Esther 4-7

EasyEnglish Bible

Mordecai asks Queen Esther to help the Jews

4 Mordecai discovered what Haman had done. He tore his clothes and he dressed in sackcloth and ashes, because he was very upset. He went into the city. He cried and he wept loudly as he went.

² Nobody who was wearing sackcloth could go into the yard of the palace. So Mordecai stopped at the king's gate. ³ Jews who lived in all the regions of Xerxes' kingdom heard the king's command. So they were very sad. They were weeping and they were fasting.^[a] Many of them lay on sackcloth and ashes.

⁴ Esther's female servants the eunuchs who took care of her told her what Mordecai was doing. So Esther was very upset. She sent clothes for Mordecai to put on instead of the sackcloth, but Mordecai refused to wear them. ⁵ Hathach was one of the king's eunuchs who served Esther. Esther asked him to discover what was the matter with Mordecai.^[b]

⁶ So Hathach went to speak to Mordecai. Mordecai was outside the king's gate, in an open place. ⁷ Mordecai told Hathach everything that had happened. He told Hathach how much money Haman would pay to the king when people destroyed all the Jews.^{[c] 8} Mordecai gave Hathach a copy of the law that they had read aloud to the people in Susa. He told Hathach to show the law to Esther and explain it to her. Mordecai also said that Esther must go and speak to the king. She must ask the king to let her people live.

⁹ Hathach went back into the palace. He told Esther what Mordecai had said. ¹⁰ Then Esther sent Hathach back to Mordecai with this message: ¹¹ ‘Everybody knows the law. People cannot go to meet the king in his own part of the palace unless the king asks them to come. All the king's officers and all his people know that that is the law. If somebody decides to go to the king when the king has not asked to see him, that person must die. He will only stay alive if the king holds out his gold sceptre towards him. As for me, the king has not asked me to go to him for the last 30 days.’^[d]

¹² When Mordecai heard this message from Esther, ¹³ he sent this answer back to her: ‘Do not think that you will be safe because you live in the king's palace. You will not escape when they kill all the other Jews. ¹⁴ You must speak now on behalf of all the Jewish people. If you do not, they will receive help from another place to make them safe and free. Then you and your father's family will come to an end. But I think that perhaps you have become queen so that you can help at a time like this.’^[e]

¹⁵ Then Esther sent this answer to Mordecai: ¹⁶ ‘Tell all the Jews in Susa to meet together. Tell them to fast and to pray for me. They must not eat or drink for three days, during the day and the night. My female servants and I will also do that. After three days, I will go and speak to the king. I know that I will do that against the king's law. But if I must die because of that, I agree to die.’

¹⁷ Then Mordecai left the king's gate. He did everything that Esther had told him to do.

Esther goes to the king

5 After they had fasted for three days, Esther put on her royal clothes. She went to King Xerxes' part of the palace. She stood in the yard outside his rooms. The king was sitting on his royal throne. He could see through the door of the room where he sat. ² The king saw Esther as she stood outside in the yard. He was pleased to see her. He held out his gold sceptre towards her. Esther came near to him and she touched the top of the sceptre.

³ The king asked her, ‘What is your trouble, Queen Esther? I will do for you whatever you want. I will even give you half of my kingdom!’

⁴ Esther replied, ‘If the king agrees, I would like you to do this. I would like the king and Haman to come to a special meal that I have prepared for you.’

⁵ The king said to his servants, ‘Bring Haman here quickly. Then we can do what Esther wants.’

The king and Haman went to the meal that Esther had prepared. ⁶ When they were drinking wine, the king asked Esther, ‘What do you want? I will give you whatever you want. What do you want me to do for you? Even if you want half of my kingdom, I will give it to you.’

⁷ Esther replied, ‘This is what I want. ⁸ If the king is pleased with me, and if you agree, please do what I ask. I would like the king and Haman to come again tomorrow. Come to another meal that I will prepare for you. Then I will tell you what I want, as you have asked me to do.’

Mordecai makes Haman angry again

⁹ When Haman went from Queen Esther's meal that day, he was very happy. But then he saw Mordecai at the king's gate. When Haman passed him, Mordecai did not get up. He did not show that he respected Haman in any way. So Haman became very angry with Mordecai. ¹⁰ Haman did not show that he was angry at that time. He went home.

Then Haman told his friends and Zeresh, his wife, to meet with him. ¹¹ Haman told them how rich he was, and how many sons he had. He told them of all the things that the king had done to give him great honour. He told them that he was now more important than all the king's other rulers and officers. ¹² Haman said to them, ‘Queen Esther asked me to go with the king to a special meal that she had prepared. We were the only people who ate with her. Now the queen has asked me to go with the king to another meal tomorrow. ¹³ But even all these things do not make me happy. I am angry when I see that Jewish man Mordecai. He is sitting at the king's gate.’

