¹³ Mordecai told the messenger to reply to Esther, “Don’t think that you will escape the fate of all the Jews because you are in the king’s palace. ¹⁴ If you keep silent at this time, liberation and deliverance will come to the Jewish people from another place,^(A) but you and your father’s house will be destroyed. Who knows, perhaps you have come to your royal position for such a time as this.”^(B)

³ Queen Esther answered, “If I have obtained your approval,^[a] my king, and if the king is pleased,^(A) spare my life—this is my request; and spare my people—this is my desire.^{(B) 4} For my people and I have been sold out^(C) to destruction, death, and extermination.^(D) If we had merely been sold as male and female slaves,^(E) I would have kept silent. Indeed, the trouble wouldn’t be worth burdening the king.”