Historical

Esther Helps the Jews

4 When Mordecai learned all that had been done, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and cried with a loud and bitter cry. ² He went as far as the king’s gate because no one was allowed to enter into the king’s gate clothed with sackcloth. ³ In each and every province where the king’s command and his decree came there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing. Many lay in sackcloth and ashes.

⁴ So the young women of Esther and her eunuchs came and told her of it. The queen was then seized by anguish. She sent garments to clothe Mordecai so that he could remove his sackcloth, but he would not accept them. ⁵ So Esther summoned Hathak, one of the king’s eunuchs appointed to attend her, and commanded him concerning Mordecai to learn what this was about and why.

⁶ So Hathak went out to where Mordecai was in the area of the city in front of the king’s gate. ⁷ Mordecai told him about all that had happened to him and about the sum of silver that Haman had promised to pay to the king’s treasuries for the destruction of the Jews. ⁸ Mordecai also gave him a copy of the written decree issued in Susa concerning their destruction so he could show Esther, tell her about it, and then charge her to go to the king in order to gain him favor with the king and to make requests in the presence of the king for her people.

⁹ Hathak returned and told Esther the words of Mordecai. ¹⁰ Again Esther spoke to Hathak and ordered him to reply to Mordecai: ¹¹ “All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that whoever, whether man or woman, wishes to come to the king at the inner court but has not been summoned, there is one law—to put him to death—unless for some reason the king should hold out the golden scepter so that he might live. I, however, have not been summoned to come to the king for these thirty days.”

¹² So all the words of Esther were told to Mordecai. ¹³ Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not think that in the king’s palace you will be more likely to escape than all the other Jews. ¹⁴ For if you remain silent at this time, protection and deliverance for the Jews will be ordained from some other place, but you and your father’s house shall be destroyed. And who knows if you may have attained royal position for such a time as this?”

¹⁵ Then Esther replied, sending back to Mordecai: ¹⁶ “Go, gather all the Jews who can be found in Susa, then fast for me. Stop eating and drinking for three days, night or day. I and my young women will fast likewise. Only then would I dare go to the king since it is not allowed by law, and if I perish, I perish.”

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

Queen Esther’s Banquet

5 On the third day, Esther put on her royal apparel and positioned herself in the king’s palace courtyard so that she would be directly in line with the part of the king’s throne room where the king sat facing the entrance of the room on his royal throne in the royal hall. ² When the king saw Queen Esther standing quietly out in the courtyard, she gained favor in his sight, so the king held out the golden scepter in his hand to Esther. Esther approached and touched the top of the scepter.

³ And the king said to her, “Queen Esther, what do you want? What is your request? Even if it is up to half of the kingdom, it will be given to you.”

⁴ Esther answered, “If it pleases the king, let the king and Haman come today to a feast that I have prepared for him.”

⁵ Then the king said, “Quickly bring Haman so that we may accept the invitation of Esther.”

So the king and Haman came to the banquet that Esther had prepared. ⁶ While drinking wine the king said to Esther, “For whatever you ask, it shall be granted you. So, what is your request? Even if it is for as much as half of the kingdom, it shall be done.”

⁷ Then Esther replied and said, “This is my petition and request. ⁸ If I have won the king’s favor, and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and fulfill my request, then let the king and Haman come to the banquet that I will prepare for them, and tomorrow I will do what the king says.”

Haman’s Plan to Destroy Mordecai

⁹ Haman left that day joyfully and with a glad heart, but when Haman saw Mordecai at the king’s gate, that he neither stood up nor trembled because of him, then Haman was full of indignation against Mordecai. ¹⁰ Nevertheless, Haman restrained himself, and when he came to his home, he sent for his friends and for his wife Zeresh.

¹¹ Haman recounted to them the glory of his riches, his many children, and everything about him the king had praised, and how he had promoted him over the princes and servants of the king. ¹² Then Haman continued, “Indeed, Queen Esther brought to the banquet she had prepared no one but the king and me, and tomorrow I am again invited by her with the king. ¹³ Yet for all this, I am not satisfied whenever I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate.”

¹⁴ Then his wife Zeresh and all his friends suggested to him, “Let a gallows fifty cubits^[a] tall be constructed, and in the morning ask the king if Mordecai can be hanged on it. Then go merrily with the king to the banquet.” And the suggestion pleased Haman, so he had the gallows constructed.

The King Honors Mordecai

6 During that night the king could not sleep, so he ordered that the book of memorable acts (the chronicles) be brought, and they were read before the king. ² It was found written that Mordecai had informed on Bigthana and Teresh, the two eunuchs of the king serving as the keepers of the door, who had sought to assault King Ahasuerus.

³ So the king said, “What honor or dignity has been done for Mordecai as a result of this?”

Then the king’s servants attending him said, “Nothing has been done for him.”

⁴ So the king said, “Who is out in the courtyard?” Now Haman had just then entered from across the palace courtyard in order to speak to the king about hanging Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him.

⁵ The king’s attendants said to him, “Haman is waiting in the court.”

So the king said, “Let him enter.”

⁶ And Haman entered. Now the king said to him, “What should be done for the man whom the king desires to honor?”

Haman thought in his heart, “Who more than me would the king desire to honor?” ⁷ So Haman answered the king, “For the man whom the king delights to honor, ⁸ let royal apparel be brought that the king himself has worn, and a horse on which the king has ridden, which has a royal insignia on its head. ⁹ Let the apparel and horse for this man be handled by one of the king’s noble officials in order to dress the man whom the king delights to honor, as well as to lead him on horseback throughout the city. Finally, let him proclaim before him, ‘Like this it shall be done for the man whom the king delights to honor.’ ”

¹⁰ Then the king said to Haman, “Quickly take the apparel and the horse, as you have said, and do so for Mordecai, the Jew sitting at the king’s gate. Of everything you have spoken, do not fall short of any of it.”

¹¹ So Haman took the apparel and the horse, arrayed Mordecai, led him on horseback throughout the city, and proclaimed before him, “Like this it shall be done for the man whom the king delights to honor.”

¹² As Mordecai returned again to the king’s gate, Haman hurried to his house, mourning with his head covered. ¹³ Haman recounted to his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened to him.

Then his wise friends and his wife Zeresh said to him, “If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of Jewish lineage, then you will not be victorious over him. Rather, you will surely fall before him.” ¹⁴ While they were still talking with him, the king’s eunuchs arrived and rushed Haman to the banquet that Esther had prepared.