Mardochai desireth Esther to petition the king for the Jews. They join
in fasting and prayer.
4:1. Now when Mardochai had heard these things, he rent his garments,
and put on sackcloth, strewing ashes on his head and he cried with a
loud voice in the street in the midst of the city, shewing the anguish
of his mind.
4:2. And he came lamenting in this manner even to the gate of the
palace: for no one clothed with sackcloth might enter the king's court.
4:3. And in all provinces, towns, and places, to which the king's cruel
edict was come, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting,
wailing, and weeping, many using sackcloth and ashes for their bed.
4:4. Then Esther's maids and her eunuchs went in, and told her. And when
she heard it she was in a consternation and she sent a garment, to
clothe him, and to take away the sackcloth: but he would not receive it.
4:5. And she called for Athach the eunuch, whom the king had appointed
to attend upon her, and she commanded him to go to Mardochai, and learn
of him why he did this.
4:6. And Athach going out went to Mardochai, who was standing in the
street of the city, before the palace gate:
4:7. And Mardochai told him all that had happened, how Aman had promised
to pay money into the king's treasures, to have the Jews destroyed.
4:8. He gave him also a copy of the edict which was hanging up in Susan,
that he should shew it to the queen, and admonish her to go in to the
king, and to entreat him for her people.
4:9. And Athach went back and told Esther all that Mardochai had said.
4:10. She answered him, and bade him say to Mardochai:
4:11. All the king's servants, and all the provinces that are under his
dominion, know, that whosoever, whether man or woman, cometh into the
king's inner court, who is not called for, is immediately to be put to
death without any delay: except the king shall hold out the golden
sceptre to him, in token of clemency, that so he may live. How then can
I go in to the king, who for these thirty days now have not been called
unto him?
4:12. And when Mardochai had heard this,
4:13. He sent word to Esther again, saying: Think not that thou mayst
save thy life only, because thou art in the king's house, more than all
the Jews:
4:14. For if thou wilt now hold thy peace, the Jews shall be delivered
by some other occasion: and thou, and thy father's house shall perish.
And who knoweth whether thou art not therefore come to the kingdom, that
thou mightest be ready in such a time as this?
4:15. And again Esther sent to Mardochai in these words:
4:16. Go, and gather together all the Jews whom thou shalt find in
Susan, and pray ye for me. Neither eat nor drink for three days and
three nights: and I with my handmaids will fast in like manner, and then
I will go in to the king, against the law, not being called, and expose
myself to death and to danger.
4:17. So Mardochai went, and did all that Esther had commanded him.