Esther 4

1 When Mordecai learned all that was happening, he tore his garments, put on sackcloth and ashes, and walked through the city crying out loudly and bitterly,
2 till he came before the royal gate, which no one clothed in sackcloth might enter.
3 (Likewise in each of the provinces, wherever the king's legal enactment reached, the Jews went into deep mourning, with fasting, weeping, and lament; they all slept on sackcloth and ashes.)
4 Queen Esther's maids and eunuchs came and told her. Overwhelmed with anguish, she sent garments for Mordecai to put on, so that he might take off his sackcloth; but he refused.
5 Esther then summoned Hathach, one of the king's eunuchs whom he had placed at her service, and commanded him to find out what this action of Mordecai meant and the reason for it.
6 So Hathach went out to Mordecai in the public square in front of the royal gate,
7 and Mordecai told him all that had happened, as well as the exact amount of silver Haman had promised to pay to the royal treasury for the slaughter of the Jews.
8 He also gave him a copy of the written decree for their destruction which had been promulgated in Susa, to show and explain to Esther. He was to instruct her to go to the king; she was to plead and intercede with him in behalf of her people. (B:8) Remember the days of your lowly estate, Mordecai had him say, when you were brought up in my charge; for Haman, who is second to the king, has asked for our death. (B:9) Invoke the Lord and speak to the king for us: save us from death.
9 Hathach returned to Esther and told her what Mordecai had said.
10 Then Esther replied to Hathach and gave him this message for Mordecai:
11 All the servants of the king and the people of his provinces know that any man or woman who goes to the king in the inner court without being summoned, suffers the automatic penalty of death, unless the king extends to him the golden scepter, thus sparing his life. Now as for me, I have not been summoned to the king for thirty days.
12 When Esther's words were reported to Mordecai,
13 he had this reply brought to her: Do not imagine that because you are in the king's palace, you alone of all the Jews will escape.
14 Even if you now remain silent, relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from another source; but you and your father's house will perish. Who knows but that it was for a time like this that you obtained the royal dignity?
15 Esther sent back to Mordecai the response:
16 Go and assemble all the Jews who are in Susa; fast on my behalf, all of you, not eating or drinking, night or day, for three days. I and my maids will also fast in the same way. Thus prepared, I will go to the king, contrary to the law. If I perish, I perish!
17 Mordecai went away and did exactly as Esther had commanded.

Esther 5

1 Now on the third day, Esther put on her royal garments and stood in the inner courtyard, looking toward the royal palace, while the king was seated on his royal throne in the audience chamber, facing the palace doorway.
2 He saw Queen Esther standing in the courtyard, and made her welcome by extending toward her the golden staff which he held. She came up to him, and touched the top of the staff.]
3 Then the king said to her, What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? Even if it is half of my kingdom, it shall be granted you.
4 If it please your majesty, Esther replied, come today with Haman to a banquet I have prepared.
5 And the king ordered, Have Haman make haste to fulfill the wish of Esther. So the king went with Haman to the banquet Esther had prepared.
6 During the drinking of the wine, the king said to Esther, Whatever you ask for shall be granted, and whatever request you make shall be honored, even if it is for half my kingdom.
7 Esther replied: This is my petition and request:
8 if I have found favor with the king and if it pleases your majesty to grant my petition and honor my request, come with Haman tomorrow to a banquet which I shall prepare for you; and then I will do as you ask.
9 That day Haman left happy and in good spirits. But when he saw that Mordecai at the royal gate did not rise, and showed no fear of him, he was filled with anger toward him.
10 Haman restrained himself, however, and went home, where he summoned his friends and his wife Zeresh.
11 He recounted the greatness of his riches, the large number of his sons, and just how the king had promoted him and placed him above the officials and royal servants.
12 Moreover, Haman added, Queen Esther invited no one but me to the banquet with the king; again tomorrow I am to be her guest, with the king.
13 Yet none of this satisfies me as long as I continue to see the Jew Mordecai sitting at the royal gate.
14 His wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, Have a gibbet set up, fifty cubits in height, and in the morning ask the king to have Mordecai hanged on it. Then go to the banquet with the king in good cheer. This suggestion pleased Haman, and he had the gibbet erected.

Esther 6

1 That night the king, unable to sleep, asked that the chronicle of notable events be brought in. While this was being read to him,
2 the passage occurred in which Mordecai reported Bagathan and Teresh, two of the royal eunuchs who guarded the entrance, for seeking to lay hands on King Ahasuerus.
3 The king asked, What was done to reward and honor Mordecai for this? The king's attendants replied, Nothing was done for him.
4 Who is in the court? the king asked. Now Haman had entered the outer court of the king's palace to suggest to the king that Mordecai should be hanged on the gibbet he had raised for him.
5 The king's servants answered him, Haman is waiting in the court. Let him come in, the king said.
6 When Haman entered, the king said to him, What should be done for the man whom the king wishes to reward? Now Haman thought to himself, Whom would the king more probably wish to reward than me?
7 So he replied to the king: For the man whom the king wishes to reward
8 there should be brought the royal robe which the king wore and the horse on which the king rode when the royal crown was placed on his head.
9 The robe and the horse should be consigned to one of the noblest of the king's officials, who must clothe the man the king wishes to reward, have him ride on the horse in the public square of the city, and cry out before him, This is what is done for the man whom the king wishes to reward!'
10 Then the king said to Haman: Hurry! Take the robe and horse as you have proposed, and do this for the Jew Mordecai, who is sitting at the royal gate. Do not omit anything you proposed.
11 So Haman took the robe and horse, clothed Mordecai, had him ride in the public square of the city, and cried out before him, This is what is done for the man whom the king wishes to reward!
12 Mordecai then returned to the royal gate, while Haman hurried home, his head covered in grief.
13 When he told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened to him, his advisers and his wife Zeresh said to him, If Mordecai, before whom you are beginning to decline, is of the Jewish race, you will not prevail against him, but will surely be defeated by him.
14 While they were speaking with him, the king's eunuchs arrived and hurried Haman off to the banquet Esther had prepared.

Esther 7

1 So the king and Haman went to the banquet with Queen Esther.
2 Again, on this second day, during the drinking of the wine, the king said to Esther, Whatever you ask, Queen Esther, shall be granted you. Whatever request you make shall be honored, even for half the kingdom.
3 Queen Esther replied: If I have found favor with you, O king, and if it pleases your majesty, I ask that my life be spared, and I beg that you spare the lives of my people.
4 For my people and I have been delivered to destruction, slaughter, and extinction. If we were to be sold into slavery I would remain silent, but as it is, the enemy will be unable to compensate for the harm done to the king.
5 Who and where, said King Ahasuerus to Queen Esther, is the man who has dared to do this?
6 Esther replied, The enemy oppressing us is this wicked Haman. At this, Haman was seized with dread of the king and queen.
7 The king left the banquet in anger and went into the garden of the palace, but Haman stayed to beg Queen Esther for his life, since he saw that the king had decided on his doom.
8 When the king returned from the garden of the palace to the banquet hall, Haman had thrown himself on the couch on which Esther was reclining; and the king exclaimed, Will he also violate the queen while she is with me in my own house! Scarcely had the king spoken when the face of Haman was covered over.
9 Harbona, one of the eunuchs who attended the king, said, At the house of Haman stands a gibbet fifty cubits high. Haman prepared it for Mordecai, who gave the report that benefited the king. The king answered, Hang him on it.
10 So they hanged Haman on the gibbet which he had made ready for Mordecai, and the anger of the king abated.