The Book of Esther

⭑ Catholic Public Domain Version 2009 ⭑

- Chapter 14 -

Queen Esther also, fearing the danger that was imminent, fled to the Lord.

And when she had put aside her royal apparel, she took up garments suitable for weeping and mourning, and instead of various ointments, she covered her head with ashes from burnt dung, and she humbled her body with fasting, and all the aspects of her beauty, she covered with her torn hair.(a)

And she begged the Lord God of Israel, saying, “My Lord, who alone is our King, help me, a solitary woman, for there is no other helper but you.

My peril is close at hand.

I have heard from my father that you, Lord, chose Israel from among all nations and our fathers from among all their former ancestors, to possess them as an everlasting inheritance, and you have done for them just as you said.

We have sinned in your sight, and therefore you have delivered us into the hands of our enemies,

for we have worshipped their gods. You are just, O Lord.

And now they are not content to oppress us with a very difficult servitude, but attributing the strength of their hands to the power of their idols,

they want to alter your promises, and erase your inheritance, and close the mouths of those who praise you, and extinguish the glory of your temple and your altar,

so that they may open the mouths of the nations, and praise the strength of idols, and proclaim a worldly king in perpetuity.

Lord, do not hand over your scepter to that which does not exist, lest they laugh at our ruin, but turn their counsel upon themselves and destroy him who has begun to rage against us.(b)

Be mindful, Lord, and show yourself to us in the time of our tribulation, and give me faith, Lord, King of gods and of every power.

Grant fitting words to my mouth in the sight of the lion, and transform his heart to hate our enemy, so that both he, and the others who conspire with him, may perish.(c)

But free us by your hand, and help me, who has no other helper but you, Lord, who holds the knowledge of all things.

And you know that I hate the glory of the wicked, and I detest the bed of the uncircumcised, and of all outsiders.(d)

You know my necessity, that I loathe the sign of my exaltation and glory, which is on my head in the days of my exhibition, and that I detest it like a menstruous rag and do not wear it in the days of my silence,(e)

and that I have not eaten at Haman’s table, nor has the king’s feasts pleased me, and that I have not drunk the wine of his libations,(f)

and that your handmaid has never rejoiced, from the time that I was carried here until this very day, except in you, Lord, God of Abraham.

O God, whose strength is above all things, heed the voice of those who have no other hope,and free us from the hand of the wicked, and rescue me from my fear.”

Footnotes

(a)8:2 Esther covered her head with “cinere et stercore,” literally, “ashes and filth” or “ashes and dung.” However, Esther did not literally put dung on her head. This was not the Jewish custom, as is clear from other sections of the text, where Mordecai and the other Jews put only ashes on their head. The correct understanding of this text leads to a more accurate, but less literal translation. In some arid lands, where there are not many trees to use as fuel for fires, people use dried animal dung to burn for their fires. Esther took ashes from such a fire and put them on her head. The translation should be “ashes from burnt dung,” rather than “ashes and dung.”(Conte)

(b)8:11 That which does not exist, “his, qui non sunt,” refers to the idols because such gods do not exist.(Conte)

(d)8:15 The word “alienigenæ” here refers not to persons from a foreign land, for Esther was herself a foreigner to the land of Persia, but rather to outsiders, those from another religion or no religion.(Conte)

(e)8:16 The sign of her exaltation is her crown, which she must wear when brought before the king and his associates (something Vashti refused to do), and perhaps also her royal garments. The days of her silence are the days when she does not have to present herself publicly before the king and others. Esther prefers the days of her silence over the days of her exhibition.(Conte)

(f)8:17 The “vinum libaminum” is the wine the king uses in his worship of idols and false gods.(Conte)