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Esther 4:1-17 — Mordecai Persuades Esther to Help

Esth.4.1-17

¹When Mordecai learned all that had been done, Mordecai tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes , went out into the middle of the city, and cried out with a loud and bitter cry. ²He came only as far as the king's gate, because no one could enter the king's gate clothed in sackcloth. ³And in every province, wherever the king's word and his decree reached, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting and weeping and lamentation; sackcloth and ashes were spread out for many. ⁴When Esther's young women and her eunuchs came and told her, the queen was deeply distressed. She sent garments to clothe Mordecai and remove his sackcloth from him, but he would not accept them. ⁵Then Esther called for Hathach, one of the king's eunuchs whom he had appointed to attend her, and commanded him to go to Mordecai to learn what this was and why it was. ⁶So Hathach went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king's gate. ⁷And Mordecai told him everything that had happened to him, and the exact sum of money that Haman had said he would pay into the king's treasuries for the destruction of the Jews. ⁸He also gave him a copy of the written decree that had been issued in Susa for their destruction, to show Esther and tell her, and to charge her to go to the king, to plead with him, and to make request before him for her people. ⁹So Hathach came and reported Mordecai's words to Esther. ¹⁰Then Esther spoke to Hathach and commanded him to go to Mordecai: ¹¹“All the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces know that for any man or woman who goes to the king in the inner court without being summoned, there is but one law for that person: death, except for the one to whom the king extends the golden scepter so that he may live. But I have not been summoned to come to the king these thirty days.” ¹²And they reported Esther's words to Mordecai. ¹³Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, "Do not imagine that in the king's house you will escape any more than all the other Jews. ¹⁴For if you indeed keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place , but you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have attained royalty for a time like this?" ¹⁵Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai: ¹⁶“Go, gather together all the Jews who are found in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night and day. I and my young women also will fast in the same way. Then I will go to the king, though it is not according to the law; and if I perish, I perish.” ¹⁷So Mordecai went on his way and did according to everything that Esther had commanded him.

Translation Notes

4/11/2026

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