¹⁴ Haman's wife and all his friends said to him, ‘This will make you happy. Tell your men to build a wooden tower that is 22 metres high. In the morning, tell the king to hang Mordecai on the tower to kill him. Then you will enjoy Queen Esther's special meal.’

Haman liked their idea very much. So he told his men to build the tall tower.^[f]

The king remembers Mordecai

6 That night the king could not sleep. He asked a servant to bring the kingdom's history book. He asked the servant to read the book to him.

² The history book included a report of how two of the king's eunuchs wanted to kill King Xerxes. Their names were Bigthana and Teresh. The report said that Mordecai had told the king about this.^{[g] 3} When the king heard this, he asked his servant, ‘When Mordecai saved my life, what great honour did we give to him?’ The king's servants replied, ‘We did not do anything for him.’

⁴ The king said, ‘Who is now in the palace yard?’

Haman had just arrived at the palace. His men had built the wooden tower. Now he wanted to ask the king to hang Mordecai on it to kill him. ⁵ The king's servants said to the king, ‘Haman is in the palace yard.’ The king said, ‘Bring him here to me.’

⁶ Haman came in to the king's room. The king asked him, ‘If I want to give great honour to a man, what should we do for that man?’

Haman thought to himself, ‘I am sure that I am that man. The king must want to give me honour.’ ⁷ So Haman replied to the king, ‘This is what you should do for that man, if you want to give him honour. ⁸ Your servants should bring some royal clothes that you yourself have worn. They should bring a horse that you yourself have ridden on as king. They should put a special crown on the horse's head to show that it belongs to you. ⁹ Then give the clothes and the horse to one of your royal officers. Tell the officer to put the king's clothes on the man that you want to give honour to. Then the officer must put the man on the king's horse. He must lead him through all the streets of the city. As he goes, the officer must shout, “This is what the king does for a man that he want to give honour to!” ’

¹⁰ The king said to Haman, ‘That is a good idea! Go quickly! Get my clothes and my horse. Go and do everything that you have suggested. Do it for the Jew, Mordecai, who sits at the king's gate. Be careful to do for him everything that you said.’

¹¹ So Haman took the king's clothes and the king's horse to Mordecai. He put the king's clothes on Mordecai. Then he led Mordecai on the horse through all the streets of the city. Haman went in front and he shouted, ‘Look! This is what the king does for a man that he want to give honour to!’

¹² After this, Mordecai returned to sit at the king's gate. But Haman hurried back home. He covered his face because he was ashamed and upset. ¹³ He told his wife, Zeresh, and his friends about everything that had happened to him. Then his advisors, as well as his wife, said to him, ‘It seems that you have already lost some of your power to Mordecai. If he really is Jewish, you will never win against him. He will destroy you completely.’

¹⁴ While they were speaking, the king's eunuchs arrived. Very quickly they took Haman to the special meal that Esther had prepared.

Haman dies

7 King Xerxes and Haman went to the meal that Queen Esther had prepared. ² This was the second day that they ate a special meal together. While they were drinking wine, the king said to Esther, ‘Queen Esther, what do you want me to do for you? I will give you whatever you want. Even if you want half of my kingdom, I will give it to you.’

³ Queen Esther replied, ‘Sir, I hope that you are pleased with me. If you agree, I ask you to save my life. Also save the lives of my people. That is what I ask you to do. ⁴ Someone has sold me and my people as if we are animals. Now they will kill us and completely destroy us all. If we had been sold to become slaves, I would not have spoken to the king. It would not have been important enough for that.’

⁵ Then King Xerxes asked Queen Esther, ‘Who is this man? Who would even think of anything like that? Where is he?’

⁶ Esther replied, ‘The enemy of our people is this wicked man Haman!’

Then Haman became very afraid, as he sat there with the king and the queen.^[h]

⁷ The king was very angry and he stood up. He left his wine and he went into the palace garden. Haman realized that the king wanted to destroy him. So he stayed with Queen Esther and he asked her to save his life. ⁸ Queen Esther was lying down on a bed. Haman threw himself down beside her. At that moment, the king returned from the garden. The king shouted, ‘What is this man doing? He even attacks the queen when she is with me in my palace!’^[i]

While the king was still saying this, his servants covered Haman's head.^[j]

⁹ One of the king's eunuchs, Harbona, said, ‘There is a wooden tower near Haman's home. It is 22 metres high. His men built it so that he could hang Mordecai on it. Mordecai is the man who saved the king's life.’

The king said, ‘Hang Haman on the tower until he is dead.’

¹⁰ So they took Haman and they hanged him on the tower until he was dead. It was the same tower that Haman had wanted to kill Mordecai on. After that, the king did not feel so angry.