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In Crisis but Not Consumed

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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
   <div class="book bkEST">
      <div class="chapter ch4" data-usfm="EST.4.1+EST.4.2+EST.4.3+EST.4.4+EST.4.5+EST.4.6+EST.4.7+EST.4.8+EST.4.9+EST.4.10+EST.4.11+EST.4.12+EST.4.13+EST.4.14+EST.4.15+EST.4.16+EST.4.17">
         <div class="p"><span class="verse v1" data-usfm="EST.4.1"><span class="label">1</span><span class="content">When Mordecai learned of all that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the city, wailing loudly and bitterly. </span></span><span class="verse v2" data-usfm="EST.4.2"><span class="label">2</span><span class="content">But he went only as far as the king&#8217;s gate, because no one clothed in sackcloth was allowed to enter it. </span></span><span class="verse v3" data-usfm="EST.4.3"><span class="label">3</span><span class="content">In every province to which the edict and order of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing. Many lay in sackcloth and ashes.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v3" data-usfm="EST.4.3"></span><span class="verse v4" data-usfm="EST.4.4"><span class="label">4</span><span class="content">When Esther&#8217;s eunuchs and female attendants came and told her about Mordecai, she was in great distress. She sent clothes for him to put on instead of his sackcloth, but he would not accept them. </span></span><span class="verse v5" data-usfm="EST.4.5"><span class="label">5</span><span class="content">Then Esther summoned Hathak, one of the king&#8217;s eunuchs assigned to attend her, and ordered him to find out what was troubling Mordecai and why.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v5" data-usfm="EST.4.5"></span><span class="verse v6" data-usfm="EST.4.6"><span class="label">6</span><span class="content">So Hathak went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king&#8217;s gate. </span></span><span class="verse v7" data-usfm="EST.4.7"><span class="label">7</span><span class="content">Mordecai told him everything that had happened to him, including the exact amount of money Haman had promised to pay into the royal treasury for the destruction of the Jews. </span></span><span class="verse v8" data-usfm="EST.4.8"><span class="label">8</span><span class="content">He also gave him a copy of the text of the edict for their annihilation, which had been published in Susa, to show to Esther and explain it to her, and he told him to instruct her to go into the king&#8217;s presence to beg for mercy and plead with him for her people.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v8" data-usfm="EST.4.8"></span><span class="verse v9" data-usfm="EST.4.9"><span class="label">9</span><span class="content">Hathak went back and reported to Esther what Mordecai had said. </span></span><span class="verse v10" data-usfm="EST.4.10"><span class="label">10</span><span class="content">Then she instructed him to say to Mordecai, </span></span><span class="verse v11" data-usfm="EST.4.11"><span class="label">11</span><span class="content">&#8220;All the king&#8217;s officials 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 the king has but one law: that they be put to death unless the king extends the gold scepter to them and spares their lives. But thirty days have passed since I was called to go to the king.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v11" data-usfm="EST.4.11"></span><span class="verse v12" data-usfm="EST.4.12"><span class="label">12</span><span class="content">When Esther&#8217;s words were reported to Mordecai, </span></span><span class="verse v13" data-usfm="EST.4.13"><span class="label">13</span><span class="content">he sent back this answer: &#8220;Do not think that because you are in the king&#8217;s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. </span></span><span class="verse v14" data-usfm="EST.4.14"><span class="label">14</span><span class="content">For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father&#8217;s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v14" data-usfm="EST.4.14"></span><span class="verse v15" data-usfm="EST.4.15"><span class="label">15</span><span class="content">Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: </span></span><span class="verse v16" data-usfm="EST.4.16"><span class="label">16</span><span class="content">&#8220;Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v16" data-usfm="EST.4.16"></span><span class="verse v17" data-usfm="EST.4.17"><span class="label">17</span><span class="content">So Mordecai went away and carried out all of Esther&#8217;s instructions.</span></span></div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
   <div class="book bkEST">
      <div class="chapter ch8" data-usfm="EST.8.1+EST.8.2+EST.8.3+EST.8.4+EST.8.5+EST.8.6+EST.8.7">
         <div class="p"><span class="verse v1" data-usfm="EST.8.1"><span class="label">1</span><span class="content">That same day King Xerxes gave Queen Esther the estate of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. And Mordecai came into the presence of the king, for Esther had told how he was related to her. </span></span><span class="verse v2" data-usfm="EST.8.2"><span class="label">2</span><span class="content">The king took off his signet ring, which he had reclaimed from Haman, and presented it to Mordecai. And Esther appointed him over Haman&#8217;s estate.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v2" data-usfm="EST.8.2"></span><span class="verse v3" data-usfm="EST.8.3"><span class="label">3</span><span class="content">Esther again pleaded with the king, falling at his feet and weeping. She begged him to put an end to the evil plan of Haman the Agagite, which he had devised against the Jews. </span></span><span class="verse v4" data-usfm="EST.8.4"><span class="label">4</span><span class="content">Then the king extended the gold scepter to Esther and she arose and stood before him.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v4" data-usfm="EST.8.4"></span><span class="verse v5" data-usfm="EST.8.5"><span class="label">5</span><span class="content">&#8220;If it pleases the king,&#8221; she said, &#8220;and if he regards me with favor and thinks it the right thing to do, and if he is pleased with me, let an order be written overruling the dispatches that Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, devised and wrote to destroy the Jews in all the king&#8217;s provinces. </span></span><span class="verse v6" data-usfm="EST.8.6"><span class="label">6</span><span class="content">For how can I bear to see disaster fall on my people? How can I bear to see the destruction of my family?&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v6" data-usfm="EST.8.6"></span><span class="verse v7" data-usfm="EST.8.7"><span class="label">7</span><span class="content">King Xerxes replied to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, &#8220;Because Haman attacked the Jews, I have given his estate to Esther, and they have impaled him on the pole he set up. </span></span></div>
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