12
Queen Esther, overcome by this contest with death, turned to the Lord for protection.
13
She took off her royal garments and put on mourning clothes. Instead of the finest spices, she smeared her head and body with ashes and dung, and humbled herself. Each place she had once joyfully beautified, she now covered with her tangled hair.
14
Then she begged the Lord God of Israel: “My Lord, you alone are our king. Help me! I have no one to help me but you,
16
From my birth, Lord, I have heard how you chose Israel from among the rest of the nations, and our fathers from their ancestors, to be an everlasting inheritance. I have heard how you did for them all that you had promised.