¹⁷ But when you fast, comb your hair^[a] and wash your face.

³ Now do as I tell you—take a bath and put on perfume and dress in your nicest clothes. Then go to the threshing floor, but don’t let Boaz see you until he has finished eating and drinking.

⁸ Wear fine clothes, with a splash of cologne!

² When this vision came to me, I, Daniel, had been in mourning for three whole weeks. ³ All that time I had eaten no rich food. No meat or wine crossed my lips, and I used no fragrant lotions until those three weeks had passed.

²⁰ Then David got up from the ground, washed himself, put on lotions,^[a] and changed his clothes. He went to the Tabernacle and worshiped the Lord. After that, he returned to the palace and was served food and ate.

² So he sent for a woman from Tekoa who had a reputation for great wisdom. He said to her, “Pretend you are in mourning; wear mourning clothes and don’t put on lotions.^[a] Act like a woman who has been mourning for the dead for a long time.