Esther 4

When Mordecai found out everything that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on rough cloth, and covered himself with ashes. He went out into the middle of the city and cried out loudly and bitterly.

1When Mordecai perceived all that was done, Mordecai rent his clothes, and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and cried with a loud and a bitter cry;

NoteTearing one's clothes, wearing sackcloth (a coarse, scratchy cloth of goat or camel hair, the cheapest fabric there was) and throwing dust or ashes over oneself were the standard public signs of grief or disaster in the ancient Near East. They were meant to be seen: this was mourning performed in the street, not private sorrow.

2He went only as far as the front of the king's gate, because no one wearing rough mourning cloth was allowed to go through that gate.

2And came even before the king’s gate: for none might enter into the king’s gate clothed with sackcloth.

NoteThe "king's gate" was not simply a door but the gatehouse complex of the palace, where royal officials worked and business was transacted. Mordecai held a post there (Esther 2:19, 21), which is why he could get that close but no closer while dressed in mourning clothes.

3In every province the king's order and law reached, the Jews mourned deeply. They went without food, wept, and cried out in grief, and many lay in rough cloth and ashes.

3And in every province, whithersoever the king’s commandment and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.

NoteA "province" here is one of the administrative districts of the Persian empire, the book counts 127 of them, stretching from India to Ethiopia. Going without food (fasting) was, like sackcloth, a recognized public act of grief and of appeal, not a private discipline.

4Esther's servant women and the palace officials who served her came and told her about it. The queen was deeply upset. She sent clothes for Mordecai to wear instead of the rough cloth, but he would not take them.

4So Esther’s maids and her chamberlains came and told it her. Then was the queen exceedingly grieved; and she sent raiment to clothe Mordecai, and to take away his sackcloth from him: but he received it not.

NoteThe Hebrew word behind "palace officials" is *saris*, usually understood as a eunuch, a castrated man. Such men staffed the royal household and were the only men besides the king permitted to move freely in the quarters where the royal women lived, which is why they carry messages between Esther and the outside world.

5Then Esther called for Hatach, one of the king's palace officials whom the king had assigned to serve her. She ordered him to go to Mordecai and find out what was happening and why.

5Then called Esther for Hatach, one of the king’s chamberlains, whom he had appointed to attend upon her, and gave him a commandment to Mordecai, to know what it was, and why it was.

6So Hatach went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city, which was in front of the king's gate.

6So Hatach went forth to Mordecai unto the street of the city, which was before the king’s gate.

7Mordecai told him everything that had happened to him, including the exact amount of money Haman had promised to pay into the king's treasury for the destruction of the Jews.

7And Mordecai told him of all that had happened unto him, and of the sum of the money that Haman had promised to pay to the king’s treasuries for the Jews, to destroy them.

NoteThe amount is named earlier in the book: ten thousand talents of silver (Esther 3:9), something like 375 tons, a fantastic sum, on the order of a large share of the empire's yearly income. Mordecai reports the figure to show Esther that the plan is fully funded and already accepted.

8He also gave Hatach a copy of the written order issued in Susa to destroy the Jews, so he could show it to Esther and explain it to her. He told Hatach to urge her to go to the king, beg him for mercy, and plead with him for her people.

8Also he gave him the copy of the writing of the decree that was given at Shushan to destroy them, to shew it unto Esther, and to declare it unto her, and to charge her that she should go in unto the king, to make supplication unto him, and to make request before him for her people.

NoteSusa (the KJV spells it Shushan) was one of the Persian kings' capitals, their winter residence. Under Persian practice as the book describes it, an order issued in the king's name and sealed with his ring could not afterwards be canceled, even by the king, which is why Esther is asked to plead in person rather than simply have the decree withdrawn.

9Hatach went back and told Esther what Mordecai had said.

9And Hatach came and told Esther the words of Mordecai.

10Then Esther spoke to Hatach again and gave him this message for Mordecai:

10Again Esther spake unto Hatach, and gave him commandment unto Mordecai;

11"All the king's officials and the people of the king's provinces know this: any man or woman who goes to the king in the inner court without being called falls under one law, that the person be put to death. The only exception is someone the king points to with his gold staff, so that person may live. And I have not been called to come to the king for the last thirty days."

11All the king’s servants, and the people of the king’s provinces, do know, that whosoever, whether man or woman, shall come unto the king into the inner court, who is not called, there is one law of his to put him to death, except such to whom the king shall hold out the golden sceptre, that he may live: but I have not been called to come in unto the king these thirty days.

NotePersian court protocol, as described here, barred anyone from entering the king's presence uninvited on pain of death; extending the royal scepter was the gesture of pardon that let the intruder live. Esther's added detail, thirty days without a summons, means she has no assurance of the king's current favor and no way to raise the matter through normal channels.

12They told Mordecai what Esther had said.

12And they told to Mordecai Esther’s words.

13Then Mordecai sent this answer back to Esther: "Do not think to yourself that because you are in the king's house you alone, out of all the Jews, will get away safely.

13Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther, Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king’s house, more than all the Jews.

NoteMordecai's warning depends on something told earlier in the book: on his instructions, Esther has kept her Jewish identity secret at court (Esther 2:10, 20). His point is that concealment inside the palace will not save her once the killing starts.

14If you stay completely silent at a time like this, rescue and freedom for the Jews will come from somewhere else, but you and your father's family will die. And who knows whether you have come to be queen for a time exactly like this?"

14For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

Note"From another place" translates a deliberately vague Hebrew word (*maqom*). Some readers take it as an oblique way of naming God: this book never uses God's name anywhere, and others as simply "from some other quarter." The Hebrew does not settle it. "Your father's house" means the wider family line, not the building.

15Then Esther told them to take this answer back to Mordecai:

15Then Esther bade them return Mordecai this answer,

16"Go and gather all the Jews who are in Susa, and go without food for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. My servant women and I will do the same. Then I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I die, I die."

16Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.

NoteThree days without food *or water* is a far more severe fast than the usual daylight abstention from food; going without drink that long is genuinely dangerous. "If I die, I die" is a flat statement of resolve, not a prayer or a hope.

17So Mordecai went away and did everything Esther had told him to do.

17So Mordecai went his way, and did according to all that Esther had commanded him.