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Esther 4

Esther 4:1 KJV (With Strong’s)

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1
When Mordecai
Mordkay (Hebrew #4782)
Mordecai, an Israelite
KJV usage: Mordecai.
Pronounce: mor-dek-ah'-ee
Origin: of foreign derivation
perceived
yada` (Hebrew #3045)
to know (properly, to ascertain by seeing); used in a great variety of senses, figuratively, literally, euphemistically and inferentially (including observation, care, recognition; and causatively, instruction, designation, punishment, etc.) (as follow)
KJV usage: acknowledge, acquaintance(-ted with), advise, answer, appoint, assuredly, be aware, (un-)awares, can(-not), certainly, comprehend, consider, X could they, cunning, declare, be diligent, (can, cause to) discern, discover, endued with, familiar friend, famous, feel, can have, be (ig-)norant, instruct, kinsfolk, kinsman, (cause to let, make) know, (come to give, have, take) knowledge, have (knowledge), (be, make, make to be, make self) known, + be learned, + lie by man, mark, perceive, privy to, X prognosticator, regard, have respect, skilful, shew, can (man of) skill, be sure, of a surety, teach, (can) tell, understand, have (understanding), X will be, wist, wit, wot.
Pronounce: yaw-dah'
Origin: a primitive root
all that was done
`asah (Hebrew #6213)
to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest application (as follows)
KJV usage: accomplish, advance, appoint, apt, be at, become, bear, bestow, bring forth, bruise, be busy, X certainly, have the charge of, commit, deal (with), deck, + displease, do, (ready) dress(-ed), (put in) execute(-ion), exercise, fashion, + feast, (fight-)ing man, + finish, fit, fly, follow, fulfill, furnish, gather, get, go about, govern, grant, great, + hinder, hold ((a feast)), X indeed, + be industrious, + journey, keep, labour, maintain, make, be meet, observe, be occupied, offer, + officer, pare, bring (come) to pass, perform, pracise, prepare, procure, provide, put, requite, X sacrifice, serve, set, shew, X sin, spend, X surely, take, X thoroughly, trim, X very, + vex, be (warr-)ior, work(-man), yield, use.
Pronounce: aw-saw'
Origin: a primitive root
, Mordecai
Mordkay (Hebrew #4782)
Mordecai, an Israelite
KJV usage: Mordecai.
Pronounce: mor-dek-ah'-ee
Origin: of foreign derivation
rent
qara` (Hebrew #7167)
to rend, literally or figuratively (revile, paint the eyes, as if enlarging them)
KJV usage: cut out, rend, X surely, tear.
Pronounce: kaw-rah'
Origin: a primitive root
m his clothes
beged (Hebrew #899)
a covering, i.e. clothing; also treachery or pillage
KJV usage: apparel, cloth(-es, ing), garment, lap, rag, raiment, robe, X very (treacherously), vesture, wardrobe.
Pronounce: behg'-ed
Origin: from 898
, and put on
labash (Hebrew #3847)
a primitive root; properly, wrap around, i.e. (by implication) to put on a garment or clothe (oneself, or another), literally or figuratively
KJV usage: (in) apparel, arm, array (self), clothe (self), come upon, put (on, upon), wear.
Pronounce: law-bash'
Origin: or labesh {law-bashe'}
sackcloth
saq (Hebrew #8242)
properly, a mesh (as allowing a liquid to run through), i.e. coarse loose cloth or sacking (used in mourning and for bagging); hence, a bag (for grain, etc.)
KJV usage: sack(-cloth, -clothes).
Pronounce: sak
Origin: from 8264
with ashes
'epher (Hebrew #665)
ashes
KJV usage: ashes.
Pronounce: ay'-fer
Origin: from an unused root meaning to bestrew
n, and went out
yatsa' (Hebrew #3318)
