Esther 4:2
1 When Mordecai learned of all that had happened, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the middle of the city, wailing loudly and bitterly.
But he went only as far as the king’s gate, because the law prohibited anyone wearing sackcloth from entering that gate.
3 In every province to which the king’s command and edict came, there was great mourning among the Jews. They fasted, wept, and lamented, and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.
4 When Esther’s maidens and eunuchs came and told her about Mordecai, the queen was overcome with distress. She sent clothes for Mordecai to wear instead of his sackcloth, but he would not accept them.
Here the Bible tells a story about someone else. Ask yourself what it can say to us today. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.
Compare
- BSB
- But he went only as far as the king’s gate, because the law prohibited anyone wearing sackcloth from entering that gate.
- KJV
- And came even before the king’s gate: for none might enter into the king’s gate clothed with sackcloth.
- WEB
- He came even before the king’s gate, for no one is allowed inside the king’s gate clothed with sackcloth.
- ASV
- and he came even before the king`s gate: for none might enter within the king`s gate clothed with sackcloth.
- DARBY
- and came even before the king's gate; for none might enter into the king's gate clothed with sackcloth.
- BLB
- And he came as far as before the face of the gate of the king, for no one [was] to come into the gate of the king in a garment of sackcloth.
- ÅB
- Og han kom like til plassen foran kongens port; for ingen som var kledd i sekk, hadde lov til å gå inn i kongens port.
- OTB
- Han gikk så langt som til kongens port, for ingen fikk lov til å gå inn i kongens port kledd i sekkestrie.
- B1930
- Og han kom like til plassen foran kongens port; for ingen som var klædd i sekk, hadde lov til å gå inn i kongens port.