Section 4:1–17

Mordecai asked Esther to beg the king to save the Jews

When Mordecai heard about the order to kill the Jews, he dressed in the sort of clothes he would wear to mourn someone who had died and walked around the city weeping loudly. Esther sent him other clothes but he refused to wear them. She then sent a messenger to find out why he was behaving in this way. Mordecai gave the messenger a copy of the decree to show to Esther, and he pleaded with her to go and ask the king not to destroy the Jews. Esther hesitated, but finally agreed, although it was dangerous for her to approach the king in this way and she might be killed.

Paragraph 4:1–3

4:1b

tore his clothes: This was one way Jews showed that something terrible had happened to them.

put on sackcloth: Sackcloth was coarse cloth usually made from goat’s hair and black in color. The Jews dressed in sackcloth to mourn for the dead or at times of great personal or national disaster.

put on…ashes: This was yet another way to show deep grief. A person would usually sprinkle the ashes on his head.

You may need to find some way of informing your readers that all these actions were a sign of being very unhappy about something. The Display shows one way. Another way would be to explain the actions in a footnote.

4:1c

wailing loudly and bitterly: Use the natural expression in your language for expressing great sorrow.

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