Hathach

1Mordecai found out everything that had happened. He tore his clothes in sorrow. He put on rough sackcloth and ashes. Then he walked into the middle of the city, crying out loudly and bitterly.

When 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;

NoteMordecai was Esther's older cousin. He took care of her after her parents died. Sackcloth was rough, scratchy cloth, a bit like a sack. People put it on to show they were very sad. Tearing your clothes and sitting in ashes showed sorrow too. Anyone who saw you knew that something terrible had happened.

2He came as far as the king's gate. He could go no farther. No one wearing sackcloth was allowed to go in through that gate.

And 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 just a doorway. It was where the king's helpers sat and did their work. Sad clothes were not allowed to come inside it. The king was meant to see only cheerful things.

3The king's order went out to every province, or region. Everywhere it came, the Jews were very sad. They fasted, which means they went without food. They cried and wailed. Many of them lay down in sackcloth and ashes.

And 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.

NoteThe Jews were God's people. Their homeland was far away from here. Many of them now lived in this king's lands. The king's order said that all of them would be killed.

4Esther's maids and palace servants came and told her about Mordecai. The queen was filled with sorrow. She sent clothes for Mordecai to wear instead of the sackcloth. But he would not take them.

So 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.

NoteEsther was the queen, and she was also a Jew. Nobody in the palace knew that yet. Mordecai had told her to keep it secret.

5Then Esther called for Hatach. He was one of the palace servants the king had picked to help her. She told him to go to Mordecai. He was to ask what was wrong and why.

Then 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. He found him in the open square of the city, right in front of the king's gate.

So 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. He even told the exact amount of money Haman had promised to pay into the king's treasury to have the Jews destroyed.

And 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.

NoteHaman was the king's most important helper. He hated Mordecai and all the Jews. He had offered the king a huge pile of silver for his plan. A treasury is the room where a king keeps his money.

8Mordecai also gave him a copy of the written order made in Shushan to destroy the Jews. Hatach was to show it to Esther and explain it. He was to urge her to go to the king. She should beg him and plead for her people.

Also 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.

NoteShushan was the city where the king's palace stood. When this king wrote an order, it could never be changed. Not even the king himself could take it back.

9Hatach went back to Esther. He told her everything Mordecai had said.

And Hatach came and told Esther the words of Mordecai.

10Then Esther spoke to Hatach again. She gave him a message to carry back to Mordecai.

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

11She said, "All the king's servants and all the people in his lands know one rule. Any man or woman who goes into the king's inner court without being called must be put to death. The only way to live is if the king holds out his gold staff to that person. And the king has not called for me for thirty days now."

All 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.

NoteThe inner court was the room just outside the king's throne. Nobody was allowed to walk in without being invited. The rule was meant to keep the king safe. The King James Version calls the gold staff a "sceptre." It was a long, shiny rod that showed the king's power. Holding it out to someone meant, "You may come in."

12So they told Mordecai what Esther had said.

And they told to Mordecai Esther’s words.

13Mordecai sent this answer back to Esther: "Do not think you will be safe just because you live in the king's palace. You will not escape when the other Jews do not.

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

14If you stay quiet at a time like this, help and rescue for the Jews will come from somewhere else. But you and your family will die. And who knows? Maybe you became queen for a moment just like this one."

For 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?

15Then Esther sent this answer back to Mordecai:

Then Esther bade them return Mordecai this answer,

16"Go and gather all the Jews who are here in Shushan. Fast for me. Do not eat or drink anything for three days, night or day. My maids and I will fast the same way. Then I will go to the king, even though it breaks the law. If I die, then I die."

Go, 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.

NoteFasting means going without food on purpose. People fasted when they were praying about something very serious. Three days with no food or water is very hard.

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

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

NoteMordecai was older than Esther and had raised her. Now he did what she asked. She was the queen, and this was her plan.