Esther 4

1 quae cum audisset Mardocheus scidit vestimenta sua et indutus est sacco spargens cinerem capiti et in platea mediae civitatis voce magna clamabat ostendens amaritudinem animi sui

Now when Mordecai found out all that was done, Mordecai tore his clothes and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the middle of the city, and wailed loudly and bitterly.

2 et hoc heiulatu usque ad fores palatii gradiens non enim erat licitum indutum sacco aulam regis intrare

He came even before the king’s gate, for no one is allowed inside the king’s gate clothed with sackcloth.

3 in omnibus quoque provinciis oppidis ac locis ad quae crudele regis dogma pervenerat planctus ingens erat apud Iudaeos ieiunium ululatus et fletus sacco et cinere multis pro strato utentibus

In every province, wherever the king’s commandment and his decree came, there was great mourning amongst the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.

4 ingressae sunt autem puellae Hester et eunuchi nuntiaveruntque ei quod audiens consternata est et misit vestem ut ablato sacco induerent eum quam accipere noluit

Esther’s maidens and her eunuchs came and told her this, and the queen was exceedingly grieved. She sent clothing to Mordecai, to replace his sackcloth, but he didn’t receive it.

5 accitoque Athac eunucho quem rex ministrum ei dederat praecepit ut iret ad Mardocheum et disceret ab eo cur hoc faceret

Then Esther called for Hathach, one of the king’s eunuchs, whom he had appointed to attend her, and commanded him to go to Mordecai, to find out what this was, and why it was.

6 egressusque Athac ivit ad Mardocheum stantem in platea civitatis ante ostium palatii

So Hathach went out to Mordecai, to the city square which was before the king’s gate.

7 qui indicavit ei omnia quae acciderant quomodo Aman promisisset ut in thesauros regis pro Iudaeorum nece inferret argentum

Mordecai told him of all that had happened to him, and the exact sum of the money that Haman had promised to pay to the king’s treasuries for the destruction of the Jews.

8 exemplarque edicti quod pendebat in Susis dedit ei ut reginae ostenderet et moneret eam ut intraret ad regem et deprecaretur eum pro populo suo

He also gave him the copy of the writing of the decree that was given out in Susa to destroy them, to show it to Esther, and to declare it to her, and to urge her to go in to the king to make supplication to him, and to make request before him for her people.

9 regressus Athac nuntiavit Hester omnia quae Mardocheus dixerat

Hathach came and told Esther the words of Mordecai.

10 quae respondit ei et iussit ut diceret Mardocheo

Then Esther spoke to Hathach, and gave him a message to Mordecai:

11 omnes servi regis et cunctae quae sub dicione eius sunt norunt provinciae quod sive vir sive mulier invocatus interius atrium regis intraverit absque ulla cunctatione statim interficiatur nisi forte rex auream virgam ad eum tetenderit pro signo clementiae atque ita possit vivere ego igitur quomodo ad regem intrare potero quae triginta iam diebus non sum vocata ad eum

“All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that whoever, whether man or woman, comes to the king into the inner court without being called, there is one law for him, that he be put to death, except those to whom the king might hold out the golden sceptre, that he may live. I have not been called to come in to the king these thirty days.”

12 quod cum audisset Mardocheus

They told Esther’s words to Mordecai.

13 rursum mandavit Hester dicens ne putes quod animam tuam tantum liberes quia in domo regis es prae cunctis Iudaeis

Then Mordecai asked them to return this answer to Esther: “Don’t think to yourself that you will escape in the king’s house any more than all the Jews.

14 si enim nunc silueris per aliam occasionem liberabuntur Iudaei et tu et domus patris tui peribitis et quis novit utrum idcirco ad regnum veneris ut in tali tempore parareris

For if you remain silent now, then relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Who knows if you haven’t come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

15 rursumque Hester haec Mardocheo verba mandavit

Then Esther asked them to answer Mordecai,

16 vade et congrega omnes Iudaeos quos in Susis reppereris et orate pro me non comedatis et non bibatis tribus diebus ac noctibus et ego cum ancillulis meis similiter ieiunabo et tunc ingrediar ad regem contra legem faciens invocata tradensque me morti et periculo

“Go, gather together all the Jews who are present in Susa, and fast for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day. I and my maidens will also fast the same way. Then I will go in to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish.”

17 ivit itaque Mardocheus et fecit omnia quae ei Hester praeceperat

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