Mordecai Asks for Esther's Help
1 When Mordecai learned of all that had been done, he tore his clothes in anguish. Then he dressed in sackcloth, covered his head with ashes, and walked through the city, wailing loudly and bitterly, 2 until he came to the entrance of the palace. He did not go in because no one wearing sackcloth was allowed inside. 3 Throughout all the provinces, wherever the king's proclamation was made known, there was loud mourning among the Jews. They fasted, wept, wailed, and most of them put on sackcloth and lay in ashes.
4 When Esther's servant women and eunuchs told her what Mordecai was doing, she was deeply disturbed. She sent Mordecai some clothes to put on instead of the sackcloth, but he would not accept them. 5 Then she called Hathach, one of the palace eunuchs appointed as her servant by the king, and told him to go to Mordecai and find out what was happening and why. 6 Hathach went to Mordecai in the city square at the entrance of the palace. 7 Mordecai told him everything that had happened to him and just how much money Haman had promised to put into the royal treasury if all the Jews were killed. 8 He gave Hathach a copy of the proclamation that had been issued in Susa, ordering the destruction of the Jews. Mordecai asked him to take it to Esther, explain the situation to her, and have her go and plead with the king and beg him to have mercy on her people. 9 Hathach did this, 10 and Esther gave him this message to take back to Mordecai: 11 “If anyone, man or woman, goes to the inner courtyard and sees the king without being summoned, that person must die. That is the law; everyone, from the king's advisers to the people in the provinces, knows that. There is only one way to get around this law: if the king holds out his gold scepter to someone, then that person's life is spared. But it has been a month since the king sent for me.”
12 When Mordecai received Esther's message, 13 he sent her this warning: “Don't imagine that you are safer than any other Jew just because you are in the royal palace. 14 If you keep quiet at a time like this, help will come from heaven to the Jews, and they will be saved, but you will die and your father's family will come to an end. Yet who knows—maybe it was for a time like this that you were made queen!”
15 Esther sent Mordecai this reply: 16 “Go and get all the Jews in Susa together; hold a fast and pray for me. Don't eat or drink anything for three days and nights. My servant women and I will be doing the same. After that, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. If I must die for doing it, I will die.”
17 Mordecai then left and did everything that Esther had told him to do.
Mordekai ma ningire ombatero ku Ester
1 Mordekai tja zuva avihe mbya tjitirwe wa nyondorora ozombanda ze moruhoze. Tjazumba arire tja zara omakutu, e ritirire omutwe motjiuru, na tuurunga otjihuro ama uru nomasa nama tetara omutima, 2 nga tje ya pomahitiro wondjuwo youhona. Eye ka hitire, tjinga ape ha yandjererwe omundu ngwa zara omakutu okuhita mu yo. 3 Motukondwa atuhe mu mwa tjivisiwa omaraerero wombara, mwa ri ondjuriro yoruhoze mokati kOvajuda. Owo ve ritjaera kovikurya, amave riri namave uru, novengi vawo va hwikikire omakutu nave saravara momutwe.
4 Novasukona ovakarere va Ester novakarere ozombondo ve mu raera imbi Mordekai mbi ma tjiti; nu Ester we rikenda tjinene. Eye wa hindira Mordekai ozombanda kutja a zare moruveze rwomakutu, nungwari Mordekai wa panḓa okuzekambura. 5 Ester arire tja isana Hatak, omukarere umwe ombondo wondjuwo youhona, ngwa zikwa i ombara a rire omukarere wa Ester; nu Ester we mu raera kutja a yende ku Mordekai, a katjiwe kutja wa hapa vi, nu otjikwatjike. 6 Hatak wa ya ku Mordekai korupanda rwotjihuro pomahitiro wondjuwo youhona. 7 Mordekai we mu tjivisa oviṋa avihe mbya tjitirwe ku ye, nokutja Haman wa kwizikire okutwa mo ovimariva vingapi motjipwikiro tjovihuze vyouhona, Ovajuda avehe tji va ṱu. 8 Eye wa yandja omatjangururiro womaraerero ku Hatak nga yandjererwe mOsusa, nu mu mwa tjangerwe omarakiza womayandekero wOvajuda. Mordekai we mu ningira kutja e ye tware ku Ester, nokutja a kahandjaurire Ester oviṋa avihe, ne kemuningire kutja e keriyarikaṋe kombara i ṱotjari novandu ve. 9 Hatak wa tjita nao. 10 Nu Ester we mu pa ombuze, ndji mai tja nai kutja e i yarure ku Mordekai: 11 “Ngamwa auhe, omurumendu poo omukazendu, tja hiti morupanda rwomoukoto na kamuna ombara e ha isanenwe, eye ma sokuṱa. Indi oro etwako; auhe okuza kovayandjandunge vombara nga kovandu motukondwa atuhe mave tjiwa otjiṋa hi. Pe nomuano umwe uriri wokupenga etwako ndi. Tjinangara ombara ya roporora okati kayo kongoldo ku umwe, omuinyo womundu ngo mau yamwa. Nungwari nai pa kapita omueze umwe, nu nga mba hiya isanewa i ombara.”
12 Mordekai tja za nokuzuva ombuze ya Ester ndji, 13 otja hinda omaronga nga ku Ester, a tja: “O tjangovasi oove ngu u he ri moumba pOvajuda varwe, tjinga au ri mondjuwo youhona. 14 Tji wa mwina moruveze otja indwi, ombatero kOvajuda mai zu meyuru, nowo mave yamwa, nungwari ove mo ṱu, notjikutu tjaiho matji yanda. Ngu ma tjiwa owaṋi kutja ngahino ove otji wa zikirwa okurira ombara oserekaze moruveze otja indwi!”
15 Ester wa hindira Mordekai eziriro ndi na tja: 16 “Twende nu u kaworonganisire Ovajuda avehe mOsusa; ritjaereye kovikurya nu mu ndji kumbire. Amu ri nu amu nu otjiṋa ngamwa oure womayuva nomauṱuku yetatu. Ami novakarere vandje ovasukona otjinga amatu tjiti wina. Kombunda yanao ami me i kombara, nangarire kutja me katuka etwako. Tji me ṱu mokutjita nao, hi ṱe.”
17 Mordekai wa ya na katjita oviṋa avihe Ester mbye mu raerere.
