Esther 4:9-11

New Catholic Bible

⁹ Hathach went back to Esther and told her what Mordecai had said. ¹⁰ Then she gave him a message for Mordecai: ¹¹ “All the servants of the king and the people of the royal provinces are aware that any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner palace without being summoned suffers automatic death. The sole exception to this rule is if the king extends to such a person the golden scepter, which spares his life. Yet as for me, I have not been summoned by the king for thirty days.”