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 ^(A)comes to the king in the inner courtyard, who is not summoned, ^(B)he has only one law, that he be put to death, unless the king holds out ^(C)to 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 And they reported 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 other Jews. ¹⁴ For if you keep silent at this time, liberation and ^(D)rescue 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?”