መርዶክዮስ የአስቴርን ርዳታ ጠየቀ
1መርዶክዮስ የተደረገውን ሁሉ ባወቀ ጊዜ፣ ልብሱን ቀደደ፤ ከዚያም ማቅ ለብሶ፣ በራሱ ላይ ዐመድ ነስንሶ ድምፁን ከፍ በማድረግ አምርሮ እየጮኸ ወደ ከተማዪቱ መካከል ወጣ። 2ማቅ የለበሰ እንዲገባ ስለማይፈቀድለት፣ የሄደው እስከ ንጉሡ በር ድረስ ብቻ ነበር። 3የንጉሡ ዐዋጅና ትእዛዝ በደረሰበት አውራጃ ሁሉ፣ በአይሁድ መካከል ታላቅ ሐዘን ሆነ፤ ጾሙ፤ አለቀሱ፤ ጮኹም። ብዙዎቹም ማቅና ዐመድ ላይ ተኙ።
4የአስቴር ደንገጡሮችና ጃንደረቦች መጥተው ስለ መርዶክዮስ በነገሯት ጊዜ፣ እጅግ ዐዘነች፤ እርሷም በማቁ ፈንታ የሚለብሰውን ልብስ ላከችለት፤ እርሱ ግን አልተቀበላቸውም። 5ከዚያም አስቴር ከንጉሡ ጃንደረቦች መካከል እርሷን እንዲያገለግል የተመደበውን ሀታክን ጠርታ፣ መርዶክዮስ ምን ችግር እንደ ገጠመውና ስለ ምንስ እንደዚህ እንደ ሆነ እንዲያጣራ ላከችው።
6ስለዚህ ሀታክ በንጉሡ በር ፊት ለፊት ወደሚገኘው ወደ ከተማዪቱ አደባባይ ወደ መርዶክዮስ ወጣ። 7መርዶክዮስ የደረሰበትን ነገር ሁሉ፣ እንዲሁም ሐማ የአይሁድን ሕዝብ ለማጥፋት ወደ ንጉሡ ግምጃ ቤት ለማግባት ቃል የገባውን የገንዘብ ልክ ጭምር ነገረው። 8አይሁድን ለማጥፋት በሱሳ የወጣውን የዋናውን ዐዋጅ ቅጅም ለአስቴር እንዲያሳያትና በዝርዝር እንዲያስረዳት ሰጠው፤ ወደ ንጉሡም ዘንድ ገብታ ስለ ሕዝቧ ምሕረት እንድትጠይቅና እንድትማልድ አጥብቆ ይነግራት ዘንድ አሳሰበው።
9ሀታክም ተመልሶ መርዶክዮስ የነገረውን ሁሉ ለአስቴር አስታወቃት። 10እርሷም ለመርዶክዮስ እንዲህ እንዲለው ነገረችው፤ 11“የንጉሡ ባሮችና በንጉሡ አውራጃዎች የሚገኙ ሰዎች ሁሉ ወንድም ሆነ ሴት፣ ማንም ሰው ሳይጠራ ንጉሡ ወዳለበት ወደ ውስጠኛው አደባባይ የሚገባ፣ ንጉሡ አንድ ሕግ ብቻ እንዳለው ያውቃል፤ ይኸውም እንዲህ ያደረገው ሰው ይገደላል፤ አንድ ሰው ከእንዲህ ዐይነቱ ሞት የሚተርፈው፣ ንጉሡ የወርቅ ዘንጉን ሲዘረጋለት ብቻ ነው። እኔ ግን ወደ ንጉሡ ዘንድ እንድገባ ከተጠራሁ ከሠላሳ ቀን በላይ ሆነ።”
12የአስቴር ቃል ለመርዶክዮስ በተነገረው ጊዜ፣ 13ይህን መልስ ላከባት፤ “አንቺ በንጉሥ ቤት በመሆንሽ ብቻ ሌላው የአይሁድ ሕዝብ ሲጠፋ አንቺ የምትተርፊ እንዳይመስልሽ፤ 14በዚህ ጊዜ አንቺ ዝም ብትዪ፣ ለአይሁድ ርዳታና ትድግና ከሌላ ስፍራ ይመጣላቸዋል፤ አንቺና የአባትሽ ቤት ግን ትጠፋላችሁ፤ ደግሞስ አንቺ ንግሥት ለመሆን የበቃሽው ለዚህ ጊዜ እንደ ሆነ ማን ያውቃል?”
15ከዚያም አስቴር ለመርዶክዮስ ይህን መልስ ላከችበት፤ 16“ሂድና በሱሳ ያሉትን አይሁድ ሁሉ በአንድነት ሰብስብ፤ ስለ እኔም ጹሙልኝ፤ ቀንም ይሁን ሌሊት ለሦስት ቀን አትብሉ፤ አትጠጡም። እኔና ደንገጡሮቼም እናንተ እንደምታደርጉት ሁሉ እንጾማለን፤ ይህ ከተፈጸመ በኋላ ግን ነገሩ ምንም እንኳ ከሕግ ውጭ ቢሆንም፣ ወደ ንጉሡ ዘንድ እሄዳለሁ፤ ከጠፋሁም ልጥፋ።”
17ስለዚህ መርዶክዮስ ሄደ፤ የአስቴርንም ትእዛዝ ሁሉ ፈጸመ።
Mordecai persuades Esther to help
1When Mordecai learned of all that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the city, wailing loudly and bitterly. 2But he went only as far as the king’s gate, because no-one clothed in sackcloth was allowed to enter it. 3In every province to which the edict and order of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing. Many lay in sackcloth and ashes.
4When Esther’s eunuchs and female attendants came and told her about Mordecai, she was in great distress. She sent clothes for him to put on instead of his sackcloth, but he would not accept them. 5Then Esther summoned Hathak, one of the king’s eunuchs assigned to attend her, and ordered him to find out what was troubling Mordecai and why.
6So Hathak went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king’s gate. 7Mordecai told him everything that had happened to him, including the exact amount of money Haman had promised to pay into the royal treasury for the destruction of the Jews. 8He also gave him a copy of the text of the edict for their annihilation, which had been published in Susa, to show to Esther and explain it to her, and he told him to instruct her to go into the king’s presence to beg for mercy and plead with him for her people.
9Hathak went back and reported to Esther what Mordecai had said. 10Then she instructed him to say to Mordecai, 11‘All the king’s officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned the king has but one law: that they be put to death unless the king extends the gold sceptre to them and spares their lives. But thirty days have passed since I was called to go to the king.’
12When Esther’s words were reported to Mordecai, 13he sent back this answer: ‘Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. 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 family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?’
15Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: 16‘Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.’
17So Mordecai went away and carried out all of Esther’s instructions.
