Esther 4:1-3

1When Mordecai learned of all that had happened, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the middle of the city, wailing loudly and bitterly. 2But he went only as far as the king’s gate, because the law prohibited anyone wearing sackcloth from entering that gate.

3In 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.