Esther 4:1

World English Bible (2000)

Now when Mordecai found out all that was done, Mordecai tore his clothes, and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and wailed loudly and a bitterly.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

וּמָרְדֳּכַ֗י יָדַע֙ אֶת־כָּל־אֲשֶׁ֣ר נַעֲשָׂ֔ה וַיִּקְרַ֤ע מָרְדֳּכַי֙ אֶת־בְּגָדָ֔יו וַיִּלְבַּ֥שׁ שַׂ֖ק וָאֵ֑פֶר וַיֵּצֵא֙ בְּת֣וֹךְ הָעִ֔יר וַיִּזְעַ֛ק זְעָקָ֥ה גְדֹלָ֖ה וּמָרָֽה׃

Transliteration

And Mordᵉḵay yāḏaʿ ʾet-all-which naʿᵃśâ, and wayyiqraʿ Mordᵉḵay ʾet-bᵉḡāḏāyw, and wayyilbaš śaq and-ʾēp̄er, and wayyēṣēʾ in-midst the-ʿîr, and wayyizʿaq zᵉʿāqâ ḡᵉḏōlâ and-mārâ.

Grammar Details

• *Mordᵉḵay*: proper noun, masculine singular - Mordecai
• *yāḏaʿ*: Qal perfect, 3rd masculine singular - he knew/perceived
• *ʾet*: direct object marker
• *naʿᵃśâ*: Niphal perfect, 3rd masculine singular - it was done
• *wayyiqraʿ*: Qal imperfect with waw consecutive, 3rd masculine singular - and he tore
• *bᵉḡāḏāyw*: noun masculine plural construct with 3rd masculine singular suffix - his garments
• *wayyilbaš*: Qal imperfect with waw consecutive, 3rd masculine singular - and he put on/wore
• *śaq*: noun masculine singular - sackcloth
• *ʾēp̄er*: noun masculine singular - ashes
• *wayyēṣēʾ*: Qal imperfect with waw consecutive, 3rd masculine singular - and he went out
• *ʿîr*: noun feminine singular - city
• *wayyizʿaq*: Qal imperfect with waw consecutive, 3rd masculine singular - and he cried out
• *zᵉʿāqâ*: noun feminine singular - outcry/cry
• *ḡᵉḏōlâ*: adjective feminine singular - great/loud
• *mārâ*: adjective feminine singular - bitter

Word Meanings

• *yāḏaʿ*: knew/understood/perceived/learned
• *naʿᵃśâ*: was done/happened/occurred
• *ʾēp̄er*: ashes/dust
• *zᵉʿāqâ*: outcry/shriek/wail
• *mārâ*: bitter/grievous/sorrowful

Referenced Verses

• 2 Sam 1:11 : 11 Then David took hold on his clothes, and tore them; and likewise all the men who were with him.
• 2 Sam 13:19 : 19 Tamar put ashes on her head, and tore her garment of various colors that was on her; and she laid her hand on her head, and went her way, crying aloud as she went.
• Ezek 27:30-31 : 30 and shall cause their voice to be heard over you, and shall cry bitterly, and shall cast up dust on their heads, they shall wallow themselves in the ashes: 31 and they shall make themselves bald for you, and clothe them with sackcloth, and they shall weep for you in bitterness of soul with bitter mourning.
• Dan 9:3 : 3 I set my face to the Lord God, to seek by prayer and petitions, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.
• Jonah 3:4-9 : 4 Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried out, and said, "In forty days, Nineveh will be overthrown!" 5 The people of Nineveh believed God; and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. 6 The news reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and took off his royal robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7 He made a proclamation and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, "Let neither man nor animal, herd nor flock, taste anything; let them not feed, nor drink water; 8 but let them be covered with sackcloth, both man and animal, and let them cry mightily to God. Yes, let them turn everyone from his evil way, and from the violence that is in his hands. 9 Who knows whether God will not turn and relent, and turn away from his fierce anger, so that we might not perish?"
• Mic 1:8 : 8 For this I will lament and wail; I will go stripped and naked; I will howl like the jackals, and moan like the daughters of owls.
• Zeph 1:14 : 14 The great day of Yahweh is near. It is near, and hurries greatly, the voice of the day of Yahweh. The mighty man cries there bitterly.
• Matt 11:21 : 21 "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon which were done in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
• Acts 14:14 : 14 But when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of it, they tore their clothes, and sprang into the multitude, crying out,
• Rev 18:17-19 : 17 For in an hour such great riches are made desolate.' Every shipmaster, and everyone who sails anywhere, and mariners, and as many as gain their living by sea, stood far away, 18 and cried out as they looked at the smoke of her burning, saying, 'What is like the great city?' 19 They cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and mourning, saying, 'Woe, woe, the great city, in which all who had their ships in the sea were made rich by reason of her great wealth!' For in one hour is she made desolate.
• Esth 3:8-9 : 8 Haman said to King Ahasuerus, "There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom, and their laws are different than other people's. They don't keep the king's laws. Therefore it is not for the king's profit to allow them to remain. 9 If it pleases the king, let it be written that they be destroyed; and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who are in charge of the king's business, to bring it into the king's treasuries." 10 The king took his ring from his hand, and gave it to Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the Jews' enemy. 11 The king said to Haman, "The silver is given to you, the people also, to do with them as it seems good to you." 12 Then the king's scribes were called in on the first month, on the thirteenth day of the month; and all that Haman commanded was written to the king's satraps, and to the governors who were over every province, and to the princes of every people, to every province according its writing, and to every people in their language. It was written in the name of King Ahasuerus, and it was sealed with the king's ring. 13 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, even on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to plunder their possessions.
• Esth 4:3 : 3 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; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.
• Job 1:20 : 20 Then Job arose, and tore his robe, and shaved his head, and fell down on the ground, and worshiped.
• Job 2:8 : 8 He took for himself a potsherd to scrape himself with, and he sat among the ashes.
• Job 42:6 : 6 Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes."
• Isa 15:4 : 4 Heshbon cries out with Elealeh. Their voice is heard even to Jahaz. Therefore the armed men of Moab cry aloud. Their souls tremble within them.
• Isa 22:4 : 4 Therefore I said, "Look away from me. I will weep bitterly. Don't labor to comfort me for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
• Isa 58:5 : 5 Is such the fast that I have chosen? the day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a rush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and an acceptable day to Yahweh?
• Ezek 21:6 : 6 Sigh therefore, you son of man; with the breaking of your thighs and with bitterness you will sigh before their eyes.
• Gen 27:34 : 34 When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with an exceeding great and bitter cry, and said to his father, "Bless me, even me also, my father."
• Josh 7:6 : 6 Joshua tore his clothes, and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of Yahweh until the evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads.