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and Esther gave him this message to take back to Mordecai:
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"If anyone, man or woman, goes to the inner courtyard and sees the king without being summoned, that person will be sentenced to death. Everyone in the empire knows that. Only if the king holds out his gold scepter to him can his life be spared. But it has been a month now since the king has sent for me."
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When Mordecai received Esther's message,
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he sent her this warning: "Esther, don't imagine that you are safer than any of the other Jews in the empire.
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If you keep quiet at a time like this, help will come to the Jews in some other way and they will be saved, but you will die and your father's family will come to an end. Yet, who knows? Maybe it was for a time like this that you were made queen!"
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Esther sent Mordecai this reply:
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"Go and gather all the Jews in Susa together; hold a fast and pray for me. Don't eat or drink anything for three days and nights. My servant women and I will be doing the same. After that, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. If I must die for doing it, I will die."
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Mordecai then left and did everything that Esther had told him to do.
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Mordecai prayed to the Lord, calling to mind what the Lord had done in the past:
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"O Lord, you are the Lord and King of all creation, and everything obeys your commands. If you wish to save Israel, no one can stop you.
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You made heaven and earth and all the wonderful things on earth.