Restored English Translation of Esther: Chapter 8

G’day, mates!  Shabbat Shalom!  Today I present my Restored English Translation (RET) of Ester (Esther) chapter 8.  As usual, it contains the Hebrew names, with a glossary of them at the end.
You WON’T find this chapter in most English translations; despite being part of the earliest texts of Esther, it was eventually rejected by first Rabbinic Judaism and then Protestant Christianity (and its offshoots), relegated to “the Apocrypha”.  See The Canon of Scripture, Part 1: The Apocrypha and Restored English Translation of Esther: Chapter 1.
(Note: to clarify: this is MY OWN translation of the Bible; a work in progress.)

CHAPTER 8 

1 And Queen Ester, being in fear of death, fled to YEHOVAH. 2 She laid aside her glorious clothing, 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 she filled all the places of her joy with her tangled hair. 3 And she prayed to YEHOVAH the ELOHIM of Yisra’el, saying, “O my ADONAI, You alone are our King. Help me, I who am alone and have no helper but You. 4 For my danger is in my hand. 5 From my youth up I have heard in the tribe of my family that You, O YEHOVAH, took Yisra’el from among all people, and our ancestors from all their predecessors, for a perpetual inheritance, and You have performed all You promised them. 6 And now we have sinned before You. Therefore You have given us into the hands of our enemies, 7 because we worshipped their gods. O YEHOVAH, You are righteous. 8 Nevertheless it does not satisfy them that we are in bitter captivity, but they have covenanted hands with their idols, 9 to abolish the thing which You have ordained with Your Mouth, and destroy Your inheritance, and stop the mouths of them who praise You, and quench the glory of Your house and of Your altar, 10 and open the mouths of the gentiles to praise idols, and to magnify a fleshly king forever. 11 O YEHOVAH, do not give Your sceptre to them who are nothing, and do not let them laugh at our fall, but turn their plan on themselves, and make an example of him who has begun this against us. 12 Remember, O YEHOVAH; make Yourself known in the time of our affliction, and give me boldness, O King of the nations, and ADONAI of all power. 13 Give me eloquent speech in my mouth before the lion. Turn his heart to hate him who fights against us, that there may be an end of him, and of all who agree with him. 14 But deliver us with Your hand, and help me who am desolate, and who have no other help but You. 15 You know all things, O YEHOVAH. You know that I hate the glory of the Torahless, and abhor the bed of the uncircumcised, and of all the gentiles. 16 You know my necessity; for I abhor the sign of my high estate, which is on my head in the days in which I show myself, and that I abhor it as a menstruous rag, and that I do not wear it when I am in private. 17 And that Your maid servant has not eaten at Haman’s table, and that I have not greatly esteemed the King’s feast, nor drunk the wine of the drink offerings. 18 Neither has Your maid servant had any joy since the day that I was brought here, except in You, O YEHOVAH ELOHIM of Avraham. 19 You, O EL SHADDAI above all, hear the voice of the despairing and deliver us out of the hands of the evildoers, and deliver me from my fear.”
Glossary
Ester – Esther
YEHOVAH – The Lord
ELOHIM – God(s)
Yisra’el – Israel
ADONAI – The Lord(s)
Torahless – lawless (i.e. those who don’t keep the Torah [books of Moses], a term applying to most Christians)
YEHOVAH ELOHIM – The Lord God
Avraham – Abraham
EL SHADDAI – God Almighty