1So Mordecai went and did everything Esther had commanded him.
2And he prayed to the Lord, remembering all the works of the Lord,
3and said: “O Lord, Lord, King who rules over all, for the universe is in your power, and there is no one who can oppose you when you wish to save Israel.
4For you made the heaven and the earth and every wonderful thing under heaven,
5and you are Lord of all, and there is no one who will oppose you, the Lord.
6You know all things; you know, O Lord, that it was not in insolence or arrogance or ambition that I did this—not bowing down to the arrogant Haman.
7For I would have been willing to kiss the soles of his feet for the salvation of Israel.
8But I did this so that I would not place the glory of a man above the glory of God. And I will not bow down to anyone except you, my Lord, and I will not do these things in arrogance.
9And now, O Lord God, the King, the God of Abraham, spare your people, for they are watching us for destruction and have desired to destroy your inheritance from the beginning.
10Do not overlook your portion, which you redeemed for yourself from the land of Egypt.
11Hear my prayer and be merciful to your inheritance. Turn our mourning into feasting, so that while living we may praise your name, O Lord, and do not silence the mouth of those who praise you.”
12And all Israel cried out with all their might, because their death was before their eyes.
13And Queen Esther, seized with an agony of death, fled for refuge to the Lord.
14And taking off her glorious robes, she put on clothes of distress and mourning. Instead of the superb perfumes, she covered her head with ashes and dung. And she humbled her body greatly, and every place of her joyful adornment she filled with her disheveled hair.
15And she prayed to the Lord God of Israel and said: “My Lord, our King, you alone are God. Help me, for I am alone and have no helper but you,
16for my life is in my hand.
17I have heard from my birth, in the tribe of my family, that you, O Lord, took Israel from all the nations, and our fathers from all their ancestors, as an everlasting inheritance, and you did for them all that you promised.
18And now we have sinned before you, and you have delivered us into the hands of our enemies,
19because we glorified their gods. You are righteous, O Lord.
20And now they are not satisfied with the bitterness of our slavery, but they have set their hands
21to abolish the decree of your mouth and destroy your inheritance, to shut the mouth of those who praise you and extinguish the glory of your house and your altar,
22and to open the mouth of the nations for the praise of worthless idols, and for a mortal king to be marveled at forever.
23Do not hand over your scepter, O Lord, to those that are nothing. And let them not laugh at our fall, but turn their plan against them. And make an example of the one who began this against us.
24Remember us, O Lord; make yourself known in the time of our affliction. And give me courage, O King of the gods and ruler of every dominion.
25Put persuasive words into my mouth in the presence of the lion, and change his heart to hatred for the one who wars against us, for his utter destruction and that of those who agree with him.
26But deliver us by your hand, and help me, who am alone and have no one but you, O Lord. You have knowledge of all things,
27and you know that I have hated the glory of the lawless, and I detest the bed of the uncircumcised and of any foreigner.
28You know my constraint, that I detest the symbol of my high rank which is on my head on the days of my public appearance. I detest it like a menstrual cloth, and I do not wear it on my days of private life.
29And your servant has not eaten at Haman’s table, nor have I honored the king’s banquet, nor have I drunk the wine of libations.
30And your servant has not rejoiced from the day of my change of status until now, except in you, O Lord, the God of Abraham.
31O God, mighty over all, hear the voice of the despairing, and deliver us from the hand of those who do evil, and deliver me from my fear.”
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