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Nobody who was wearing sackcloth could go into the yard of the palace. So Mordecai stopped at the king's gate. Jews who lived in all the regions of Xerxes' kingdom heard the king's command. So they were very sad. They were weeping and they were fasting.[a] Many of them lay on sackcloth and ashes.

Esther's female servants the eunuchs who took care of her told her what Mordecai was doing. So Esther was very upset. She sent clothes for Mordecai to put on instead of the sackcloth, but Mordecai refused to wear them.

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Footnotes

  1. 4:3 While the Jews fasted, they usually prayed to God. They fasted because they wanted to ask God for his help.

But he went only as far as the king’s gate,(A) because no one clothed in sackcloth was allowed to enter it. In every province to which the edict and order of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing. Many lay in sackcloth and ashes.

When Esther’s eunuchs and female attendants came and told her about Mordecai, she was in great distress. She sent clothes for him to put on instead of his sackcloth, but he would not accept them.

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