³ Then Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor^(A) with you, Your Majesty, and if it pleases you, grant me my life—this is my petition. And spare my people—this is my request. ⁴ For I and my people have been sold to be destroyed, killed and annihilated.^(B) If we had merely been sold as male and female slaves, I would have kept quiet, because no such distress would justify disturbing the king.^[a]”