Esther 4

umordokhay yada et-kol-asher na'asah vayyiqra mordokhay et-begadayw vayyilbash saq va'efer vayyetse betokh ha'ir vayyizaq ze'aqah gedolah umarah

When Mordecai learned all that had happened, Mordecai tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes. He went through the city, crying out loudly and bitterly,

vayyavo ad lifne sha'ar-hammelekh ki en lavo el-sha'ar hammelekh bilvush saq

until he came in front of the palace gate; for one could not enter the palace gate wearing sackcloth.—

uvekhol-medinah umedinah meqom asher devar-hammelekh vedato maggia evel gadol layyehudim vetsom uvekhi umisped saq va'efer yutsa larabbim

Also, in every province that the king’s command and decree reached, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping, and wailing, and everybody lay in sackcloth and ashes.—

(vtvvynh) [vattavonah] na'arot ester vesariseha vayyaggidu lah vattitkhalkhal hammalkah me'od vattishlakh begadim lehalebish et-mordokhay ulehasir saqqo me'alayw velo qibbel

When Esther’s maids and eunuchs came and informed her, the queen was greatly agitated. She sent clothing for Mordecai to wear, so that he might take off his sackcloth; but he refused.

vattiqra ester lahatakh missarise hammelekh asher he'emid lefaneha vattetsavvehu al-mordokhay lada'at mah-zzeh ve'al-mah-zzeh

Thereupon Esther summoned Hathach, one of the eunuchs whom the king had appointed to serve her, and sent him to Mordecai to learn the why and wherefore of it all.

vayyetse hatakh el-mordokhay el-rekhov ha'ir asher lifne sha'ar-hammelekh

Hathach went out to Mordecai in the city square in front of the palace gate;

vayyagged-lo mordokhay et kol-asher qarahu ve'et parashat hakkesef asher amar haman lishqol al-ginze hammelekh (vyhvdyym) [bayyehudim] le'abbedam

and Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, and all about the money that Haman had offered to pay into the royal treasury for the destruction of the Jews.

ve'et-patshegen ketav-haddat asher-nittan beshushan lehashmidam natan lo leharot et-ester ulehaggid lah uletsavvot aleha lavo el-hammelekh lehitkhannen-lo ulevaqqesh millefanayw al-ammah

He also gave him the written text of the law that had been proclaimed in Shushan for their destruction. [He bade him] show it to Esther and inform her, and charge her to go to the king and to appeal to him and to plead with him for her people.

vayyavo hatakh vayyagged le'ester et divre mordokhay

When Hathach came and delivered Mordecai’s message to Esther,

vattomer ester lahatakh vattetsavvehu el-mordokhay

Esther told Hathach to take back to Mordecai the following reply:

kol-avde hammelekh ve'am-medinot hammelekh yode'im asher kol-ish ve'isha asher yavo-el-hammelekh el-hekhatser happenimit asher lo-yiqqare akhat dato lehamit levad me'asher yoshit-lo hammelekh et-sharvit hazzahav vekhayah va'ani lo niqreti lavo el-hammelekh zeh sheloshim yom

“All the king’s courtiers and the people of the king’s provinces know that if any person, man or woman, enters the king’s presence in the inner court without having been summoned, there is but one law for him—that he be put to death. Only if the king extends the golden scepter to him may he live. Now I have not been summoned to visit the king for the last thirty days.”

vayyaggidu lemordokhay et divre ester

When Mordecai was told what Esther had said,

vayyomer mordokhay lehashiv el-ester al-tedammi venafshekh lehimmalet bet-hammelekh mikkol-hayyehudim

Mordecai had this message delivered to Esther: “Do not imagine that you, of all the Jews, will escape with your life by being in the king’s palace.

ki im-hakharesh takharishi ba'et hazzot revakh vehatsalah ya'amod layyehudim mimmaqom akher ve'at uvet-avikh tovedu umi yodea im-le'et kazot higga'at lammalkhut

On the contrary, if you keep silent in this crisis, relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from another quarter, while you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows, perhaps you have attained to royal position for just such a crisis.”

vattomer ester lehashiv el-mordokhay

Then Esther sent back this answer to Mordecai:

lekh kenos et-kol-hayyehudim hannimtse'im beshushan vetsumu alay ve'al-tokhelu ve'al-tishtu sheloshet yamim laylah vayom gam-ani vena'arotay atsum ken uvekhen avo el-hammelekh asher lo-khaddat vekha'asher avadti avadeti

“Go, assemble all the Jews who live in Shushan, and fast in my behalf; do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will observe the same fast. Then I shall go to the king, though it is contrary to the law; and if I am to perish, I shall perish!”

vayya'avor mordokhay vayya'as kekhol asher-tsivvetah alayw ester

So Mordecai went about [the city] and did just as Esther had commanded him.