<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.

<t /><p class="psasuper">For the music director; according to the <i>al-tashchethi> style;<n id="2" /> a prayer<n id="3" /> of David, written when he fled from Saul into the cave.<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">Have mercy on me, O God! Have mercy on me!p> <p class="poetry">For in you I have taken shelter.<n id="5" />p> <p class="poetry">In the shadow of your wings<n id="6" /> I take shelterp> <p class="poetry">until trouble passes.p>

<t /><p class="psasuper">A psalm of David, written when he was in the Judean wilderness.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">O God, you are my God! I long for you!<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">My soul thirsts<n id="4" /> for you,p> <p class="poetry">my flesh yearns for you,p> <p class="poetry">in a dry and parched<n id="5" /> land where there is no water.p>

<p class="poetry">Scarcely<n id="1" /> had I passed them byp> <p class="poetry">when I found my beloved!p> <p class="poetry">I held onto him<n id="2" /> tightly and would not let him go<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">until I brought him to my mother&#8217;s house,<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">to the bedroom chamber<n id="5" /> of the one who conceived me.p>

<p class="poetry">I<n id="1" /> will greatly rejoice<n id="2" /> in the <sc>Lordsc>;p> <p class="poetry">I will be overjoyed because of my God.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">For he clothes me in garments of deliverance;p> <p class="poetry">he puts on me a robe symbolizing vindication.<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">I look like a bridegroom when he wears a turban as a priest would;p> <p class="poetry">I look like a bride when she puts on her jewelry.<n id="5" />p>

<p class="poetry">In fact,<n id="1" /> I hear a cry like that of a woman in labor,p> <p class="poetry">a cry of anguish like that of a woman giving birth to her first baby.p> <p class="poetry">It is the cry of Daughter Zion<n id="2" /> gasping for breath,p> <p class="poetry">reaching out for help,<n id="3" /> saying, &#8220;I am done in!<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">My life is ebbing away before these murderers!&#8221;p>

<p class="lamhebrew">&#1506; (<i>Ayini>)p> <p class="poetry">I weep because of these things;p> <p class="poetry">my eyes<n id="1" /> flow with tears.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">For there is no one in sight who can comfort me<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">or encourage me.<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">My children<n id="5" /> are desolated<n id="6" />p> <p class="poetry">because an enemy has prevailed.p>

<p class="bodytext">And I said, &#8220;Ah, sovereign <sc>Lordsc>, I have never been ceremonially defiled before. I have never eaten a carcass or an animal torn by wild beasts; from my youth up, unclean meat<n id="1" /> has never entered my mouth.&#8221;p>

Look, my father, and see the edge of your robe in my hand! When I cut off the edge of your robe, I didn&#8217;t kill you. So realize and understand that I am not planning<n id="1" /> evil or rebellion. Even though I have not sinned against you, you are waiting in ambush to take my life.

<p class="poetry">A man who is all alone with no companion,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">he has no children nor siblings;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">yet there is no end to all his toil,p> <p class="poetry">and he<n id="3" /> is never satisfied with riches.p> <p class="poetry">He laments,<n id="4" /> &#8220;For whom am I toiling and depriving myself<n id="5" /> of pleasure?&#8221;<n id="6" />p> <p class="poetry">This also is futile and a burdensome task!<n id="7" />p>