Esther 4:3 (WEB)

Passage

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.

Nearby Context

Esther 4:1 Now when Mordecai found out all that was done, Mordecai tore his clothes, and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the middle of the city, and wailed loudly and bitterly.

Esther 4:2 He came even before the king’s gate, for no one is allowed inside the king’s gate clothed with sackcloth.

Esther 4:3 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.

Esther 4:4 Esther’s maidens and her eunuchs came and told her this, and the queen was exceedingly grieved. She sent clothing to Mordecai, to replace his sackcloth; but he didn’t receive it.

Esther 4:5 Then Esther called for Hathach, one of the king’s eunuchs, whom he had appointed to attend her, and commanded him to go to Mordecai, to find out what this was, and why it was.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "province", "wherever", "king", "commandment", "decree", "came", "great", and "mourning". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "province" and "wherever", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 2's "He came even before the king s..." into verse 4's "Esther s maidens and her eunuchs came...", so "province" and "wherever" belong inside that flow. In Esther context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "province" and "wherever" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.