glad of heart: but when
Haman saw Mordekhai in the king's gate, that he didn't stand up nor
move for him, he was filled with wrath against Mordekhai. {5:10}
Nevertheless Haman refrained himself, and went home; and he sent and
fetched his friends and Zeresh his wife. {5:11} Haman recounted to
them the glory of his riches, and the multitude of his children, and
all the things in which the king had promoted him, and how he had
advanced him above the princes and servants of the king. {5:12} Haman
said moreover, Yes, Ester the queen did let no man come in with the
king to the banquet that she had prepared but myself; and tomorrow
also am I invited by her together with the king. {5:13} Yet all this
avails me nothing, so long as I see Mordekhai the Yehudi sitting at
the king's gate. {5:14} Then said Zeresh his wife and all his friends
to him, Let a gallows be made fifty cubits high, and in the morning
speak you to the king that Mordekhai may be hanged thereon: then go
you in merrily with the king to the banquet. The thing pleased Haman;
and he caused the gallows to be made.
{6:1} On that night the king couldn't sleep; and he commanded to
bring the book of records of the chronicles, and they were read before
the king. {6:2} It was found written that Mordekhai had told of
Bigtana and Teresh, two of the king's chamberlains, of those who kept
the threshold, who had sought to lay hands on the king Achashverosh.
{6:3} The king said, What honor and dignity has been bestowed on
Mordekhai for this? Then the king's servants who ministered to him
said, "Nothing has been done for him."
{6:4} The king said, "Who is in the court?" Now Haman was come into
the outward court of the king's house, to speak to the king to hang
Mordekhai on the gallows that he had prepared for him. {6:5} The
king's servants said to him, Behold, Haman stands in the court. The
king said, Let him come in. {6:6} So Haman came in. The king said to
him, What shall be done to the man whom the king delights to honor?
Now Haman said in his heart, To whom would the king delight to do
honor more than to myself? {6:7} Haman said to the king, For the man
whom the king delights to honor, {6:8} let royal clothing be brought
which the king uses to wear, and the horse that the king rides on, and
on the head of which a crown royal is set: {6:9} and let the clothing
and the horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king's most noble
princes, that they may array the man therewith whom the king delights
to honor, and cause him to ride on horseback through the street of the
city, and proclaim before him, Thus shall it be done to the man whom
the king delights to honor. {6:10} Then the king said to Haman, Make
haste, and take the clothing and the horse, as you have said, and do
even so to Mordekhai the Yehudi, who sits at the king's gate: let
nothing fail of all that you have spoken. {6:11} Then took Haman the
clothing and the horse, and arrayed Mordekhai, and caused him to ride
through the street of the city, and proclaimed before him, Thus shall
it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor. {6:12}
Mordekhai came again to the king's gate. But Haman hurried to his
house, mourning and having his head covered. {6:13} Haman recounted to
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 Mordekhai,
before whom you have begun to fall, be of the seed of the Yehudim, you
shall not prevail against him, but shall surely fall before him.
{6:14} While they were yet talking with him, came the king's
chamberlains, and hurried to bring Haman to the banquet that Ester had
prepared.
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Footnotes:
[1] {4:3} commandment
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