Mordecai learned all that had been done and he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes. And he went through the middle of the city and cried out a loud and bitter cry; he went up to the entrance of the gate of the king, for he could not go to the gate of the king in sackcloth. In every province each place where the king’s edict and his law came, there was great mourning for the Jews with fasting, crying, wailing, and sackcloth; and ashes were spread out as a bed for them.

And Esther’s maids and her eunuchs came and they told her, and the queen was deeply distressed; she sent garments to clothe Mordecai so that he might remove his sackcloth—but he did not accept them. Then Esther called Hathach from the king’s eunuchs who regularly attended to her, and she ordered him to go to Mordecai to learn what was happening and why. So Hathach went out to Mordecai, to the public square of the city, which was in front of the gate of the king, and Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, and the exact amount of money that Haman has promised to pay to the treasury of the king for the destruction of the Jews. And he gave him a copy of the edict of the law that had been issued in Susa for their destruction to show Esther, and to inform her, and to charge her to go to the king and make supplication to him and entreat before him for her people.

And Hathach went back and told Esther the words of Mordecai. And Esther spoke to Hathach and she gave him a message for Mordecai: "All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that if any man or woman who goes to the king to the inner courtyard, who is not called, he has one law, to be killed, except if the king extends to him the gold scepter so that he may live. I have not been called to come to the king for thirty days." And they told Mordecai the words of Esther. Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther: "Do not think that your life will be saved in the palace of the king more than all the Jews. For if indeed you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, and you and the family of your father will perish. Who knows? Perhaps you have come to a royal position for a time such as this." Esther replied to Mordecai: "Go, gather all the Jews that are found in Susa and fast for me; do not eat or drink for three days, both night and day. I and my young girls will fast likewise, and then I will go to the king, which is not according to the law; if I perish, I perish. And Mordecai went away and he did everything that Esther commanded him.

And it happened, on the third day, and Esther put on royal clothes, and she stood in the inner courtyard of the king’s palace, opposite the king’s palace; the king was sitting on his royal throne in the throne room opposite the doorway of the palace. When the king saw Queen Esther standing in the courtyard she found favor in his eyes, and the king held out the gold scepter that was in his hand to Esther, and Esther approached and touched the top of the scepter. And the king said to her, "What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? It will be given to you—even half the kingdom." And Esther said, "If it is good to the king, let the king and Haman come today to the banquet that I have prepared for him." And the king said, "Bring Haman quickly to fulfill the request of Esther." So the king and Haman came to the banquet that Esther had prepared. And the king said to Esther while they were drinking wine, "What is your petition? It will be given to you. What is your request? Even half the kingdom, it will done. And Esther answered and said, "This is my petition and my request. If I have found favor in the eyes of the king, and if it is good to the king to grant my petition and fulfill my request, let the king and Haman come to the banquet that I will prepare for them tomorrow, and I will do according to the word of the king.

And Haman went out on that day rejoicing and feeling good. But when Haman saw Mordecai at the gate of the king, and he did not rise or tremble before him, Haman was filled with rage toward Mordecai. But Haman controlled himself and went to his house, and he sent for and brought his friends and Zeresh his wife. And Haman recounted to them the splendor of his wealth and the number of his sons and all the ways that the king had honored him and promoted him above the officials and king’s servants. And Haman added, "Esther the Queen did not let just anyone come to the banquet that she prepared with the king except me, and I am also invited tomorrow to her banquet with the king. But all this fails to satisfy me when I see Mordecai the Jew setting at the gate of the king." And Zeresh his wife and all of his friends said to him, "Let them make a gallows fifty cubits high, and in the morning tell the king, "Let them hang Mordecai on it; then go with the king to the banquet happily." The advice pleased Haman, so he had the gallows made.

