&#8220;Don&#8217;t imagine that because you are part of the king&#8217;s household you will be the one Jew<n id="1" /> who will escape. If you keep quiet at this time, liberation and protection for the Jews will appear<n id="2" /> from another source,<n id="3" /> while you and your father&#8217;s household perish. It may very well be<n id="4" /> that you have achieved royal status<n id="5" /> for such a time as this!&#8221;p>

If I have found favor in the king&#8217;s sight and if the king is inclined<n id="1" /> to grant my request and perform my petition, let the king and Haman come tomorrow to the banquet that I will prepare for them. At that time<n id="2" /> I will do as the king wishes.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="bodytext">Queen Esther replied, &#8220;If I have met with your approval,<n id="1" /> O king, and if the king is so inclined, grant me my life as my request, and my people as my petition.

<p class="bodytext">Esther replied, &#8220;If the king is so inclined,<n id="1" /> let the king and Haman come today to the banquet that I have prepared for him.&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">She said, &#8220;If the king is so inclined and if I have met with his approval and if the matter is agreeable to the king and if I am attractive to him, let an edict be written rescinding those recorded intentions of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite,<n id="1" /> which he wrote in order to destroy the Jews who are throughout all the king&#8217;s provinces.

If the king is so inclined,<n id="1" /> let a royal edict go forth from him, and let it be written in the laws of Persia and Media that cannot be repealed,<n id="2" /> that Vashti<n id="3" /> may not come into the presence of King Ahasuerus, and let the king convey her royalty to another<n id="4" /> who is more deserving than she.<n id="5" />

In the evening she went, and in the morning she returned to a separate part<n id="1" /> of the harem, to the authority of Shaashgaz the king&#8217;s eunuch who was overseeing the concubines. She would not go back to the king unless the king was pleased with her<n id="2" /> and she was requested by name.p>

If the king is so inclined,<n id="1" /> let an edict be issued<n id="2" /> to destroy them. I will pay ten thousand talents of silver<n id="3" /> to be conveyed to the king&#8217;s treasuries for the officials who carry out this business.&#8221;p>

Haman said, &#8220;Furthermore, Queen Esther invited<n id="1" /> only me to accompany the king to the banquet that she prepared! And also tomorrow I am invited<n id="2" /> along with the king.

Haman then related to his wife Zeresh and to all his friends everything that had happened to him. These wise men,<n id="1" /> along with his wife Zeresh, said to him, &#8220;If indeed this Mordecai before whom you have begun to fall is Jewish,<n id="2" /> you will not prevail against him. No, you will surely fall before him!&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">Esther replied, &#8220;If the king is so inclined, let the Jews who are in Susa be permitted to act tomorrow also according to today&#8217;s law, and let them hang the ten sons of Haman on the gallows.&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">When it became the turn of Esther daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai (who had raised her as if she were his own daughter<n id="1" />) to go to the king, she did not request anything except what Hegai the king&#8217;s eunuch, who was overseer of the women, had recommended. Yet Esther met with the approval of all who saw her.