28 All Israel cried with all their might, for death was before their eyes. 29 And queen Esther took refuge in the Lord, being taken as it were in the agony of death. 30 Having taken off her glorious apparel, she put on garments of distress and mourning. Instead of grand perfumes she filled her head with ashes and dung. She greatly humbled her body, and she filled every place of her glad adorning with her tangled hair. 31 She implored the Lord God of Israel, and said, “O my Lord, you alone are our king. Help me. I am destitute, and have no helper but you, 32 for my danger is near at hand‡. 33 I have heard from my birth in the tribe of my kindred that you, Lord, took Israel out of all the nations, and our fathers out of all their kindred for a perpetual inheritance, and have done for them all that you have said. 34 And now we have sinned before you, and you have delivered us into the hands of our enemies, 35 because we honoured their gods. You are righteous, O Lord. 36 But now they have not been content with the bitterness of our slavery, but have laid their hands on the hands of their idols 37 to abolish the decree of your mouth, and utterly to destroy your inheritance, and to stop the mouth of those who praise you, and to extinguish the glory of your house and your altar, 38 and to open the mouth of the Gentiles to speak the§ praises of vanities, and that a mortal king should be admired forever. 39 O Lord, don’t surrender your sceptre to those who don’t exist, and don’t let them laugh at our fall, but turn their counsel against themselves, and make an example of him who has begun to injure us. 40 Remember us, O Lord! Manifest yourself in the time of our affliction. Encourage me, O King of gods, and ruler of all dominion! 41 Put harmonious speech into my mouth before the lion, and turn his heart to hate him who fights against us, to the utter destruction of those who agree with him. 42 But deliver us by your hand, and help me who am alone and have no one but you, O Lord. 43 You know all things, and know that I hate the glory of transgressors,† and that I abhor the bed of the uncircumcised and of every stranger. 44 You know my necessity, for I abhor the symbol of my proud station, which is upon my head in the days of my‡ splendour. I abhor it as a menstruous cloth, and I don’t wear it in the days of my tranquillity. 45 Your handmaid has not eaten at Haman’s table, and I have not honoured the banquet of the king, neither have I drunk wine of libations. 46 Neither has your handmaid rejoiced since the day of my promotion until now, except in you, O Lord God of Abraham. 47 O god, who has power over all, listen to the voice of the desperate, and deliver us from the hand of those who devise mischief. Deliver me from my fear.]
5
1 † It came to pass on the third day, when she had ceased praying, that she took off her servant’s dress and put on her glorious apparel. Being splendidly dressed and having called upon God the Overseer and Preserver of all things, she took her two maids, and she leaned upon one, as a delicate female, and the other followed bearing her train. She was blooming in the perfection of her beauty. Her face was cheerful and looked lovely, but her heart was filled with fear. Having passed through all the doors, she stood before the king. He was sitting on his royal throne. He had put on all his glorious apparel, covered all over with gold and precious stones, and was very terrifying. And having raised his face resplendent with glory, he looked with intense anger. The queen fell, and changed her colour as she fainted. She bowed herself upon the head of the maid who went before her. But God changed the spirit of the king to gentleness, and in intense feeling, he sprang from off his throne, and took her into his arms, until she recovered. He comforted her with peaceful words, and said to her, “What is the matter, Esther? I am your relative. Cheer up! You shall not die, for our command is openly declared to you: ‘Draw near.’ ”
2 And having raised the golden sceptre, he laid it upon her neck, and embraced her. He said, “Speak to me.”
So she said to him, “I saw you, my lord, as an angel of God, and my heart was troubled for fear of your glory; for you, my lord, are to be wondered at, and your face is full of grace.” While she was speaking, she fainted and fell.
Then the king was troubled, and all his servants comforted her. 3 The king said, “What do you desire, Esther? What is your request? Ask even to the half of my kingdom, and it shall be yours.”
4 Esther said, “Today is a special day. So if it seems good to the king, let both him and Haman come to the feast which I will prepare this day.”
5 The king said, “Hurry and bring Haman here, that we may do as Esther said.” So they both came to the feast about which Esther had spoken. 6 At the banquet, the king said to Esther, “What is your request, queen Esther? You shall have all that you require.”
7 She said, “My request and my petition is: 8 if I have found favour in the king’s sight, let the king and Haman come again tomorrow to the feast which I shall prepare for them, and tomorrow I will do as I have done today.”
9 So Haman went out from the king very glad and merry; but when Haman saw Mordecai the Jew in the court, he was greatly enraged. 10 Having gone into his own house, he called his friends, and his wife Zeresh. 11 He showed them his wealth and the glory with which the king had invested him, and how he had promoted him to be chief ruler in the kingdom. 12 Haman said, “The queen has called no one to the feast with the king but me, and I am invited tomorrow. 13 But these things don’t please me while I see Mordecai the Jew in the court.
14 Then Zeresh his wife and his friends said to him, “Let a fifty cubit tall‡ gallows be made for you. In the morning you speak to the king, and let Mordecai be hanged on the gallows; but you go in to the feast with the king, and be merry.”
The saying pleased Haman, and the gallows was prepared.
6
1 The Lord removed sleep from the king that night; so he told his servant to bring in the† books, the registers of daily events, to read to him. 2 And he found the‡ records written concerning Mordecai, how he had told the king about the king’s two chamberlains, when they were keeping guard, and sought to lay hands on Ahasuerus. 3 The king said, “What honour or favour have we done for Mordecai?”
The king’s servants said, “You haven’t done anything for him.”
4 And while the king was enquiring about the kindness of Mordecai, behold, Haman was in the court. The king said, “Who is in the court? Now Haman had come in to speak to the king about hanging Mordecai on the gallows which he had prepared. 5 The king’s servants said, “Behold, Haman stands in the court.”
And the king said, “Call him!”
6 The king said to Haman, “What should I do for the man whom I wish to honour?”
Haman said within himself, “Whom would the king honour but myself?” 7 He said to the king, “As for the man whom the king wishes to honour, 8 let the king’s servants bring the robe of fine linen which the king puts on, and the horse on which the king rides, 9 and let him give it to one of the king’s noble friends, and let him dress the man whom the king loves. Let him mount him on the horse, and proclaim through the§ streets of the city, saying, “This is what will be done for every man whom the king honours!”
10 Then the king said to Haman, “You
