When Mordecai learned of the conspiracy,<n id="1" /> he informed Queen Esther,<n id="2" /> and Esther told the king in Mordecai&#8217;s behalf.<n id="3" />

<t /><p class="poetry">&#8220;But now, ask the animals and they<n id="2" /> will teach you,p> <p class="poetry">or the birds of the sky and they will tell you.p>

<p class="poetry">No one denounces his conduct to his face;p> <p class="poetry">no one repays him for what<n id="1" /> he has done.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">If there is an angel beside him,p> <p class="poetry">one mediator<n id="1" /> out of a thousand,p> <p class="poetry">to tell a person what constitutes his uprightness;<n id="2" />p>

<t /><p class="psasuper">For the music director; a psalm of David.p> <p class="poetry">The heavens declare the glory of God;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">the sky displays his handiwork.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;What<n id="1" /> profit is there in taking my life,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">in my descending into the Pit?<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Can the dust of the grave<n id="4" /> praise you?p> <p class="poetry">Can it declare your loyalty?<n id="5" />p>

<p class="poetry">and all people will fear.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">They will proclaim<n id="2" /> what God has done,p> <p class="poetry">and reflect on his deeds.p>

<p class="poetry">So they proclaim that the <sc>Lordsc>, my protector,p> <p class="poetry">is just and never unfair.<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">Whoever shares with a thief<n id="1" /> is his own enemy;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">he hears the oath to testify,<n id="3" /> but does not talk.p>

<p class="poetry">Surely no one knows the future,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">and no one can tell another person what will happen.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">For this is what the sovereign master<n id="1" /> has told me:p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Go, post a guard!p> <p class="poetry">He must report what he sees.p>

<p class="poetry">O my downtrodden people, crushed like stalks on the threshing floor,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">what I have heardp> <p class="poetry">from the <sc>Lordsc> who commands armies,p> <p class="poetry">the God of Israel,p> <p class="poetry">I have reported to you.p>

<p class="poetry">Do you not know?p> <p class="poetry">Do you not hear?p> <p class="poetry">Has it not been told to you since the very beginning?p> <p class="poetry">Have you not understood from the time the earth&#8217;s foundations were made?p>

<p class="poetry">Look, my earlier predictive oracles have come to pass;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">now I announce new events.p> <p class="poetry">Before they begin to occur,p> <p class="poetry">I reveal them to you.&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;I announced events beforehand,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">I issued the decrees and made the predictions;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">suddenly I acted and they came to pass.p>

<p class="poetry">You have heard; now look at all the evidence!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Will you not admit that what I say is true?<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">From this point on I am announcing to you new eventsp> <p class="poetry">that are previously unrevealed and you do not know about.<n id="3" />p>

&#8216;Call on me in prayer and I will answer you. I will show you great and mysterious<n id="1" /> things which you still do not know about.&#8217;

This day<n id="1" /> I have told you what he said.<n id="2" /> But you do not want to obey the <sc>Lordsc> by doing what he sent me to tell you.<n id="3" />

<p class="poetry">They will answer, &#8216;Moab is disgraced, for it has fallen!p> <p class="poetry">Wail and cry out in mourning!p> <p class="poetry">Announce along the Arnon Riverp> <p class="poetry">that Moab has been destroyed.&#8217;p>

Then the people said to me, &#8220;Will you not tell us what these things you are doing mean for us?&#8221;p>