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Esther 4:3

GriefFastingFear

1 When Mordecai perceived all that was done, Mordecai rent his clothes, and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and cried with a loud and a bitter cry;

2 And came even before the king’s gate: for none might enter into the king’s gate clothed with sackcloth.

And in every province, whithersoever the king’s commandment and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.

4 So Esther’s maids and her chamberlains came and told it her. Then was the queen exceedingly grieved; and she sent raiment to clothe Mordecai, and to take away his sackcloth from him: but he received it not.

5 Then called Esther for Hatach, one of the king’s chamberlains, whom he had appointed to attend upon her, and gave him a commandment to Mordecai, to know what it was, and why it was.

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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
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.
KJV
And in every province, whithersoever the king’s commandment and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.
WEB
In every province, wherever the king’s commandment and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.
ASV
And in every province, whithersoever the king`s commandment and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.
DARBY
And in every province, wherever the king's commandment and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing: many lay in sackcloth and ashes.
BLB
And in every province and province, any place to which the word of the king and his law reached, [there was] great mourning for the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing—sackcloth and ashes were spread out for many.
ÅB
Og i hvert eneste landskap, overalt hvor kongens ord og befaling nådde fram, ble det stor sorg blant jødene og faste og gråt og jammer, ja, mange redet seg et leie av sekk og aske.
OTB
I hver provins hvor kongens befaling og dekret nådde, var det stor sorg blant jødene, med faste, gråt og klage; mange lå i sekkestrie og aske.
B1930
Og i hvert eneste landskap, overalt hvor kongens ord og befaling nådde frem, blev det stor sorg blandt jødene og faste og gråt og jammer, ja, mange redet sig et leie av sekk og aske.

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

  • Isaiah 22:12

    And in that day did the Lord GOD of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth:

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  • Daniel 9:3

    And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:

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  • Isaiah 37:1–3

    And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the LORD.

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  • Esther 3:12

    Then were the king’s scribes called on the thirteenth day of the first month, and there was written according to all that Haman had commanded unto the king’s lieutenants, and to the governors that were over every province, and to the rulers of every people of every province according to the writing thereof, and to every people after their language; in the name of king Ahasuerus was it written, and sealed with the king’s ring.

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  • Esther 4:16

    Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.

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  • Isaiah 58:5

    Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD?

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  • Isaiah 22:4

    Therefore said I, Look away from me; I will weep bitterly, labour not to comfort me, because of the spoiling of the daughter of my people.

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  • Matthew 25:30

    And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

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