Context at a Glance
Author:Traditional Attribution
Topic:esther Chapter 4 Study
This chapter provides a foundational look at the theological themes of esther, analyzed across multiple historic translations for maximum scholarly depth.
Esther 4
New Revised Standard Version
1When Mordecai learned all that had been done, Mordecai tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went through the city, wailing with a loud and bitter cry;
2he went up to the entrance of the king's gate, for no one might enter the king's gate clothed with sackcloth.
3In every province, wherever the king's command and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting and weeping and lamenting, and most of them lay in sackcloth and ashes.
4When Esther's maids and her eunuchs came and told her, the queen was deeply distressed; she sent garments to clothe Mordecai, so that he might take off his sackcloth; but he would not accept them.
5Then appointed to attend her, and ordered him to go to Mordecai to learn what was happening and why.
6Hathach went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king's gate,
7and Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, and the exact sum of money that Haman had promised to pay into the king's treasuries for the destruction of the Jews.
8Mordecai also gave him a copy of the written decree issued in Susa for their destruction, that he might show it to Esther, explain it to her, and charge her to go to the king to make supplication to him and entreat him for her people.
9Hathach went and told Esther what Mordecai had said.
10Then
11"All the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces know that if any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court without being called, there is but one law — all alike are to be put to death. Only if the king holds out the golden scepter to someone, may that person live. I myself have not been called to come in to the king for thirty days."
12When they told Mordecai what Esther had said,
13Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, "Do not think that in the king's palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews.
14For if you keep silence at such a time as this, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another quarter, but you and your father's family will perish. Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this."
15Then Esther said in reply to Mordecai,
16"Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will also fast as you do. After that I will go to the king, though it is against the law; and if I perish, I perish."
17Mordecai then went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him.
1When Mordecai learned of all that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and sprinkled himself with ashes; then he rushed through the street of the city, shouting loudly: "An innocent nation is being destroyed!"
2He got as far as the king's gate, and there he stopped, because no one was allowed to enter the courtyard clothed in sackcloth and ashes.
3And in every province where the king's proclamation had been posted there was a loud cry of mourning and lamentation among the Jews, and they put on sackcloth and ashes.
4When the queen's maids and eunuchs came and told her, she was deeply troubled by what she heard had happened, and sent some clothes to Mordecai to put on instead of sackcloth; but he would not consent.
5Then Esther summoned Hachratheus, the eunuch who attended her, and ordered him to get accurate information for her from Mordecai.
7So Mordecai told him what had happened and how Haman had promised to pay ten thousand talents into the royal treasury to bring about the destruction of the Jews.
8He also gave him a copy of what had been posted in Susa for their destruction, to show to Esther; and he told him to charge her to go in to the king and plead for his favor in behalf of the people. "Remember," he said, "the days when you were an ordinary person, being brought up under my care — for Haman, who stands next to the king, has spoken against us and demands our death. Call upon the Lord; then speak to the king in our behalf, and save us from death."
9Hachratheus went in and told Esther all these things.
10And she said to him, "Go to Mordecai and say,
11'All nations of the empire know that if any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court without being called, there is no escape for that person. Only the one to whom the king stretches out the golden scepter is safe — and it is now thirty days since I was called to go to the king.'"
12When Hachratheus delivered her entire message to Mordecai,
13Mordecai told him to go back and say to her, "Esther, do not say to yourself that you alone among all the Jews will escape alive.
14For if you keep quiet at such a time as this, help and protection will come to the Jews from another quarter, but you and your father's family will perish. Yet, who knows whether it was not for such a time as this that you were made queen?"
15Then Esther gave the messenger this answer to take back to Mordecai:
16"Go and gather all the Jews who are in Susa and fast on my behalf; for three days and nights do not eat or drink, and my maids and I will also go without food. After that I will go to the king, contrary to the law, even if I must die."
17So Mordecai went away and did what Esther had told him to do. ADDITION C