1   When Mardochaeus learnt all that was being done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and sprinkled himself with ashes; and he rushed through the city, crying loudly: ‘An innocent nation is being destroyed.’ 2   He went as far as the king's gate, and there he halted, because no one was allowed to enter the courtyard clothed with sackcloth and ashes. 3   In every province where the king's decree was posted up, there was a great cry of mourning and lamentation among the Jews, and they put on sackcloth and ashes. 4   When the queen's maids and eunuchs came and told her, she was distraught at the news, and sent clothes for Mardochaeus, urging him to take off his sackcloth; but he would not consent. 5   Then Esther summoned Hachrathaeus, the eunuch who waited upon her, and ordered him to obtain accurate information for her from Mardochaeus. ^note 7   So Mardochaeus told him all that had happened, and how Haman had promised to pay ten thousand talents into the royal treasury to bring about the destruction of the Jews. 8   He also gave him a copy of the written decree for their destruction which had been posted up in Susa, to show to Esther; and he gave him a message for her, that she should go to the king and plead for his favour and entreat him for her people. ‘Remember’, he said, ‘those days when you were brought up in my humble home; for Haman, who stands next to the king, has spoken against us and demanded our death. Call upon the Lord, and then speak for us to the king and save our

A plot against the Jews lives.’ 9   Hachrathaeus returned and told her what Mardochaeus had said. 10    11   She sent him back with this message: ‘All nations of the empire know that if any person, man or woman, enters the king's presence in the inner court unbidden, there is no escape for him. Only one to whom the king stretches out the golden sceptre is safe; and it is now thirty days since I myself was called to go to the king.’

12    13   When Hachrathaeus delivered her message, Mardochaeus told him to go back and say: ‘Do not imagine, Esther, that you alone of all the Jews in the empire will escape alive. 14   For if you remain silent at such a time as this, the Jews will somewhere find relief and deliverance, but you and your father's family will perish. Who knows whether it is not for such a time as this that you have been made a queen?’ 15   Esther gave the messenger this answer to take back to Mardochaeus: 16   ‘Go and assemble all the Jews who are in Susa and fast for me; for three days take neither food nor drink, night or day, and I and my maids will also go without food. Then in defiance of the law I will enter the king's presence, even if it costs me my life.’ 17   So Mardochaeus went away and did as Esther had bidden him.]

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