Esther 4:1-4

Esther Writhes in Anguish

Now Mordecai came to know of ^aall that had been done. And ¹he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city and cried out loudly and bitterly. 2 And he went as far as the king’s gate, for no one was to enter the king’s gate clothed in sackcloth. 3 Now in each and every province where the word and law of the king reached, there was great mourning among the Jews, with ^afasting, weeping, and wailing; and many made their bed in sackcloth and ashes.
4 Then Esther’s young women and her eunuchs came and told her, and the queen writhed in great anguish. And she sent garments to clothe Mordecai and to remove his sackcloth from upon him, but he did not accept them.