During that night the king’s sleep escaped him, and he gave orders to bring the scroll of records and chronicles, and they were read before the king. And it was found written how Mordecai had reported concerning Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs from the keepers of the threshold who had conspired to assassinate King Ahasuerus. And the king asked, "What has been done to bestow honor to Mordecai for this?" And the king’s servants who attended him said, "Nothing has been done for him." And the king asked, "Who is in the courtyard?" Haman had just come to the courtyard of the king’s outer palace to tell the king to hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him. And the king’s servants said to him, "Look! Haman is standing in the courtyard." And the king said, "Let him come." And Haman came, and the king said to him, "What is to be done for the man whom the king wishes to honor?" And Haman thought to himself, "Whom would the king wish to honor more than me?" So Haman said to the king, "For a man whom the king wishes to honor, let them bring royal clothing with which the king has clothed himself, and a horse that the king has ridden, and on whose head a royal head-dress has been given. And let the clothing and the horse be given to the man by the officials of the king’s nobles; let them cloth the man whom the king wishes to honor, and let him ride on his horse through the public square of the city, and let them proclaim before him, ‘Thus, it will be done for the man whom the king wishes to honor.’" Then the king said to Haman, "Quickly, take the clothing and the horse, just as you have said, and do so to Mordecai the Jew who sits at the gate of the king; you must not leave out anything from what you have said." So Haman took the clothing and the horse, and he clothed Mordecai and let him ride through the public square of the city; and he proclaimed before him, "Thus, it is done to the man whom the king wishes to honor."

Then Mordecai returned to the gate of the king, and Haman rushed to his house mournful and with his head covered. And Haman told Zeresh his wife and all his friends all that had happened to him. And his advisers and Zeresh his wife said to him, "If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is from the descendants of the Jews, you will not prevail against him, but will certainly fall before him." As they were still speaking with him the king’s eunuchs arrived and hurried to bring Haman to the banquet that Esther had prepared.

"To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:

"This is what the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand says, the one who walks in the midst of the seven gold lampstands: ‘I know your works, and your labor and patient endurance, and that you are not able to tolerate evil, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles and are not, and you found them to be false. And you have patient endurance, and have endured many things because of my name, and have not become weary. But I have this against you: that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent and do the works you did at first. But if you do not, I am coming to you, and I will remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. But you do have this: that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, things which I also hate. The one who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers, I will grant to him to eat from the tree of life which is in the paradise of God.’

"And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write:

"This is what the first and the last says, who was dead and came to life: ‘I know your affliction and poverty (but you are rich), and the slander of those who call themselves Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not be afraid of the things which you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison so that you may be tested, and you will experience affliction ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. The one who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will never be harmed by the second death.’

"And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write:

"This is what the one who has the sharp double-edged sword says: ‘I know where you live, where the throne of Satan is. And you hold fast to my name and did not deny your faith in me, even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan lives. But I have a few things against you: that you have there those who hold fast to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat food sacrificed to idols and to commit sexual immorality. So likewise you also have those who hold fast to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Therefore repent! But if you do not, I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war with them with the sword from my mouth. The one who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers, I will give to him some of the hidden manna, and I will give to him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written, that no one knows except the one who receives it.’

"And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write:

"This is what the Son of God says, the one who has his eyes like a fiery flame and his feet like fine bronze: ‘I know your works, and your love, and faith, and service, and patient endurance—and your last works are greater than the first. But I have against you that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, the one who calls herself a prophetess, and teaches and deceives my slaves to commit sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. And I have given her time in order to repent, and she did not want to repent from her sexual immorality. Behold, I am throwing her into a sickbed and those who committed adultery with her into great affliction, unless they repent from her deeds. And I will kill her children with deadly disease, and all the churches will know that I am the one who searches minds and hearts, and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds. But I say to you, to the rest who are in Thyatira, all those who do not hold this teaching, who have not known the deep things of Satan, as they say, I do not put upon you any other burden. Nevertheless, hold fast to what you have until I come. And the one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, I will give him authority over the nations, and "he will shepherd them with an iron rod; he will break them in pieces like jars made of clay," as I also have received from my Father, and I will give him the morning star. The one who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’