Esther · WEB-C

Esther

Bible text

Edition Compare with

SpeedVoiceSleep timer Continue to next chapter

Synthetic voice (AI)

But Mordecai, having perceived what was done, tore his garments, put on sackcloth, and sprinkled dust upon himself. Having rushed forth through the open street of the city, he cried with a loud voice, “A nation that has done no wrong is going to be destroyed!” See also: Daniel 9:3 2 Samuel 13:19 2 Samuel 1:11He came to the king’s gate, and stood; for it was not lawful for him to enter into the palace wearing sackcloth and ashes. And in every province where the letters were published, there was crying, lamentation, and great mourning on the part of the Jews. They wore sackcloth and ashes. See also: Isaiah 22:12 Daniel 9:3 Esther 4:16The queen’s maids and chamberlains went in and told her; and when she had heard what was done, she was deeply troubled. She sent clothes to Mordecai to replace his sackcloth, but he refused. See also: Psalms 77:2 Isaiah 56:3 1 Samuel 8:15So Esther called for her chamberlain Hathach, who waited upon her; and she sent to learn the truth from Mordecai. See also: 1 Corinthians 12:26 Romans 12:15 Esther 1:10Mordecai showed him what was done, and the promise which Haman had made the king of ten thousand talents to be paid into the treasury, that he might destroy the Jews. See also: Esther 3:2-15And he gave him the copy of what was published in Susa concerning their destruction to show to Esther; and told him to charge her to go in and entreat the king, and to beg him for the people. “Remember, he said, the days of your humble condition, how you were nursed by my hand; because Haman, who holds the next place to the king, has spoken against us to cause our death. Call upon the Lord, and speak to the king concerning us, to deliver us from death.” See also: Ecclesiastes 10:4 Job 9:15 Esther 3:14-15So Hathach went in and told her all these words. Esther said to Hathach, “Go to Mordecai, and say, ‘All the nations of the empire know that any man or woman who goes in to the king into the inner court without being called, that person must die, unless the king stretches out his golden sceptre; then he shall live. I haven’t been called to go into the king for thirty days.’” See also: Esther 5:1-2 Esther 8:4 Daniel 2:9So Hathach reported to Mordecai all the words of Esther. Then Mordecai said to Hathach, “Go, and say to her, ‘Esther, don’t say to yourself that you alone will escape in the kingdom, more than all the other Jews. See also: Proverbs 24:10-12 Philippians 2:30 John 12:25For if you keep quiet on this occasion, help and protection will come to the Jews from another place; but you and your father’s house will perish. Who knows if you have been made queen for this occasion?’” See also: Genesis 45:4-8 1 Samuel 12:22 Deuteronomy 32:36And Esther sent the messenger who came to her to Mordecai, saying, “Go and assemble the Jews that are in Susa, and all of you fast for me. Don’t eat or drink for three days, night and day. My maidens and I will also fast. Then I will go in to the king contrary to the law, even if I must die.” See also: Acts 20:24 2 Chronicles 20:3 Joel 2:12-17So Mordecai went and did all that Esther commanded him. [He prayed to the Lord, making mention of all the works of the Lord. He said, “Lord God, you are king ruling over all, for all things are in your power, and there is no one who can oppose you in your purpose to save Israel; for you have made the sky and the earth and every wonderful thing under the sky. You are Lord of all, and there is no one who can resist you, Lord. You know all things. You know, Lord, that it is not in insolence, nor arrogance, nor love of glory, that I have done this, to refuse to bow down to the arrogant Haman. For I would gladly have kissed the soles of his feet for the safety of Israel. But I have done this that I might not set the glory of man above the glory of God. I will not worship anyone except you, my Lord, and I will not do these things in arrogance. And now, O Lord God, the King, the God of Abraham, spare your people, for our enemies are planning our destruction, and they have desired to destroy your ancient inheritance. Do not overlook your people, whom you have redeemed for yourself out of the land of Egypt. Listen to my prayer. Have mercy on your inheritance and turn our mourning into gladness, that we may live and sing praise to your name, O Lord. Don’t utterly destroy the mouth of those who praise you, O Lord.” All Israel cried with all their might, for death was before their eyes. And queen Esther took refuge in the Lord, being taken as it were in the agony of death. Having taken off her glorious apparel, she put on garments of distress and mourning. Instead of grand perfumes she filled her head with ashes and dung. She greatly humbled her body, and she filled every place of her glad adorning with her tangled hair. She implored the Lord God of Israel, and said, “O my Lord, you alone are our king. Help me. I am destitute, and have no helper but you, for my danger is near at hand. I have heard from my birth in the tribe of my kindred that you, Lord, took Israel out of all the nations, and our fathers out of all their kindred for a perpetual inheritance, and have done for them all that you have said. And now we have sinned before you, and you have delivered us into the hands of our enemies, because we honored their gods. You are righteous, O Lord. But now they have not been content with the bitterness of our slavery, but have laid their hands on the hands of their idols to abolish the decree of your mouth, and utterly to destroy your inheritance, and to stop the mouth of those who praise you, and to extinguish the glory of your house and your altar, and to open the mouth of the Gentiles to speak the praises of vanities, and that a mortal king should be admired forever. O Lord, don’t surrender your sceptre to those who don’t exist, and don’t let them laugh at our fall, but turn their counsel against themselves, and make an example of him who has begun to injure us. Remember us, O Lord! Manifest yourself in the time of our affliction. Encourage me, O King of gods, and ruler of all dominion! Put harmonious speech into my mouth before the lion, and turn his heart to hate him who fights against us, to the utter destruction of those who agree with him. But deliver us by your hand, and help me who am alone and have no one but you, O Lord. You know all things, and know that I hate the glory of transgressors, and that I abhor the bed of the uncircumcised and of every stranger. You know my necessity, for I abhor the symbol of my proud station, which is upon my head in the days of my splendor. I abhor it as a menstruous cloth, and I don’t wear it in the days of my tranquility. Your handmaid has not eaten at Haman’s table, and I have not honored the banquet of the king, neither have I drunk wine of libations. Neither has your handmaid rejoiced since the day of my promotion until now, except in you, O Lord God of Abraham. O god, who has power over all, listen to the voice of the desperate, and deliver us from the hand of those who devise mischief. Deliver me from my fear.]