to go (causatively, bring) out, in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively, direct and proxim.
KJV usage: X after, appear, X assuredly, bear out, X begotten, break out, bring forth (out, up), carry out, come (abroad, out, thereat, without), + be condemned, depart(-ing, -ure), draw forth, in the end, escape, exact, fail, fall (out), fetch forth (out), get away (forth, hence, out), (able to, cause to, let) go abroad (forth, on, out), going out, grow, have forth (out), issue out, lay (lie) out, lead out, pluck out, proceed, pull out, put away, be risen, X scarce, send with commandment, shoot forth, spread, spring out, stand out, X still, X surely, take forth (out), at any time, X to (and fro), utter.
Pronounce: yaw-tsaw'
Origin: a primitive root
into the midst
tavek (Hebrew #8432)
a bisection, i.e. (by implication) the centre
KJV usage: among(-st), X between, half, X (there- ,where-), in(-to), middle, mid(-night), midst (among), X out (of), X through, X with(-in).
Pronounce: taw'-vek
Origin: from an unused root meaning to sever
of the city
`iyr (Hebrew #5892)
or ayar (Judges 10:4) {aw-yar'}; from 5782 a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the widest sense (even of a mere encampment or post)
KJV usage: Ai (from margin), city, court (from margin), town.
Pronounce: eer
Origin: or (in the plural) par {awr}
, and cried
za`aq (Hebrew #2199)
to shriek (from anguish or danger); by analogy, (as a herald) to announce or convene publicly
KJV usage: assemble, call (together), (make a) cry (out), come with such a company, gather (together), cause to be proclaimed.
Pronounce: zaw-ak'
Origin: a primitive root
with a loud
gadowl (Hebrew #1419)
from 1431; great (in any sense); hence, older; also insolent
KJV usage: + aloud, elder(-est), + exceeding(-ly), + far, (man of) great (man, matter, thing,-er,-ness), high, long, loud, mighty, more, much, noble, proud thing, X sore, (X ) very.
Pronounce: gaw-dole'
Origin: or (shortened) gadol {gaw-dole'}
and a bitter
mar (Hebrew #4751)
from 4843; bitter (literally or figuratively); also (as noun) bitterness, or (adverbially) bitterly
KJV usage: + angry, bitter(-ly, -ness), chafed, discontented, X great, heavy.
Pronounce: mar
Origin: or (feminine) marah {maw-raw'}
o cry
za`aq (Hebrew #2201)
from 2199; a shriek or outcry
KJV usage: cry(-ing).
Pronounce: zah'-ak
Origin: and (feminine) zoaqah {zeh-aw-kaw'}
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m
2 Sam. 1:11• 11Then David took hold of his garments and rent them; and all the men that were with him did likewise. (2 Sam. 1:11)
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Job 1:20• 20And Job rose up, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down on the ground, and worshipped; (Job 1:20)
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Josh. 7:6• 6And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of Jehovah until the evening, he and the elders of Israel, and threw dust upon their heads. (Josh. 7:6)
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Ezek. 27:30• 30and shall cause their voice to be heard over thee, and shall cry bitterly; and they shall cast up dust upon their heads; they shall wallow themselves in ashes. (Ezek. 27:30)
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Jonah 3:6• 6And the word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and laid his robe from him, and covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. (Jonah 3:6)
o
Gen. 27:34• 34When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry, and said to his father, Bless me--me also, my father! (Gen. 27:34)

