Esther 4:1-3

New American Standard Bible

Esther Learns of Haman’s Plot

4 When Mordecai learned of ^(A)everything that had been done, ^[a]he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city and wailed loudly and bitterly. ² And he came as far as the king’s gate, for no one was to enter the king’s gate clothed in sackcloth. ³ In each and every province where the command and decree of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with ^(B)fasting, weeping, and mourning rites; and many had sackcloth and ashes spread out as a bed.