The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Septuagint 04
1 But Mordecai, having perceived what
was done, tore his garments, put on sack-
cloth, and sprinkled dust upon himself.
Having rushed forth through the open
street ofthe city, he cried with a loud voice,
“A nation that has done no wrong is going
to be destroyed!”
2 He came to the king’s gate, and stood;
for it was not lawful for him to enter into
the palace wearing sackcloth and ashes.
3 And in every province where the letters
were published, there was crying, lamentation,
and great mourning on the part of
the Jews. They wore sackcloth and ashes.
4 The queen’s maids and chamberlains
went in and told her; and when she had
heard what was done, she was deeply troubled.
She sent clothes to Mordecai to replace his
sackcloth, but he refused.
5 So Esther called for her chamberlain
Hathach, who waited upon her; and she
sent to learn the truth from Mordecai.
7 Mordecai showed him what was done,
and the promise which Haman had made
the king of ten thousand talents to be paid
into the treasury, that he might destroy the
Jews.
8 And he gave him the copy of what
was published in Susa concerning their
destructionto show to Esther; and toldhim
to charge her to go in and entreat the king,
and to beg him for the people. “Remember,
he said, the days of your humble condition,
how you were nursed by my hand;
because Haman, who holds the next place
to the king, has spoken against us to cause
our death. Call uponthe Lord, and speak to
the king concerning us, to deliver us from
death.”
9 So Hathach went in and told her all
these words.
10 Esther said to Hathach, “Go to Mordecai, and say,
11 ‘All the nations of the empire know
that any man or woman who goes in to
the king into the inner court without being
called, that person must die, unless the
king stretches out his golden sceptre; then
he shall live. I haven’t been called to go
into the king for thirty days.’ ”
12 So Hathach reported to Mordecai all
the words of Esther.
13 Then Mordecai said to Hathach, “Go,
and say to her, ‘Esther, don’t say to yourself
that you alone will escape in the kingdom,
more than all the other Jews.
14 For if you keep quiet on this occasion,
help and protection will come to the Jews
from another place; but you and your father’s
house will perish. Who knows if you
have been made queen for this occasion?’
15 And Esther sent the messenger who
came to her to Mordecai, saying,
16 “Go and assemble the Jews that are in
Susa, and all of you fast for me. Don’t eat
or drink for three days, night and day. My
maidens and I will also fast. Then I will go
in to the king contrary to the law, even if I
must die.”
17 So Mordecai went and did all that Esther commanded him.†
18 [He prayed to the Lord, making mention of all
the works of the Lord.
19 He said, “Lord God, you are king ruling
over all, for all things are in your power,
and there is no one who can oppose you in
your purpose to save Israel;
20 for you have made the heaven and the
earth and every wonderful thing under
heaven.
21 You are Lord of all, and there is no one
who can resist you, Lord.
22 You know all things. You know, Lord,
that it is not in insolence, nor arrogance,
nor love of glory, that I have done this,
to refuse to bow down to the arrogant
Haman.
23 For I would gladly have kissed the
soles of his feet for the safety of Israel.
24 But I have done this that I might not
set the glory of man above the glory of
God. I will not worship anyone except you,
my Lord, and I will not do these things in
arrogance.
25 And now, O Lord God, the King, the
God of Abraham, spare your people, for
our enemies are planning our destruction,
and they have desired to destroy your
ancient inheritance.
26 Do not overlook your people, whom
you have redeemed for yourself out of the
land of Egypt.
27 Listen to my prayer. Have mercy on
your inheritance and turn our mourning
into gladness, that we may live and sing
praise to your name, O Lord. Don’t utterly
destroy the mouth ofthose who praise you,
O Lord.”
28 All Israel cried with all their might, for
death was before their eyes.
29 And queen Esther took refuge in the
Lord, being taken as it were in the agony
of death.
30 Having taken off her glorious apparel,
she put on garments of distress and
mourning. Instead of grand perfumes she
filled her head with ashes and dung. She
greatly humbled her body, and she filled
every place of her glad adorning with her
tangled hair.
31 She implored the Lord God of Israel,
and said, “O my Lord, you alone are our
king. Help me. I am destitute, and have no
helper but you,
32 for my danger is near at hand‡.
33 I have heard from my birth in the tribe
of my kindred that you, Lord, took Israel
out of all the nations, and our fathers out
of all their kindred for a perpetual inheritance,
and have done for them all that you have said.
34 And now we have sinned before you,
and you have delivered us into the hands
of our enemies,
35 because we honored their gods. You
are righteous, O Lord.
36 But now they have not been content
with the bitterness of our slavery, but have
laid their hands on the hands of their idols
37 to abolish the decree of your mouth,
and utterly to destroy your inheritance,
and to stop the mouth of those who praise
you, and to extinguish the glory of your
house and your altar,
38 and to open the mouth of the Gentiles
to speak the§ praises of vanities, and that a
mortal king should be admired forever.
39 O Lord, don’t surrender your sceptre
to those who don’t exist, and don’t let them
laugh at our fall, but turn their counsel
against themselves, and make an example
of him who has begun to injure us.
40 Remember us, O Lord! Manifest yourselfin
the time of our affliction. Encourage
me, O King of gods, and ruler of all dominion!
41 Put harmonious speech into my
mouth before the lion, and turn his heart
to hate him who fights against us, to the
utter destruction of those who agree with
him.
42 But deliver us by your hand, and help
me who am alone and haveno one but you,
O Lord.
43 You know all things, and know that I
hate the glory of transgressors,† and that I
abhor the bed of the uncircumcised and of
every stranger.
44 You know my necessity, for I abhor the
symbol of my proud station, which is upon
my head in the days of my‡ splendor. I
abhor it as a menstruous cloth, and I don’t
wear it in the days of my tranquility.
45 Your handmaid has not eaten at
Haman’s table, and I have not honored the
banquet of the king, neither have I drunk
wine of libations.
46 Neither has your handmaid rejoiced
since the day of my promotion until now,
except in you, O Lord God of Abraham.
47 O god, who has power over all, listen
to the voice of the desperate, and deliver
us from the hand of those who devise mischief.
Deliver me from my fear.]