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Esther Writhes in Anguish

Now Mordecai came to know of (A)all that had been done. And [a]he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city and cried out loudly and bitterly. And he went as far as the king’s gate, for no one was to enter the king’s gate clothed in sackcloth. Now in each and every province where the word and law of the king reached, there was great mourning among the Jews, with (B)fasting, weeping, and wailing; and many made their bed in sackcloth and ashes.

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.

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Footnotes

  1. Esther 4:1 Lit Mordecai

26 O daughter of my people, (A)gird yourself with sackcloth
And (B)roll in ashes;
[a](C)Mourn as for an only son,
A lamentation most bitter.
For suddenly the destroyer
Will come upon us.

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 6:26 Lit Make for yourself mourning

30 And they will (A)make their voice heard over you
And will cry bitterly.
They will (B)cast dust on their heads;
They will (C)wallow in ashes.
31 Also they will make themselves (D)bald for you
And (E)gird themselves with sackcloth;
And they will (F)weep for you in bitterness of soul
With bitter mourning.

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