Esther 4:3-5

Contemporary English Version

^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.

⁴ When Esther's servant girls and her other servants told her what Mordecai was doing, she became very upset and sent Mordecai some clothes to wear in place of the sackcloth. But he refused to take them.

⁵ Esther had a servant named Hathach, who had been given to her by the king. So she called him in and said, “Find out what's wrong with Mordecai and why he's acting this way.”