Esther 4:1-3

1When Mordecai learned all that had occurred, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, went into the middle of the city, and cried loudly and bitterly.

2He went only as far as the King’s Gate, since the law prohibited anyone wearing sackcloth from entering the King’s Gate.

3There was great mourning among the Jewish people in every province where the king’s command and edict reached. They fasted, wept, and lamented, and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.