Mordecai Appeals to Esther

¹When Mordecai learned of all that had happened, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the middle of the city, wailing loudly and bitterly.

²But he went only as far as the king’s gate, because the law prohibited anyone wearing sackcloth from entering that gate.

³In every province to which the king’s command and edict came, there was great mourning among the Jews. They fasted, wept, and lamented, and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.

⁴When Esther’s maidens and eunuchs came and told her about Mordecai, the queen was overcome with distress. She sent clothes for Mordecai to wear instead of his sackcloth, but he would not accept them.

⁵Then Esther summoned Hathach, one of the king’s eunuchs appointed to her, and she dispatched him to Mordecai to learn what was troubling him and why.

⁶So Hathach went out to Mordecai in the city square in front of the king’s gate,

⁷and Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, including the exact amount of money that Haman had promised to pay into the royal treasury in order to destroy the Jews.

⁸Mordecai also gave Hathach a copy of the written decree issued in Susa for the destruction of the Jews, to show and explain to Esther, urging her to approach the king, implore his favor, and plead before him for her people.

⁹So Hathach went back and relayed Mordecai’s response to Esther.

¹⁰Then Esther spoke to Hathach and instructed him to tell Mordecai,

¹¹“All the royal officials and the people of the king’s provinces know that one law applies to every man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned—that he be put to death. Only if the king extends the gold scepter may that person live. But I have not been summoned to appear before the king for the past thirty days.”

¹²When Esther’s words were relayed to Mordecai,

¹³he sent back to her this reply: “Do not imagine that because you are in the king’s palace you alone will escape the fate of all the Jews.

¹⁴For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows if perhaps you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

¹⁵Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai:

¹⁶“Go and assemble all the Jews who can be found in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day, and I and my maidens will fast as you do. After that, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish!”

¹⁷So Mordecai went and did all that Esther had instructed him.

Judah and Tamar

¹About that time, Judah left his brothers and settled near a man named Hirah, an Adullamite.

²There Judah saw the daughter of a Canaanite man named Shua, and he took her as a wife and slept with her.

³So she conceived and gave birth to a son, and Judah named him Er.

⁴Again she conceived and gave birth to a son, and she named him Onan.

⁵Then she gave birth to another son and named him Shelah; it was at Chezib that she gave birth to him.

⁶Now Judah acquired a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar.

⁷But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD; so the LORD put him to death.

⁸Then Judah said to Onan, “Sleep with your brother’s wife. Perform your duty as her brother-in-law and raise up offspring for your brother.”

⁹But Onan knew that the offspring would not belong to him; so whenever he would sleep with his brother’s wife, he would spill his seed on the ground so that he would not produce offspring for his brother.

¹⁰What he did was wicked in the sight of the LORD, so He put Onan to death as well.

¹¹Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Live as a widow in your father’s house until my son Shelah grows up.” For he thought, “He may die too, like his brothers.” So Tamar went to live in her father’s house.

¹²After a long time Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Judah had finished mourning, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went up to his sheepshearers at Timnah.

¹³When Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep,”

¹⁴she removed her widow’s garments, covered her face with a veil to disguise herself, and sat at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the way to Timnah. For she saw that although Shelah had grown up, she had not been given to him as a wife.

¹⁵When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute because she had covered her face.

¹⁶Not realizing that she was his daughter-in-law, he went over to her and said, “Come now, let me sleep with you.”“What will you give me for sleeping with you?” she inquired.

¹⁷“I will send you a young goat from my flock,” Judah answered.But she replied, “Only if you leave me something as a pledge until you send it.”

¹⁸“What pledge should I give you?” he asked.She answered, “Your seal and your cord, and the staff in your hand.” So he gave them to her and slept with her, and she became pregnant by him.

¹⁹Then Tamar got up and departed. And she removed her veil and put on her widow’s garments again.

²⁰Now when Judah sent his friend Hirah the Adullamite with the young goat to collect the items he had left with the woman, he could not find her.

²¹He asked the men of that place, “Where is the shrine prostitute who was beside the road at Enaim?”“No shrine prostitute has been here,” they answered.

²²So Hirah returned to Judah and said, “I could not find her, and furthermore, the men of that place said, ‘No shrine prostitute has been here.’”