More on:

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Ashes,
Mordecai,
sackcloth

Cross References

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Ministry on This Verse

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1-3:  The great mourning of Mordecai and the Jews.
4-9:  Esther, understanding it, sends to Mordecai, who shews the cause, and advises her to undertake the suit.
10-14:  She excusing herself, is threatened by Mordecai.
15-17:  She appointing a fast, undertakes the suit.
all that.
Esther 3:8‑13• 8And Haman said to king Ahasuerus, There is a people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of thy kingdom; and their laws are diverse from those of every people, and they keep not the king's laws; and it is not for the king's profit to suffer them.
 9If it please the king, let it be written that they may be destroyed, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those that have charge of the affairs, to bring it into the king's treasuries.
 10And the king took his ring from his hand, and gave it to Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the Jews' enemy.
 11And the king said to Haman, The silver is given to thee, the people also, to do with them as seems good to thee.
 12Then were the king's scribes called, in the first month, on the thirteenth day of the month, and there was written according to all that Haman commanded unto the king's satraps, and to the governors over every province, and to the princes of every people; to every province according to the writing thereof, and to every people according to their language: in the name of king Ahasuerus was it written, and sealed with the king's ring.
 13And the letters were sent by couriers into all the king's provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish, all Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, upon the thirteenth of the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar, and to take the spoil of them for a prey. (Esther 3:8‑13)
rent.
2 Sam. 1:11• 11Then David took hold of his garments and rent them; and all the men that were with him did likewise. (2 Sam. 1:11)
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Job 1:20• 20And Job rose up, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down on the ground, and worshipped; (Job 1:20)
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Jonah 3:4‑9• 4And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!
 5And the men of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.
 6And the word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and laid his robe from him, and covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
 7And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything: let them not feed, nor drink water;
 8and let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God; and let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.
 9Who knoweth but that God will turn and repent, and will turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not? (Jonah 3:4‑9)
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Acts 14:14• 14But the apostles Barnabas and Paul, having heard it, rent their garments, and rushed out to the crowd, crying (Acts 14:14)
with ashes.
Esther 4:3• 3And 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. (Esther 4:3)
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Josh. 7:6• 6And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of Jehovah until the evening, he and the elders of Israel, and threw dust upon their heads. (Josh. 7:6)
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2 Sam. 13:19• 19And Tamar put ashes on her head, and rent her vest of many colours which was on her, and laid her hand on her head, and went away, crying out as she went. (2 Sam. 13:19)
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Job 2:8• 8And he took a potsherd to scrape himself with; and he sat among the ashes. (Job 2:8)
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Job 42:6• 6Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes. (Job 42:6)
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Isa. 58:5• 5Is such the fast that I have chosen, a day for a man to afflict his soul,--that he should bow down his head as a bulrush, and spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Wilt thou call this a fast, and a day acceptable to Jehovah? (Isa. 58:5)
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Ezek. 27:30• 30and shall cause their voice to be heard over thee, and shall cry bitterly; and they shall cast up dust upon their heads; they shall wallow themselves in ashes. (Ezek. 27:30)
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Dan. 9:3• 3And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes; (Dan. 9:3)
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Jonah 3:6• 6And the word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and laid his robe from him, and covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. (Jonah 3:6)
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Matt. 11:21• 21Woe to thee, Chorazin! woe to thee Bethsaida! for if the works of power which have taken place in you, had taken place in Tyre and Sidon, they had long ago repented in sackcloth and ashes. (Matt. 11:21)
and cried.Mordecai gave every demonstration of the most poignant grief. Nor did he hide this from the city; and the Greek says that he uttered these words aloud:
[Airetai ethnos meden edikekos,] "A people is going to be destroyed who have done no evil."
Gen. 27:34• 34When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry, and said to his father, Bless me--me also, my father! (Gen. 27:34)
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Isa. 15:4• 4And Heshbon crieth, and Elealeh: their voice is heard unto Jahaz. Therefore the armed men of Moab cry out: his soul trembleth in him. (Isa. 15:4)
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Isa. 22:4• 4Therefore said I, Look away from me; let me weep bitterly: labour not to comfort me, because of the spoiling of the daughter of my people. (Isa. 22:4)
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Ezek. 21:6• 6Sigh then, thou son of man; with breaking of the loins, and with bitterness sigh before their eyes. (Ezek. 21:6)
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Ezek. 27:31• 31And they shall make themselves utterly bald for thee, and gird themselves with sackcloth; and they shall weep for thee in bitterness of soul with bitter mourning. (Ezek. 27:31)
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Mic. 1:8• 8For this will I lament, and I will howl; I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the jackals, and mourning like the ostriches. (Mic. 1:8)
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Zeph. 1:14• 14The great day of Jehovah is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly. The voice of the day of Jehovah: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. (Zeph. 1:14)
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Rev. 18:17‑19• 17for in one hour so great riches has been made desolate. And every steersman, and every one who sailed to any place, and sailors, and all who exercise their calling on the sea, stood afar off,
 18and cried, seeing the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like to the great city?
 19and cast dust upon their heads, and cried, weeping and grieving, saying, Woe, woe, the great city, in which all that had ships in the sea were enriched through her costliness! for in one hour she has been made desolate. (Rev. 18:17‑19)
• "Let us destroy them together" (Psa. 74:8); "Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation." Psa. 83:4. How much Mordecai must have suffered at the thought. Should he have done otherwise? Was he not there as representative of the people who should bear testimony of God in this world? No, with a heart filled with anguish he could say, "I can do no different," as was said many centuries later, in a time like ours, by Martin Luther at the Diet of Worms. Mordecai has a single eye; he seeks no arguments to excuse himself for being faithful to God. Would he perhaps give way at the shock of the death warrant? No; even when Haman left the palace where he alone had been invited, with the king, to a banquet given by Esther, the queen, Mordecai refused to pay to the favorite the required homage. (“Chapter 3: Mordecai and Esther” by H.L. Rossier)

J. N. Darby Translation

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And when Mordecai knew all that was done, Mordecai rent his garments, and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and cried with a loud and bitter cry,