CHAPTER 4
When Mordecai
learned of
all
that
had happened,
he
tore
his clothes,
put on
sackcloth
and ashes,
and went out
into the middle
of the city,
wailing
loudly
and bitterly.
But he went only
as
far as the King’s
Gate,
because
the law prohibited
anyone wearing
sackcloth
from entering
that
gate.
In every
province
to which
the king’s
command
and edict
came,
there was great
mourning
among the Jews.
They fasted,
wept,
and lamented,
and many
lay
in sackcloth
and ashes.
When
Esther's
maidens
and eunuchs
came
and told
her about Mordecai,
the queen
was overcome with distress.
She sent
clothes
for Mordecai
to wear
instead of
his sackcloth,
but he would not
accept them.
Then Esther
summoned
Hathach,
one of the king’s
eunuchs
appointed
to her,
and she dispatched
him to
Mordecai
to learn
what was troubling him
and why.
and Mordecai
told
him
all
that
had happened to him,
including
the exact amount
of money
that
Haman
had promised
to pay
into
the royal
treasury
in order to destroy
the Jews.
Mordecai also gave Hathach
a copy
of the written
decree
issued
in Susa
for the destruction of the Jews,
to show
and explain
to
Esther,
urging her
to approach
the king,
implore his favor,
and plead
before him
for
her
people.
“All
the royal
officials
and the people
of the king's
provinces
know
that
one
law
applies to every
man
or woman
who
approaches
the king
in
the inner
courtyard
without
being summoned—
that he be put to death.
Only if
the king
extends
the gold
scepter
may that person live.
But I
have not
been summoned
to appear
before
the
king
for the past thirty
days."
he
sent back
to
her
this reply:
“Do not
imagine
that because you are
in the king's
palace
you alone will escape
the fate of all
the Jews.
For
if
you remain
silent
at this
time,
relief
and deliverance
for the Jews
will arise
from another
place,
but you
and your father’s
house
will perish.
And who
knows
but that
you have come
to the kingdom
for such a time
as this?"
“Go
and assemble
all
the Jews
who can be found
in Susa,
and fast
for me.
Do not
eat
or drink
day
or night
for three
days,
and I
and my maidens
will fast
as you do.
After that,
I will go
to
the king,
even though
it is against
the law,
and if
I perish,
I perish."