See also: Cross references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), derived in part from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Notes · Haydock (1859, public domain)10 notes

Notes in English 19th-century Catholic commentary by Fr. George Leo Haydock, shown as published.

These notes keep the polemics of their time: some speak harshly of the Jewish people or of other Christians. The Church teaches otherwise today. The Jewish people may not be blamed for the death of Christ (Nostra Aetate 4; Catechism 597–598), and Christians of other communities are our brothers and sisters in the Lord (Unitatis Redintegratio 3). Christian unity

Esther 4:1

Ver. 1. Shewing. Sept. old Vulg. and Josephus, "a nation which has done no wrong, is to be cut off." The eastern nations were accustomed to such marks of sorrow. Jon. ii. 6. The citizens of Susa tore their garments, and cried aloud, for many days after the defeat of Xerxes. Herod. viii.

98. --- The domestics of Darius and Alexander tore also their hair, &c. after their masters' death.

Curt. iii. and xi.

↑ 1

Esther 4:2

Ver. 2. Sackcloth. Gr. adds, "and ashes." Such an appearance was deemed disrespectful. God forbids his priests to act thus. Lev. xxi. 1. See Gen. xli. 14.

Yet the miserable ought not to be entirely excluded from the king's presence, as he ought to be their protector.

↑ 2

Esther 4:3

Ver. 3. Edict. Lit. "dogma;: H. a word used in this sense, (Acts xv. 16.) and by Demosthenes,

&c. T. --- Mourning. The most effectual means of redress, is to do works of penance for past transgressions. 1 Cor. xi. 31. W.

↑ 3

Esther 4:4

Ver. 4. Her, concerning the unusual distress of one of the courtiers. They knew not, (M.) perhaps, that he was related to her. H.

↑ 4

Esther 4:7

Ver. 7. Money. Heb. "the sum of money." Sept. "then thousand talents."

↑ 7

Esther 4:8

Ver. 8. Entreat. Sept. "to put in a counter-petition, and entreat," &c. --- People.

Sept. add, "and country, remembering the days of thy lowly state, how thou wast fed by my hand; for Aman, the second after the king, has spoken against us, to have us destroyed. Call then upon the Lord, and speak to the king for us, and rescue us from death." H. --- This servant must have been very trusty, as the secret was confided to him, respecting the nation to which the queen belonged. M.

↑ 8

Esther 4:11

Ver. 11. Inner court, with regard to many others around, though there was one still more retired, (T.) where the king alone could enter. This admitted the light only by the door, before which hung a curtain, so that the king could see (C.) who came into the hall of audience, (H.) without being seen. None durst come even to this antichamber, without being called. It was also death to appear with their hands out of their sleeves, (Cyrop. ii.) or to sit down, (Diod. xvii.) or look at any of the king's wives in the face, &c. Plut. Artax. --- This gloomy retirement was intended to keep up the idea of his majesty being something more than man. H. --- Apud Persas persona regis, sub specie majestatis, occulitur. Justin.

i. --- The king's secret cabinet (C.) resembled, in magnificence (C. xv. 9.) the description which Ovid has given us of the palace of the sun. T. --- It was covered with gold and precious stones. Here he continued, almost inaccessible, and business was despatched slowly. C. --- Agesilaus, king of Sparta, shewed how ridiculous these customs were, by acting quite the reverse, appearing frequently among his subjects, and granting their just requests without delay. Xenophon. --- Thirty. She might apprehend that the king's affection was beginning to cool. God was pleased thus to try her the more. H.

↑ 11

Esther 4:13

Ver. 13. Only. Aman would contrive to effect her ruin with the rest.

↑ 13

Esther 4:14

Ver. 14. Occasion. Wonderful confidence! Gr. "if thou wilt not hearken (C. to me; (H.) or, if thou obstinately despise) at this time, the Jews shall be assisted and protected by some," &c. H.

--- As this. So Joseph was raised up in Egypt, (C.) that he might save all his family. H.

↑ 14

Esther 4:16

Ver. 16. Pray. Heb. "fast." They might take some refreshment in the evening, (Lyran) of dried meats. Joseph. Grot. --- Few constitutions could have done without any thing. Yet after two nights and one full day were elapsed, Esther ventured to go to the king. C. v. 1. We have here another instance of places for prayer. Judith vi. 21. The old Vulg. has, "publish a fast, and tell the ancients to fast. Let the infants be kept from the breast during the night, and let no food be given to the oxen and other animals, while I and my maids shall fast," &c. Then at the end of this chapter, in the Sept. follow the prayers of Mardochai and of Esther, (C. xiii. 8. and C. xiv. H.) which is their proper place. C.

↑ 16

License: Notes by Fr. George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), from the Douay-Rheims Bible with Haydock's commentary (first ed. Thomas Haydock, Manchester/Dublin, 1811–1814; New York: Edward Dunigan & Brother, 1859); New Testament notes compiled with Fr. Benedict Rayment. Public domain. Digital text: "The Haydock Bible", Internet Archive (archive.org/details/TheHaydockBible), uploaded 2011 under the Public Domain Mark. · Credits and licenses

Reflections

No reviewed reflections for this passage yet.