³ So when I heard this thing, ^(A)I tore my garment and my robe, and plucked out some of the hair of my head and beard, and sat down ^(B)astonished.

Esther Agrees to Help the Jews

4 When Mordecai learned all that had happened, ^[a]he ^(A)tore his clothes and put on sackcloth ^(B)and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city. He ^(C)cried out with a loud and bitter cry.

⁴ So Esther’s maids and eunuchs came and told her, and the queen was deeply distressed. Then she sent garments to clothe Mordecai and take his sackcloth away from him, but he would not accept them.

¹⁷ Sigh in silence, ^(A)make no mourning for the dead; ^(B)bind your turban on your head, and ^(C)put your sandals on your feet; ^(D)do not cover your ^[a]lips, and do not eat man’s bread of sorrow.”

²³ Your turbans shall be on your heads and your sandals on your feet; ^(A)you shall neither mourn nor weep, but ^(B)you shall pine away in your iniquities and mourn with one another.