When Mordecai learned all that had been done, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and cried with a loud and bitter cry.
In their streets they shall clothe themselves with sackcloth; on the tops of their houses and in their streets, everyone shall wail, weeping abundantly.
But if you will not listen to it, my soul will weep in secret places for your pride; and my eyes will weep sorely and run down with tears, because the flock of the Lord is carried away captive.
Thus says the Lord: A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.
My soul, my soul! I am pained at my very heart. My heart makes a noise in me. I cannot hold my peace, because you have heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.
O daughter of my people, gird yourself with sackcloth and wallow in ashes. Mourn as for an only son, a most bitter lamentation; for the destroyer shall suddenly come upon us.
My eyes fail with tears, my spirit is greatly troubled; my bile is poured on the ground because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because the children and infants faint in the streets of the city.
Also they shall make themselves utterly bald for you, and gird themselves with sackcloth; and they shall weep for you with bitterness of heart and bitter wailing.
“In Ramah a voice was heard, grieving and weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and she would not be comforted, because they are no more.”