Esther 4:1–3

Mordecai Persuades Esther to Help

4 When Mordecai learned of all that had been done, he tore his clothes,v put on sackcloth and ashes,w and went out into the city, wailingx loudly and bitterly. 2 But he went only as far as the king’s gate,y because no one clothed in sackcloth was allowed to enter it. 3 In every province to which the edict and order of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing. Many lay in sackcloth and ashes.