Esther - ⅠⅠⅠ

Mordecai’s prayer

¹Recalling all that the Lord had done, he prayed to him and said:

²Lord, King and Master of all, everything is under your power; no one can withstand you in your will to save Israel.

³You made heaven and earth and all the marvels under heaven. You are the Lord of all, no one can resist you, Lord.

⁴You know all things, O Lord; you know that no insolence, no vainglory or arrogance prompted me to act thus, to refuse to bow down before the proud Haman. Readily would I have kissed his feet for Israel’s safety.

⁵But what I did, I did so as not to place human glory above the glory of God. I will not bow down to anyone except to you, O Lord. My refusal has not been out of pride.

⁶And now, Lord God, King, God of Abraham, deliver your people! Our enemies plot our ruin; they are bent upon destroying the inheritance that was yours from the beginning.

⁷Do not forsake your own inheritance which you redeemed out of Egypt for yourself.

⁸Hear my supplication, have mercy on your inheritance. Turn our mourning into rejoicing, that we may live to sing praise to your name, O Lord. Do not silence the mouths of those who give you praise.

⁹And Israel cried out with all their might, for they were faced with death.

The prayer of Esther

¹⁰Seized with anguish in her fear of death, Queen Esther likewise had recourse to the Lord. Taking off her splendid robes, she put on garments of distress and mourning. In place of expensive perfumes, she covered her head with dirt and ashes. Humbling her body severely, she put aside all her festive adornments and left her hair disheveled. Then she prayed to the Lord God of Israel:

¹¹My Lord, you who stand alone, come to my help; I am alone and have no help but you. Through my own choice I am endangering my life.

¹²As a child I was wont to hear from the people of the land of my forebears that you, O Lord, chose Israel from among all peoples, and our fathers from among their ancestors to be your lasting heritage; that you did for them, all that you have promised.

¹³But we have sinned, and for this you have handed us over to our enemies; we have worshiped their gods, but you, O Lord, are just.

¹⁴Dissatisfied with our bitter servitude, they made a pact with their idols to abolish what you have decreed, to blot out your heritage, ¹⁵to shut the mouths that give you praise, to quench the glory of your Temple and your altar and instead to let the pagans sing the praise of worthless idols, and idolize forever a king of flesh.

¹⁶Do not give up your scepter, O Lord, to non-existent beings. Never let them gloat over our ruin, but turn their designs against themselves and make an example of our chief enemy.

¹⁷Remember us, Lord; reveal yourself in the time of our calamity. Give me courage, King of gods and master of all power. ¹⁸Make my words persuasive when I face the lion; turn his heart against our enemy, that the latter and his like may be brought to their end.

¹⁹Save us by your hand; help me who am alone and have none but you, O Lord.

²⁰You know everything; you know how I hate honor if from the impious, how I loathe the bed of the uncircumcised and of any foreigner.

²¹You know I am here under constraint, that I loathe the diadem about my brow when I appear in public; as a filthy rag I loathe it and do not wear it in private.

²²Your handmaid has never eaten at Haman’s table, nor has taken pleasure in royal banquets, nor drunk the wine offered to their gods.

²³Neither has your handmaid found pleasure from the day of her promotion till now except in you, Lord God of Abraham.

²⁴O God, more powerful than all, hear the voice of those in despair; save us from the evil man’s power, and deliver me from my fear.