²³“Let her keep the items,” Judah replied. “Otherwise we will become a laughingstock.After all, I did send her this young goat, but you could not find her.”

²⁴About three months later, Judah was told, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has prostituted herself, and now she is pregnant.”“Bring her out!” Judah replied. “Let her be burned to death!”

²⁵As she was being brought out, Tamar sent a message to her father-in-law: “I am pregnant by the man to whom these items belong.” And she added, “Please examine them. Whose seal and cord and staff are these?”

²⁶Judah recognized the items and said, “She is more righteous than I, since I did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not have relations with her again.

The Birth of Perez and Zerah

²⁷When the time came for Tamar to give birth, there were twins in her womb.

²⁸And as she was giving birth, one of them put out his hand; so the midwife took a scarlet thread and tied it around his wrist. “This one came out first,” she announced.

²⁹But when he pulled his hand back and his brother came out, she said, “You have broken out first!” So he was named Perez.

³⁰Then his brother came out with the scarlet thread around his wrist, and he was named Zerah.

A Prayer for Restoration

¹Remember, O LORD, what has happened to us.Look and see our disgrace!

²Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers,our houses to foreigners.

³We have become fatherless orphans;our mothers are widows.

⁴We must buy the water we drink;our wood comes at a price.

⁵We are closely pursued;we are weary and find no rest.

⁶We submitted to Egypt and Assyriato get enough bread.

⁷Our fathers sinned and are no more,but we bear their punishment.

⁸Slaves rule over us;there is no one to deliver us from their hands.

⁹We get our bread at the risk of our livesbecause of the sword in the wilderness.

¹⁰Our skin is as hot as an ovenwith fever from our hunger.

¹¹Women have been ravished in Zion,virgins in the cities of Judah.

¹²Princes have been hung up by their hands;elders receive no respect.

¹³Young men toil at millstones;boys stagger under loads of wood.

¹⁴The elders have left the city gate;the young men have stopped their music.

¹⁵Joy has left our hearts;our dancing has turned to mourning.

¹⁶The crown has fallen from our head.Woe to us, for we have sinned!

¹⁷Because of this, our hearts are faint;because of these, our eyes grow dim—

¹⁸because of Mount Zion, which lies desolate,patrolled by foxes.

¹⁹You, O LORD, reign forever;Your throne endures from generation to generation.

²⁰Why have You forgotten us forever?Why have You forsaken us for so long?

²¹Restore us to Yourself, O LORD, so we may return;renew our days as of old,

²²unless You have utterly rejected usand remain angry with us beyond measure.

Give Praise, O Servants of the LORD

¹Hallelujah!Praise the name of the LORD.Give praise, O servants of the LORD,

²who stand in the house of the LORD,in the courts of the house of our God.

³Hallelujah, for the LORD is good;sing praises to His name, for it is lovely.

⁴For the LORD has chosen Jacob as His own,Israel as His treasured possession.

⁵For I know that the LORD is great;our Lord is above all gods.

⁶The LORD does all that pleases Himin the heavens and on the earth,in the seas and in all their depths.

⁷He causes the clouds to risefrom the ends of the earth.He generates the lightning with the rainand brings forth the wind from His storehouses.

⁸He struck down the firstborn of Egypt,of both man and beast.

⁹He sent signs and wonders into your midst, O Egypt,against Pharaoh and all his servants.

¹⁰He struck down many nationsand slaughtered mighty kings:

¹¹Sihon king of the Amorites,Og king of Bashan,and all the kings of Canaan.

¹²He gave their land as an inheritance,as a heritage to His people Israel.

¹³Your name, O LORD, endures forever,Your renown, O LORD, through all generations.

¹⁴For the LORD will vindicate His peopleand will have compassion on His servants.

¹⁵The idols of the nations are silver and gold,made by the hands of men.

¹⁶They have mouths, but cannot speak;they have eyes, but cannot see;

¹⁷they have ears, but cannot hear;nor is there breath in their mouths.

¹⁸Those who make them become like them,as do all who trust in them.

¹⁹O house of Israel, bless the LORD;O house of Aaron, bless the LORD;

²⁰O house of Levi, bless the LORD;you who fear the LORD, bless the LORD!

²¹Blessed be the LORD from Zion—He who dwells in Jerusalem.Hallelujah!