Esther 4:1-14

Esther Learns of Haman's Plot

1 When Mordecai learned ¹all that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city and wailed loudly and bitterly.

2 He went as far as the king's gate, for no one was to enter the king's gate clothed in sackcloth.

3 In each and every province where * the command and decree of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with ²fasting, weeping and wailing; and many lay on sackcloth and ashes.

4 Then Esther's maidens and her eunuchs came and told her, and the queen writhed in great anguish. And she sent garments to clothe Mordecai that he might remove his sackcloth from him, but he did not accept them.

5 Then Esther summoned Hathach from the king's eunuchs, whom the king had appointed to attend her, and ordered him to go to Mordecai to learn what this was and why it was.

6 So Hathach went out to Mordecai to the city square in front of the king's gate.

7 Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, and ³the exact amount of money that Haman had promised to pay to the king's treasuries for the destruction of the Jews.

8 He also gave him ⁴a copy of the text of the edict which had been issued in Susa for their destruction, that he might show Esther and inform her, and to order her to go in to the king to implore his favor and to plead with him for her people.

9 Hathach came back and related Mordecai's words to Esther.

10 Then Esther spoke to Hathach and ordered him to reply to Mordecai:

11 "All the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces know that for any man or woman who ⁵comes to the king to the inner court who is not summoned, ⁶he has but one law, that he be put to death, unless * * the king holds out ⁷to him the golden scepter so that he may live. And I have not been summoned to come to the king for these thirty days."

12 They related Esther's words to Mordecai.

13 Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, "Do not imagine that you in the king's palace can escape any more than all the Jews.

14 "For if you remain silent at this time, relief and ⁸deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?"

Esther 4:1-14 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO ESTHER 4

This chapter relates the mourning of Mordecai, and of the Jews in every province, on account of the edict to destroy them, Es 4:1-3, the information Esther had of it, and what passed between her and Mordecai, through Hatach, a chamberlain, by whom he put her upon making a request to the king in their favour, Es 4:4-8, to which she at first objected, because of a law in Persia which forbids any to come to the king unless called, Es 4:9-12, but being pressed to it by Mordecai, she agreed, and ordered a general fast among the Jews, Es 4:13-17.

Cross References

• 1. 2 Samuel 1:11; Esther 3:8-10; Jonah 3:5,6
• 2. Esther 4:16
• 3. Esther 3:9
• 4. Esther 3:14
• 5. Esther 5:1; Esther 6:4
• 6. Daniel 2:9
• 7. Esther 5:2; Esther 8:4
• 8. Leviticus 26:42; 2 Kings 13:5

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "Mordecai"
• [b]. Lit "he"