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Esther 4:1-4

Listen to Esther 4:1-4

Mordecai Appeals to Esther

1 When Mordecai learned all that had occurred, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes,[a] went into the middle of the city, and cried loudly and bitterly.
2 He only went as far as the King's Gate, since [the law] prohibited anyone wearing sackcloth from entering the King's Gate.
3 There was great mourning among the Jewish people in every province where the king's command and edict came. They fasted, wept, and lamented, and many lay on sackcloth and ashes.[b]
4 Esther's female servants and her eunuchs came and reported the news to her, and the queen was overcome with fear. She sent clothes for Mordecai to wear so he could take off his sackcloth, but he did not accept [them].

Esther 4:1-4 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO ESTHER 4

This chapter relates the mourning of Mordecai, and of the Jews in every province, on account of the edict to destroy them, Es 4:1-3, the information Esther had of it, and what passed between her and Mordecai, through Hatach, a chamberlain, by whom he put her upon making a request to the king in their favour, Es 4:4-8, to which she at first objected, because of a law in Persia which forbids any to come to the king unless called, Es 4:9-12, but being pressed to it by Mordecai, she agreed, and ordered a general fast among the Jews, Es 4:13-17.

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Footnotes 2

  • [a] Est 4:3; Isa 58:5; Dn 9:3
  • [b] Est 8:17
Holman Christian Standard Bible ® Copyright © 2003, 2002, 2000, 1999 by Holman Bible Publishers.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.

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