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Esther Chapter 14
The prayer of Esther for herself and her people.
English (Douay-Rheims)
1 Queen Esther also, fearing the danger that was at hand, had recourse to the Lord.
2 And when she had laid away her royal apparel, she put on garments suitable for weeping and mourning: instead of divers precious ointments, she covered her head with ashes and dung, and she humbled her body with fasts: and all the places in which before she was accustomed to rejoice, she filled with her torn hair.
3 And she prayed to the Lord the God of Israel, saying: O my Lord, who alone art our king, help me a desolate woman, and who have no other helper but thee.
4 My danger is in my hands.
5 I have heard of my father that thou, O Lord, didst take Israel from among all nations, and our fathers from all their predecessors, to possess them as an everlasting inheritance, and thou hast done to them as thou hast promised.
6 We have sinned in thy sight, and therefore thou hast delivered us into the hands of our enemies:
7 For we have worshipped their gods. Thou art just, O Lord.
8 And now they are not content to oppress us with most hard bondage, but attributing the strength of their hands to the power of their idols.
9 They design to change thy promises, and destroy thy inheritance, and shut the mouths of them that praise thee, and extinguish the glory of thy temple and altar,
10 That they may open the mouths of Gentiles, and praise the strength of idols, and magnify for ever a carnal king.
11 Give not, O Lord, thy sceptre to them that are not, lest they laugh at our ruin: but turn their counsel upon themselves, and destroy him that hath begun to rage against us.
12 Remember, O Lord, and show thyself to us in the time of our tribulation, and give me boldness, O Lord, king of gods, and of all power:
13 Give me a well ordered speech in my mouth in the presence of the lion, and turn his heart to the hatred of our enemy, that both he himself may perish, and the rest that consent to him.
14 But deliver us by thy hand, and help me, who have no other helper, but thee, O Lord, who hast the knowledge of all things.
15 And thou knowest that I hate the glory of the wicked, and abhor the bed of the uncircumcised, and of every stranger.
16 Thou knowest my necessity, that I abominate the sign of my pride and glory, which is upon my head in the days of my public appearance, and detest it as a menstruous rag, and wear it not in the days of my silence,
17 And that I have not eaten at Aman's table, nor hath the king's banquet pleased me, and that I have not drunk the wine of the drink offerings:
18 And that thy handmaid hath never rejoiced, since I was brought hither unto this day but in thee, O Lord, the God of Abraham.
19 O God, who art mighty above all, hear the voice of them, that have no other hope, and deliver us from the hand of the wicked, and deliver me from my fear.
Old Testament first published 1609 by the English College at Douay
New Testament first published 1582 by the English College at Rheims
Revised and Annotated 1749 by Bishop Richard Challoner
Imprimatur. +James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore, September 1, 1899
Latin (Clementine Vulgate)
1 Esther quoque regina confugit ad Dominum, pavens periculum quod imminebat.
2 Cumque deposuisset vestes regias, fletibus et luctui apta indumenta suscepit, et pro unguentis variis, cinere et stercore implevit caput, et corpus suum humiliavit jejuniis: omniaque loca, in quibus antea lætari consueverat, crinium laceratione complevit.
3 Et deprecabatur Dominum Deum Israël, dicens: Domine mi, qui rex noster es solus, adjuva me solitariam, et cujus præter te nullus est auxiliator alius.
4 Periculum meum in manibus meis est.
5 Audivi a patre meo quod tu, Domine, tulisses Israël de cunctis gentibus, et patres nostros ex omnibus retro majoribus suis, ut possideres hæreditatem sempiternam, fecistique eis sicut locutus es.
6 Peccavimus in conspectu tuo, et idcirco tradidisti nos in manus inimicorum nostrorum:
7 coluimus enim deos eorum. Justus es Domine:
8 et nunc non eis sufficit, quod durissima nos opprimunt servitute, sed robur manuum suarum, idolorum potentiæ deputantes,
9 volunt tua mutare promissa, et delere hæreditatem tuam, et claudere ora laudantium te, atque extinguere gloriam templi et altaris tui,
10 ut aperiant ora gentium, et laudent idolorum fortitudinem, et prædicent carnalem regem in sempiternum.
11 Ne tradas, Domine, sceptrum tuum his, qui non sunt, ne rideant ad ruinam nostram: sed converte consilium eorum super eos, et eum qui in nos cœpit sævire, disperde.
12 Memento, Domine, et ostende te nobis in tempore tribulationis nostræ, et da mihi fiduciam, Domine rex deorum, et universæ potestatis:
13 tribue sermonem compositum in ore meo in conspectu leonis, et transfer cor illius in odium hostis nostri, ut et ipse pereat, et ceteri qui ei consentiunt.
14 Nos autem libera manu tua, et adjuva me, nullum aliud auxilium habentem nisi te, Domine, qui habes omnium scientiam,
15 et nosti quia oderim gloriam iniquorum, et detester cubile incircumcisorum, et omnis alienigenæ.
16 Tu scis necessitatem meam, quod abominer signum superbiæ et gloriæ meæ, quod est super caput meum in diebus ostentationis meæ, et detester illud quasi pannum menstruatæ, et non portem in diebus silentii mei,
17 et quod non comederim in mensa Aman, nec mihi placuerit convivium regis, et non biberim vinum libaminum:
18 et numquam lætata sit ancilla tua, ex quo huc translata sum usque in præsentem diem, nisi in te, Domine Deus Abraham.
19 Deus fortis super omnes, exaudi vocem eorum qui nullam aliam spem habent, et libera nos de manu iniquorum, et erue me a timore meo.
Transcribed as part of the Clementine Vulgate Project
Please notify the original transcriber (little.mouth@soon.com) of any errors in this Latin edition
