1 When Mordecai found out all that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the city, wailing loudly and bitterly.
2 He went only as far as the king's gate, because no one dressed in sackcloth was allowed to enter it.
3 In every province where the king's command and decree arrived, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping, and wailing. Many lay in sackcloth and ashes.
4 When Esther's maids and eunuchs came and told her about it, the queen was overcome with distress. She sent clothes for Mordecai to put on instead of his sackcloth, but he refused them.
5 Then Esther summoned Hathach, one of the king's eunuchs assigned to attend her, and ordered him to find out from Mordecai what was happening and why.
6 So Hathach went out to Mordecai in the city square in front of the king's gate.
7 Mordecai told him everything that had happened to him, including the exact amount of money Haman had promised to pay into the royal treasuries for the destruction of the Jews.
8 He also gave him a copy of the text of the decree for their destruction that had been published in Susa, to show to Esther and explain to her, and he told him to urge her to go to the king to beg for mercy and plead with him for her people.
9 Hathach went back and reported to Esther what Mordecai had said.
10 Then Esther told Hathach to say to Mordecai,
11 "All the king's servants 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, there is only one law: death, unless the king extends the gold scepter to that person and spares his life. And thirty days have passed since I was summoned to go to the king."
12 When Esther's words were reported to Mordecai,
13 Mordecai sent back this answer to Esther: "Do not think that because you are in the king's palace you alone of all the Jews will escape.
14 If you keep 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 whether you have come to royal position for such a time as this?"
15 Esther sent this reply to Mordecai:
16 "Go and gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I 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."
17 Mordecai went off and did everything Esther had instructed him.