The Rest of Esther 14

How to read these pages: the text itself comes first, verse by verse, in the volume's own translation. Beneath each verse stands its Meaning — a rendering of what the passage's terms name in the inner life, drawn from the correspondences the text itself uses. The text is never altered; the meaning is offered, not imposed.

King James Version

1Queen Esther also, being in fear of death, resorted unto the Lord:

Queen Esther also, being in fear of death, resorted unto the indwelling LORD:

2And laid away her glorious apparel, and put on the garments of anguish and mourning: and instead of precious ointments, she covered her head with ashes and dung, and she humbled her body greatly, and all the places of her joy she filled with her torn hair.

and laid away her glorious apparel, and put on the garments of anguish and mourning; and instead of precious ointments she covered her head with ashes and dung, and humbled her body greatly, and all the places of her joy she filled with her torn hair: the outer glory set aside, the state humbled to the dust.

3And she prayed unto the Lord God of Israel, saying, O my Lord, thou only art our King: help me, desolate woman, which have no helper but thee:

And she prayed unto the indwelling LORD, the Source of Israel, saying: O my LORD, Thou only art our King — our true ruling state — help me, a desolate woman, who have no helper but Thee:

4For my danger is in mine hand.

for my danger is in mine hand — the peril stands in my own state, at my own door.

5From my youth up I have heard in the tribe of my family that thou, O Lord, tookest Israel from among all people, and our fathers from all their predecessors, for a perpetual inheritance, and thou hast performed whatsoever thou didst promise them.

From my youth up I have heard, in the tribe of my family, that Thou, O indwelling LORD, tookest Israel from among all people, and our fathers from all their predecessors, for a perpetual inheritance, and Thou hast performed whatsoever Thou didst promise them.

6And now we have sinned before thee: therefore hast thou given us into the hands of our enemies,

And now we have sinned before Thee — we have missed the mark, acting apart from the divine order — therefore hast Thou given us into the hands of our enemies,

7Because we worshipped their gods: O Lord, thou art righteous.

because we worshipped their gods — formed images of lesser goods, worshipped in the Source's place. O indwelling LORD, Thou art righteous: Thou art right order itself.

8Nevertheless it satisfieth them not, that we are in bitter captivity: but they have stricken hands with their idols,

Nevertheless it satisfieth them not that we are in bitter captivity — consciousness carried away into a foreign ruling state; but they have stricken hands with their idols, their formed images of lesser goods,

9That they will abolish the thing that thou with thy mouth hast ordained, and destroy thine inheritance, and stop the mouth of them that praise thee, and quench the glory of thy house, and of thine altar,

that they will abolish the thing that Thou with Thy mouth hast ordained, and destroy Thine inheritance, and stop the mouth of them that praise Thee, and quench the glory of Thy house and of Thine altar — the manifested weight of Thy Presence, and the built point of consecration where a faculty is yielded to Thee —

10And open the mouths of the heathen to set forth the praises of the idols, and to magnify a fleshly king for ever.

and open the mouths of the heathen to set forth the praises of the idols, and to magnify a fleshly king for ever.

11O Lord, give not thy sceptre unto them that be nothing, and let them not laugh at our fall; but turn their device upon themselves, and make him an example, that hath begun this against us.

O indwelling LORD, give not Thy sceptre — Thy ruling authority — unto them that be nothing, and let them not laugh at our fall; but turn their device upon themselves, and make him an example, that hath begun this against us.

12Remember, O Lord, make thyself known in time of our affliction, and give me boldness, O King of the nations, and Lord of all power.

Remember, O indwelling LORD, make Thyself known in the time of our affliction, and give me boldness, O King of the nations, and Lord of all power.

13Give me eloquent speech in my mouth before the lion: turn his heart to hate him that fighteth against us, that there may be an end of him, and of all that are likeminded to him:

Give me eloquent speech in my mouth before the lion — the ruling state in its beast-strength: turn his heart to hate him that fighteth against us, that there may be an end of him, and of all that are likeminded to him:

14But deliver us with thine hand, and help me that am desolate, and which have no other help but thee.

but deliver us with Thine hand, and help me that am desolate, and who have no other help but Thee.

15Thou knowest all things, O Lord; thou knowest that I hate the glory of the unrighteous, and abhor the bed of the uncircumcised, and of all the heathen.

Thou knowest all things, O indwelling LORD; Thou knowest that I hate the glory of the unrighteous, and abhor the bed of the uncircumcised — of the state that has not cut away its sense-excess — and of all the heathen.

16Thou knowest my necessity: for I abhor the sign of my high estate, which is upon mine head in the days wherein I shew myself, and that I abhor it as a menstruous rag, and that I wear it not when I am private by myself.

Thou knowest my necessity: for I abhor the sign of my high estate, which is upon mine head in the days wherein I shew myself, and I abhor it as a menstruous rag, and I wear it not when I am private by myself.

17And that thine handmaid hath not eaten at Aman’s table, and that I have not greatly esteemed the king’s feast, nor drunk the wine of the drink offerings.

And that Thine handmaid hath not eaten at Aman's table, and that I have not greatly esteemed the king's feast, nor drunk the wine of the drink offerings.

18Neither had thine handmaid any joy since the day that I was brought hither to this present, but in thee, O Lord God of Abraham.

Neither had Thine handmaid any joy since the day that I was brought hither to this present, but in Thee, O indwelling LORD, God of Abraham — Faith itself.

19O thou mighty God above all, hear the voice of the forlorn and deliver us out of the hands of the mischievous, and deliver me out of my fear.

O Thou mighty Source above all, hear the voice of the forlorn, and deliver us out of the hands of the mischievous, and deliver me out of my fear.

Companion volume to The Why Bible — the King James Apocrypha, rendered in its spiritual meanings. First final edition, October 2026.