Historical

Mordecai Tells Esther of Haman’s Plot

4 Mordecai learned all that had been done and he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes. And he went through the middle of the city and cried out a loud and bitter cry; ² he went up to the entrance of the gate of the king, for he could not go to the gate of the king in sackcloth. ³ In every province each place where the king’s edict and his law came, there was great mourning for the Jews with fasting, crying, wailing, and sackcloth; and ashes were spread out as a bed for them.

⁴ And Esther’s maids and her eunuchs came and they told her, and the queen was deeply distressed; she sent garments to clothe Mordecai so that he might remove his sackcloth—but he did not accept them. ⁵ Then Esther called Hathach from the king’s eunuchs who regularly attended to her,^[a] and she ordered him to go to Mordecai to learn what was happening and why. ⁶ So Hathach went out to Mordecai, to the public square of the city, which was in front of the gate of the king, ⁷ and Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, and the exact amount of money that Haman has promised to pay to the treasury of the king for the destruction of the Jews. ⁸ And he gave him a copy of the edict of the law that had been issued in Susa for their destruction to show Esther, and to inform her, and to charge her to go to the king and make supplication to him and entreat before him for her people.

⁹ And Hathach went back and told Esther the words of Mordecai. ¹⁰ And Esther spoke to Hathach and she gave him a message for Mordecai:^{[b] 11} “All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that if any man or woman who goes to the king to the inner courtyard, who is not called, he has one law, to be killed, except if the king extends to him the gold scepter so that he may live. I have not been called to come to the king for thirty days.”^{[c] 12} And they told Mordecai the words of Esther. ¹³ Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther: “Do not think that your life will be saved in the palace of the king more than all the Jews. ¹⁴ For if indeed you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, and you and the family of your father will perish. Who knows? Perhaps you have come to a royal position for a time such as this.” ¹⁵ Esther replied to Mordecai: ¹⁶ “Go, gather all the Jews that are found in Susa and fast for me; do not eat or drink for three days, both night and day. I and my young girls will fast likewise, and then I will go to the king, which is not according to the law; if I perish, I perish. ¹⁷ And Mordecai went away and he did everything that Esther commanded him.

Esther’s Banquet

5 And it happened, on the third day, and Esther put on royal clothes, and she stood in the inner courtyard of the king’s palace,^[d] opposite the king’s palace;^[e] the king was sitting on his royal throne in the throne room^[f] opposite the doorway of the palace. ² When the king saw Queen Esther standing in the courtyard she found favor in his eyes, and the king held out the gold scepter that was in his hand to Esther, and Esther approached and touched the top of the scepter. ³ And the king said to her, “What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? It will be given to you—even half the kingdom.” ⁴ And Esther said, “If it is good to the king, let the king and Haman come today to the banquet that I have prepared for him.” ⁵ And the king said, “Bring Haman quickly to fulfill^[g] the request of Esther.” So the king and Haman came to the banquet that Esther had prepared. ⁶ And the king said to Esther while they were drinking wine,^[h] “What is your petition? It will be given to you. What is your request? Even half the kingdom, it will done. ⁷ And Esther answered and said, “This is my petition and my request. ⁸ If I have found favor in the eyes of the king,^[i] and if it is good to the king to grant my petition and fulfill my request, let the king and Haman come to the banquet that I will prepare for them tomorrow, and I will do according to the word of the king.

⁹ And Haman went out on that day rejoicing and feeling good.^[j] But when Haman saw Mordecai at the gate of the king, and he did not rise or tremble before him, Haman was filled with rage toward^[k] Mordecai. ¹⁰ But Haman controlled himself and went to his house, and he sent for and brought his friends and Zeresh his wife. ¹¹ And Haman recounted to them the splendor of his wealth and the number of his sons and all the ways that the king had honored him and promoted him above the officials and king’s servants. ¹² And Haman added,^[l] “Esther the Queen did not let just anyone come to the banquet that she prepared with the king except me, and I am also invited tomorrow to her banquet with the king. ¹³ But all this fails to satisfy me^[m] when^[n] I see Mordecai the Jew setting at the gate of the king.” ¹⁴ And Zeresh his wife and all of his friends said to him, “Let them make a gallows fifty cubits^[o] high, and in the morning tell the king, “Let them hang Mordecai on it; then go with the king to the banquet happily.” The advice pleased Haman, so he had the gallows made.

Mordecai is Honored

6 During that night the king’s sleep escaped him, and he gave orders to bring the scroll of records and chronicles,^[p] and they were read before the king. ² And it was found written how Mordecai had reported concerning Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs from the keepers of the threshold who had conspired to assassinate^[q] King Ahasuerus. ³ And the king asked, “What has been done to bestow honor to Mordecai for this?” And the king’s servants who attended him said, “Nothing has been done for him.” ⁴ And the king asked, “Who is in the courtyard?” Haman had just come to the courtyard of the king’s outer palace to tell the king to hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him. ⁵ And the king’s servants said to him, “Look! Haman is standing in the courtyard.” And the king said, “Let him come.” ⁶ And Haman came, and the king said to him, “What is to be done for the man whom the king wishes to honor?” And Haman thought to himself, “Whom would the king wish to honor more than me?” ⁷ So Haman said to the king, “For a man whom the king wishes to honor, ⁸ let them bring royal clothing^[r] with which the king has clothed himself, and a horse that the king has ridden, and on whose head a royal head-dress has been given. ⁹ And let the clothing and the horse be given to the man^[s] by the officials of the king’s nobles; let them cloth the man whom the king wishes to honor, and let him ride on his horse through the public square of the city, and let them proclaim before him, ‘Thus, it will be done for the man whom the king wishes to honor.’” ¹⁰ Then the king said to Haman, “Quickly, take the clothing and the horse, just as you have said, and do so to Mordecai the Jew who sits at the gate of the king; you must not leave out anything from what you have said.” ¹¹ So Haman took the clothing and the horse, and he clothed Mordecai and let him ride through the public square of the city; and he proclaimed before him, “Thus, it is done to the man whom the king wishes to honor.”

¹² Then Mordecai returned to the gate of the king, and Haman rushed to his house mournful and with his head covered. ¹³ And Haman told Zeresh his wife and all his friends all that had happened to him. And his advisers and Zeresh his wife said to him, “If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is from the descendants of the Jews,^[t] you will not prevail against him, but will certainly fall before him.” ¹⁴ As they were still speaking with him the king’s eunuchs arrived and hurried to bring Haman to the banquet that Esther had prepared.