Esther Agrees to Help the Jews

Esther 4

1 When Mordecai learned all that had happened, 1 he a tore his clothes and put on sackcloth b and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city. He c cried out with a loud and bitter cry. 2 He went as far as the front of the king's gate, for no one might enter the king's gate clothed with sackcloth. 3 And in every province where the king's command and decree arrived, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.

4 So Esther's maids and eunuchs came and told her, and the queen was deeply distressed. Then she sent garments to clothe Mordecai and take his sackcloth away from him, but he would not accept them. 5 Then Esther called Hathach, one of the king's eunuchs whom he had appointed to attend her, and she gave him a command concerning Mordecai, to learn what and why this was. 6 So Hathach went out to Mordecai in the city square that was in front of the king's gate. 7 And Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, and d the sum of money that Haman had promised to pay into the king's treasuries to destroy the Jews. 8 He also gave him e a copy of the written decree for their destruction, which was given at 2 Shushan, that he might show it to Esther and explain it to her, and that he might command her to go in to the king to make supplication to him and plead before him for her people. 9 So Hathach returned and told Esther the words of Mordecai. 10 Then Esther spoke to Hathach, and gave him a command for Mordecai: 11 "All the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces know that any man or woman who goes into f the inner court to the king, who has not been called, g he has but one law: put all to death, except the one h to whom the king holds out the golden scepter, that he may live. Yet I myself have not been i called to go in to the king these thirty days."

12 So they told Mordecai Esther's words. 13 And Mordecai told them to answer Esther: "Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king's palace any more than all the other Jews. 14 "For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" 15 Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai: 16 "Go, gather all the Jews who are present in 3 Shushan, and fast for me; neither eat nor drink for j three days, night or day. My maids and I will fast likewise. And so I will go to the king, which is against the law; k and if I perish, I perish!" 17 So Mordecai went his way and did according to all that Esther commanded 4 him.

  1. Cross References
    2 Samuel 1:11
    Therefore David took hold of his own clothes and tore them, and so did all the men who were with him.
    Esther 3:8 - 10
    Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, "There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from all other people's, and they do not keep the king's laws. Therefore it is not fitting for the king to let them remain.
    Jonah 3:5
    So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them.
    Jonah 3:6
    Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes.
  2. Cross References
    Joshua 7:6
    Then Joshua tore his clothes, and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the LORD until evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads.
    Ezekiel 27:30
    They will make their voice heard because of you; They will cry bitterly and cast dust on their heads; They will roll about in ashes.
  3. Cross References
    Genesis 27:34
    When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, "Bless me - me also, O my father!
  4. Cross References
    Esther 3:9
    "If it pleases the king, let a decree be written that they be destroyed, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who do the work, to bring it into the king's treasuries."
  5. Cross References
    Esther 3:14
    A copy of the document was to be issued as law in every province, being published for all people, that they should be ready for that day.
    Esther 3:15
    The couriers went out, hastened by the king's command; and the decree was proclaimed in Shushan the citadel. So the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Shushan was perplexed.
  6. Cross References
    Esther 5:1
    Now it happened on the third day that Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king's palace, across from the king's house, while the king sat on his royal throne in the royal house, facing the entrance of the house.
    Esther 6:4
    So the king said, "Who is in the court?" Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the king's palace to suggest that the king hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him.
  7. Cross References
    Daniel 2:9
    "if you do not make known the dream to me, there is only one decree for you! For you have agreed to speak lying and corrupt words before me till the time has changed. Therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that you can give me its interpretation."
  8. Cross References
    Esther 5:2
    So it was, when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, that she found favor in his sight, and the king held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. Then Esther went near and touched the top of the scepter.
    Esther 8:4
    And the king held out the golden scepter toward Esther. So Esther arose and stood before the king.
  9. Cross References
    Esther 2:14
    In the evening she went, and in the morning she returned to the second house of the women, to the custody of Shaashgaz, the king's eunuch who kept the concubines. She would not go in to the king again unless the king delighted in her and called for her by name.
  10. Cross References
    Esther 5:1
    Now it happened on the third day that Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king's palace, across from the king's house, while the king sat on his royal throne in the royal house, facing the entrance of the house.
  11. Cross References
    Genesis 43:14
    "And may God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may release your other brother and Benjamin. If I am bereaved, I am bereaved!"
New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
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