1 And when Mordecai knew all that was done, Mordecai rent his garments, and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and cried with a loud and bitter cry,

2 and came even before the king`s gate; for none might enter into the king`s gate clothed with sackcloth.

3 And in every province, wherever the king`s commandment and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing: many lay in sackcloth and ashes.

4 And Esther`s maids and her chamberlains came and told [it] her; and the queen was exceedingly grieved: and she sent raiment to clothe Mordecai, and to take away his sackcloth from him; but he received [it] not.

5 Then Esther called for Hatach, [one] of the king`s chamberlains, whom he had appointed to wait upon her, and gave him a commandment to Mordecai, to know what it was, and why it was.

6 And Hatach went forth to Mordecai, unto the public place of the city which was before the king`s gate.

7 And Mordecai told him of all that had happened to him, and of the sum of money that Haman had promised to pay to the king`s treasuries for the Jews, to destroy them.

8 And he gave him a copy of the writing of the decree that had been given at Shushan to destroy them, to shew [it] to Esther, and to declare [it] to her, and to charge her that she should go in unto the king, to make supplication to him, and to make request before him, for her people.

9 And Hatach came and told Esther the words of Mordecai.

10 And Esther spoke to Hatach, and gave him commandment unto Mordecai:

11 All the king`s servants and the people of the king`s provinces do know that whoever, whether man or woman, shall come to the king into the inner court, who is not called, there is *one* law, to put [him] to death, except [such] to whom the king shall hold out the golden sceptre, that he may live; and I have not been called to come in unto the king these thirty days.

12 And they told Mordecai Esther`s words.

13 And Mordecai bade to answer Esther: Imagine not in thy heart that thou shalt escape in the king`s house, more than all the Jews.

14 For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there arise relief and deliverance to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father`s house shall perish. And who knows whether thou art [not] come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

15 And Esther bade to answer Mordecai:

16 Go, gather together all the Jews that are found in Shushan, and fast for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise, and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law; and if I perish, I perish.

17 And Mordecai went his way, and did according to all that Esther had commanded him.