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.
1 Mordekai sho a koneke shoka sha ningwa po, okwa tuula oonguwo dhe moluhodhi. Okwa zala ehahi, i igundu omutoko momutse e te endagula noshilando ta kugu mokule a lulilwa, 2 sigo ta thiki peelo lyuuwa. Ina ya mo muuwa, oshoka ihamu yio muntu a zala ehahi. 3 Kiitopolwa ayihe, nkoka eutho lyomukwaniilwa lya tseyithwa, okwa li elilagano enene mokati kAajuda. Oyi idhilike iikulya, ya lili nokukuga; oyendji oya zala omahahi e taa lala momutoko.
4 Aadhike yaEster naathonwantu oye mu hokololele shoka tashi ningwa kuMordekai. Ester okwa si oluhodhi olunene. Okwa tumine Mordekai oonguwo, e dhi zale peha lyehahi, ihe ine dhi taamba. 5 Nena Ester okwi ithana Hatak, gumwe gwomaathonwantu yomuuwa, ngoka a tulwa po komukwaniilwa a kale omupiya gwe, e te mu lombwele, a ye kuMordekai a uve shoka sha ningwa po nomolwashike. 6 Hatak okwa yi kuMordekai mehalandjandja lyoshilando peelo lyuuwa. 7 Mordekai okwe mu hokololele ashihe shoka she mu ningilwa. Okwe mu tseyithile wo ondjundo yoshisiliveli Haman e yi uvaneka, yi tulwe moompungulilo dhuuwa, ngele Aajuda ayehe oya dhipagwa po. 8 Okwa pe Hatak ombapila yenyolululo lyeutho ndyoka lya gandjwa muSusa lyokudhipaga Aajuda, opo e yi fale kuEster noku mu tseyithila oshinima ashihe. Ester ne ki ikumbe omukwaniilwa noku mu indila, opo a sile ohenda oshigwana she Oshijuda. 9 Hatak okwe shi ningi, 10 naEster okwe mu pe elaka, e li fale kuMordekai, tali ti: 11 “Shaa ngoka, omulumentu nenge omukiintu, ta yi kehale lyomeni a mone omukwaniilwa ye ini ithanwa, oku na okusa. Ndjika ompango; omalenga gomukwaniilwa agehe naantu ayehe miitopolwa yoshilongo she oye yi tseya. Ope na ompito yimwe ayike okukala nomwenyo. Omuntu ngoka omukwaniilwa te mu ganeke nondhimbo ye yuukwaniilwa yoshingoli, ita dhipagwa. Ihe opwa piti omwedhi omukwaniilwa ini ithana ndje, ndi ye kuye.”
12 Mordekai sho u uvu oohapu dhaEster, 13 okwe mu tumine eyamukulo tali ti: “Ino ifundjaleka kutya ou li megameno u vule Aajuda yalwe, sho u li muuwa womukwaniilwa. 14 Ngele to mwenene ompito ndjika, ekwatho otali zile Aajuda palwe e taa ka hupithwa, ihe ngoye nezimo lyaho otamu ka yonuka po. Olye e shi tseya kutya ino ninga omunyekadhi omolwompito ndjika?”
15 Ester okwa tumine Mordekai eyamukulo tali ti: 16 “Inda, u ka gongele Aajuda ayehe muSusa; idhilikeni iikulya ne mu galikanene ndje. Inamu lya ne inamu nwa sha omasiku gatatu, uusiku nomutenya. Nangame osho te ningi pamwe naadhike yandje. Konima yaambika otandi ka ya komukwaniilwa, nando nashi kale sha pingathana nompango. Ngele ote si, nandi se.”
17 Mordekai okwa yi e ta ningi, ngaashi Ester e mu lombwele.
