Mordecai Saves the King

¹⁹ When the virgins^(A) were gathered a second time, Mordecai was sitting at the King’s Gate.^{(B) 20} Esther still did not reveal her family background or her ethnicity, as Mordecai had directed. She obeyed Mordecai’s orders, as she always had while he raised her.

²¹ During those days while Mordecai was sitting at the King’s Gate, Bigthan and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs^(C) who guarded the entrance, became infuriated and planned to assassinate^[a] King Ahasuerus. ²² When Mordecai learned of the plot, he reported it to Queen Esther, and she told the king on Mordecai’s behalf.^{(D) 23} When the report was investigated and verified, both men were hanged on the gallows.^(E) This event was recorded in the Historical Record in the king’s presence.

Haman’s Plan to Kill the Jews

3 After all this took place, King Ahasuerus honored Haman, son of Hammedatha the Agagite.^(A) He promoted him in rank and gave him a higher position than all the other officials.^{(B) 2} The entire royal staff at the King’s Gate^(C) bowed down and paid homage to Haman, because the king had commanded this to be done for him. But Mordecai would not bow down or pay homage.^{(D) 3} The members of the royal staff at the King’s Gate asked Mordecai, “Why are you disobeying the king’s command?” ⁴ When they had warned him day after day^(E) and he still would not listen to them, they told Haman in order to see if Mordecai’s actions would be tolerated, since he had told them he was a Jew.

⁵ When Haman saw that Mordecai was not bowing down or paying him homage, he was filled with rage.^{(F) 6} And when he learned of Mordecai’s ethnic identity, it seemed repugnant to Haman to do away with^[a] Mordecai alone. He planned to destroy all of Mordecai’s people, the Jews,^(G) throughout Ahasuerus’s kingdom.^(H)

⁷ In the first month, the month of Nisan, in King Ahasuerus’s twelfth year,^(I) the pur—that is, the lot—was cast before Haman for each day in each month, and it fell on the twelfth month,^(J) the month Adar.^{(K) 8} Then Haman informed King Ahasuerus, “There is one ethnic group, scattered throughout the peoples in every province of your kingdom,^(L) keeping themselves separate. Their laws are different from everyone else’s and they do not obey the king’s laws.^(M) It is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them.^{(N) 9} If the king approves, let an order be drawn up authorizing their destruction, and I will pay 375 tons of silver to^[b] the officials for deposit in the royal treasury.”^(O)

¹⁰ The king removed his signet ring^(P) from his hand and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews.^{(Q) 11} Then the king told Haman, “The money and people are given to you to do with as you see fit.”

¹² The royal scribes were summoned^(R) on the thirteenth day of the first month, and the order was written exactly as Haman commanded. It was intended for the royal satraps,^(S) the governors of each of the provinces, and the officials of each ethnic group and written for each province in its own script and to each ethnic group in its own language.^(T) It was written in the name of King Ahasuerus^(U) and sealed with the royal signet ring.^{(V) 13} Letters were sent by couriers^(W) to each of the royal provinces telling the officials to destroy, kill, and annihilate all the Jewish people—young and old, women and children—and plunder their possessions on a single day,^(X) the thirteenth day of Adar, the twelfth month.^[c]

¹⁴ A copy of the text, issued as law throughout every province, was distributed to all the peoples so that they might get ready for that day. ¹⁵ The couriers left, spurred on by royal command, and the law was issued in the fortress of Susa.^(Y) The king and Haman sat down to drink, while the city of Susa was in confusion.^(Z)

Mordecai Appeals to Esther

4 When Mordecai learned all that had occurred,^(A) he tore his clothes,^(B) put on sackcloth and ashes,^(C) went into the middle of the city, and cried loudly and bitterly.^{(D) 2} He went only as far as the King’s Gate,^(E) since the law prohibited anyone wearing sackcloth from entering the King’s Gate. ³ There was great mourning among the Jewish people in every province where the king’s command and edict^(F) reached. They fasted, wept, and lamented, and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.^(G)

