Esther 4:3

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.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — The narrator reports the nationwide Jewish reaction to Haman’s decree, occurring while Mordecai remains outside the king’s gate in sackcloth and Esther learns of his condition through her attendants.

The words — מְדִינָה (medinah) means "province," underscoring that the king’s command and edict (דְּבַר הַמֶּלֶךְ וְדָתוֹ) reached every administrative region without exception.

The thread — The text’s description of provincial mourning parallels corporate responses to crisis elsewhere, such as Isaiah 22:12 and Daniel 9:3, where sackcloth and weeping mark national distress.

Why it lands — The passage requires the reader to register the geographic scale of the threat and the physical public nature of Jewish mourning before the narrative shifts to Esther’s private distress and her attendants’ report.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

וּבְכָל־u./ve./Khol-and/ in/ every מְדִינָ֣הme.di.Nahprovince וּמְדִינָ֗הu./me.di.Nahand/ province מְקוֹם֙me.kOm[the] place אֲשֶׁ֨ר'a.Sher<of> where דְּבַר־de.var-[the] word of הַמֶּ֤לֶךְha./Me.lekhthe/ king וְדָתוֹ֙ve./da.T/oand/ law/ his מַגִּ֔יעַma.Gi.a'[were] reaching אֵ֤בֶל'E.velmourning גָּדוֹל֙ga.dOlgreat לַיְּהוּדִ֔יםla/i.ye.hu.Dim[belonged] to the/ Jews וְצ֥וֹםve./Tzomand/ fasting וּבְכִ֖יu./ve.Khiand/ weeping וּמִסְפֵּ֑דu./mis.Pedand/ wailing שַׂ֣קsaksackcloth וָאֵ֔פֶרva./'E.ferand/ ash[es]יֻצַּ֖עyu.Tza'it was spread as a bed לָֽרַבִּֽים׃La./ra.Bimby <the>/ many [people]

King James Version

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.

Cross-references

Isaiah 22:12 On that day the Lord GOD of Hosts called for weeping and wailing, for shaven heads and the wearing of sackcloth.
Daniel 9:3 So I turned my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and petition, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.
Esther 3:12 On the thirteenth day of the first month, the royal scribes were summoned and the order was written exactly as Haman commanded the royal satraps, the governors of each province, and the officials of each people, in the script of each province and the language of every people. It was written in the name of King Xerxes and sealed with the royal signet ring.
Esther 4:16 “Go and assemble all the Jews who can be found in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day, and I and my maidens will fast as you do. After that, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish!”
Isaiah 22:4 Therefore I said, “Turn away from me, let me weep bitterly! Do not try to console me over the destruction of the daughter of my people.”
Isaiah 37:1 On hearing this report, King Hezekiah tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and entered the house of the LORD.
Isaiah 58:5 Is this the fast I have chosen: a day for a man to deny himself, to bow his head like a reed, and to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast and a day acceptable to the LORD?
1 Samuel 4:13 When he arrived, there was Eli, sitting on his chair beside the road and watching, because his heart trembled for the ark of God. When the man entered the city to give a report, the whole city cried out.
Matthew 13:42 And they will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Matthew 22:13 Then the king told the servants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’