Read the Modern Pastor’s Version

When Mordecai learned about all that was happening, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth with ashes, and walked through the city, crying out in a loud and bitter lament.

Everyone in the province, wherever the king's command and decree reached, mourned deeply. Jews were fasting, weeping, wailing, and lying in sackcloth and ashes. They did this because of the severe punishment that had been decreed against them.

Esther's attendants and servants came to her with the news, and she was overcome with grief. She sent Mordecai clothing so he could put it on and take off his sackcloth, but he refused.

Then Esther summoned Hathach, one of the king's officials who had been assigned to serve her, and told him to go to Mordecai. She instructed him to ask Mordecai what was happening and why.

Hathach went to Mordecai in the city square in front of the king's gate. Mordecai shared with Hathach all that had happened to him, including the large sum of money Haman had promised to pay into the king's treasury for the destruction of the Jewish people.

Mordecai also gave Hathach a copy of the royal decree issued in Susa to destroy the Jews, so he could show it to Esther and tell her about it. He urged her to go to the king on their behalf, begging him to spare them from death.

Hathach returned to Esther with Mordecai's words. She spoke to Hathach, giving him a message for Mordecai.

The people in all parts of the kingdom knew that anyone who went to the king without being summoned would be put to death, unless the king held out his golden scepter to spare them. But no one had called Esther into the inner court for thirty days.

When Hathach told Mordecai about Esther's words, he replied, "Don't think you'll escape in the palace any more than all the Jews will."

Mordecai warned her that if she remained silent at this time, relief and deliverance would come from another place. But she and her family would be destroyed, along with everyone who loved them.

"Who knows," Mordecai said, "whether you've been brought to the kingdom for such a time as this?"

Esther instructed Hathach to return to Mordecai and tell him that if he wanted to save their lives, they should all gather in Susa. They were to fast on her behalf for three days, not eating or drinking by day or night.

She and her attendants would also fast during those three days, and then she would go to the king – even though it was against the law. If she died as a result, so be it.

Mordecai carried out Esther's instructions, gathering all the Jews in Susa and instructing them to fast on her behalf for three days.