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.
Modekayi unokumbila bhatsho kuna Esita
1 Kwakati Modekayi asinoziba ngekwe zose zwakashingwa, kapalulanya zwiambalo zwaakambala, kazhola nlota, kaambala zwiambalo zwakathamwa nge saka, ngono kapalama nzi nkulu emimila guwo linohwisa zogwadza, 2 kayenda tjose akajalo kudzina enoti pa nkoba we ng'umba ya mambo ngobe yakabe isi fanilo kuti nthu ungangina akaambala tjiambalo tje saka. 3 Pamwe ne pamwe pakabe kwabikwa ndaulo ya mambo, Bajuta bakasala bali mu tjililo tjinotjenamisa, bezwinyima zojiwa, bunji gwabo bakaizela mu masaka bakaawala mu nlota.
4 Kwakati balandakadzi ba Esita ne ngomwa basinobudza Esita tjakabe tjinothamwa ndi Modekayi kazhalilana kwazo, ngono kadusa zwiambalo kuti zwipiwe Modekayi aambale izo mu bumo gwezwe saka, ngono iye kazwilamba. 5 Ngono Esita kadana Hathaki mmwe we ngomwa dza mambo, Hathaki wakabe adusiwa ndi mambo kuti ashingile Esita, kantuma kuna Modekayi kuti ambuzwe kuti koshingikalani. 6 Hathaki wakayenda kuna Modekayi pa tjibata tji mbeli kwe nkoba we bugalo gwa mambo mu nzi nkulu, 7 ngono Modekayi kambudza kose kwakanshingikalila nenge kuti Hamani wakagadzabgwe kulipa be dula la mambo bungana ha Bajuta balobesiwa. 8 Modekayi wakampa ntutshi we ndaulo yabakadusigwa kudwa ku Susa kuti balobesiwe kuti ndizo anoilakidza Esita. Wakankumbila kuti aswike atjenesele Esita tjimo ngono andwe anokumbila mambo kuti babahwile zogwadza kuti ndizo bahwile bathu babe zogwadza. 9 Ngono Hathaki akayenda kanobudza Esita tjalebgwa ndi Modekayi. 10 Ipapo Esita katuma Hathaki kuna Modekayi kuti anondwa ati 11 “Bakumbuludzi bose ba mambo ne bathu be bushe banoziba kuti apa nlume kene nkadzi anganginila ku ng'umba ya mambo asadang'wa, kuna nlayo nng'ompela koga wakanlingisana unoti, ‘abulawe,’ kuzhe kwe kuti mambo bangamilidzila swimbgwana yabo ye bushe yakathamwa nge golide mu nthu wakajalo ndizo kasibulawe. Koga imi ndipano ndakagala mazhuba ali makumi matatu andithu adanigwa ku ng'umba ya mambo.” 12 Bakati bebudza Modekayi tjalebgwa ndi Esita, 13 Modekayi kabadwa kati bayende banozibisa Esita yetji: “Usitongo kumbula kuti ne kuti unogala mu ng'umba ya mambo wakabakililika kupinda Bajuta bamwe. 14 Apa unganyalala koga mu tjibaka tjino, sununguko ne jidzo le Bajuta zowodwa ntome koga iwe ne be nsha wa tate babo mukalobesiwa. Ndiyani dumbu ungaziba, bamwe nditjo tjawakabigigwa Nfumakadzi itjetji.” 15 Ngono Esita wakashandula eti, 16 “Yenda unokubunganya Bajuta bose bamu Susa, muzwinyime zojiwa. Musitongoja kene kung'wa kwe mazhuba matatu ne masiku matatu, ngono imi ne babhatshi bangu towozwinyimabo zojiwa namwi. Ngono kudwapo ndowoyenda kuna mambo nenguba kusi mu mpanga, koga ha ndifa ndowofa koga.” 17 Ngono Modekayi kamilika kanothama tjimwe ne tjimwe tjaadwiwa ndi Esita.