Esther 4:1-3

Contemporary English Version

Mordecai Asks for Esther's Help

4 When Mordecai heard about the letter, he tore his clothes in sorrow and put on sackcloth. Then he covered his head with ashes and went through the city, crying and weeping. ² But he could go only as far as the palace gate, because no one wearing sackcloth was allowed inside the palace. ^3 (A) In every province where the king's orders were read, the Jews cried and mourned, and they went without eating.^[a] Many of them even put on sackcloth and sat in ashes.