⁴ Esther’s female servants and her eunuchs came and reported the news to her, and the queen was overcome with fear.^(H) She sent clothes for Mordecai to wear so that he would take off his sackcloth, but he did not accept them. ⁵ Esther summoned Hathach, one of the king’s eunuchs who attended her, and dispatched him to Mordecai to learn what he was doing and why.^{[a] 6} So Hathach went out to Mordecai in the city square in front of the King’s Gate. ⁷ Mordecai told him everything that had happened as well as the exact amount of money Haman had promised to pay the royal treasury for the slaughter of the Jews.^(I)

⁸ Mordecai also gave him a copy of the written decree issued in Susa ordering their destruction, so that Hathach might show it to Esther, explain it to her, and command her to approach the king, implore his favor, and plead with him personally for her people.^{(J) 9} Hathach came and repeated Mordecai’s response to Esther.

¹⁰ Esther spoke to Hathach and commanded him to tell Mordecai, ¹¹ “All the royal officials and the people of the royal provinces know that one law applies to every man or woman who approaches the king in the inner courtyard^(K) and who has not been summoned—the death penalty^(L)—unless the king extends the gold scepter, allowing that person to live.^(M) I have not been summoned to appear before the king^(N) for the last^[b] thirty days.” ¹² Esther’s response was reported to Mordecai.

¹³ Mordecai told the messenger to reply to Esther, “Don’t think that you will escape the fate of all the Jews because you are in the king’s palace. ¹⁴ If you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will come to the Jewish people from another place,^(O) but you and your father’s family will be destroyed. Who knows, perhaps you have come to your royal position for such a time as this.”^(P)

¹⁵ Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: ¹⁶ “Go and assemble all the Jews who can be found in Susa and fast for me. Don’t eat or drink for three days,^(Q) night or day. I and my female servants will also fast^(R) in the same way. After that, I will go to the king even if it is against the law.^(S) If I perish, I perish.”^{(T) 17} So Mordecai went and did everything Esther had commanded him.

Esther Approaches the King

5 On the third day,^(A) Esther dressed in her royal clothing and stood in the inner courtyard^(B) of the palace facing it. The king was sitting on his royal throne in the royal courtroom,^[a] facing its entrance. ² As soon as the king saw Queen Esther standing in the courtyard, she gained favor with him. The king extended the gold scepter in his hand toward Esther, and she approached and touched the tip of the scepter.^(C)

³ “What is it, Queen Esther?” the king asked her. “Whatever you want, even to half the kingdom, will be given to you.”^(D)

⁴ “If it pleases the king,” Esther replied, “may the king and Haman come today to the banquet^(E) I have prepared for them.”

⁵ The king said, “Hurry, and get Haman so we can do as Esther has requested.” So the king and Haman went to the banquet Esther had prepared.

⁶ While drinking the^[b] wine,^(F) the king asked Esther, “Whatever you ask will be given to you. Whatever you want, even to half the kingdom, will be done.”

⁷ Esther answered, “This is my petition and my request: ⁸ If I have found favor in the eyes of the king, and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and perform my request,^(G) may the king and Haman come to the banquet I will prepare for them.^(H) Tomorrow I will do what the king has asked.”

⁹ That day Haman left full of joy and in good spirits.^[c](I) But when Haman saw Mordecai at the King’s Gate, and Mordecai didn’t rise or tremble in fear at his presence, Haman was filled with rage toward Mordecai.^{(J) 10} Yet Haman controlled himself and went home. He sent for his friends and his wife Zeresh^(K) to join him. ¹¹ Then Haman described for them his glorious wealth and his many sons. He told them all how the king had honored him and promoted him in rank over the other officials and the royal staff.^{(L) 12} “What’s more,” Haman added, “Queen Esther invited no one but me to join the king at the banquet she had prepared. I am invited again tomorrow to join her with the king. ¹³ Still, none of this satisfies me since I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the King’s Gate all the time.”

¹⁴ His wife Zeresh and all his friends told him, “Have them build a gallows seventy-five feet^[d] tall.^(M) Ask the king in the morning to hang Mordecai on it. Then go to the banquet with the king and enjoy yourself.” The advice pleased Haman, so he had the gallows constructed.^(N)