1. Queen Esther also, fearing the danger that was imminent, fled to the Lord.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. My peril is close at hand.
5. 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.
6. We have sinned in your sight, and therefore you have delivered us into the hands of our enemies,
7. for we have worshipped their gods. You are just, O Lord.