⁶ Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth ^(A)and sat in ashes.

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. ² He went as far as the front of the king’s gate, for no one might enter the king’s gate clothed with sackcloth. ³ And in every province where the king’s command and decree arrived, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.

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.

⁶ But He gives more grace. Therefore He says:

Humility Cures Worldliness

⁷ Therefore submit to God. ^(B)Resist the devil and he will flee from you. ^8 (C)Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. ^(D)Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and ^(E)purify your hearts, you double-minded. ^9 (F)Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. ^10 (G)Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.

⁸ And he took for himself a potsherd with which to scrape himself ^(A)while he sat in the midst of the ashes.

The Perspective of Rich and Poor

⁹ Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation, ¹⁰ but the rich in his humiliation, because ^(A)as a flower of the field he will pass away.

Woe to the Impenitent Cities^(A)

^13 (B)“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! ^(C)For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.

²¹ “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago ^(A)in sackcloth and ashes.

^3 (A)Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.