2 Kings 19:1

19:1 When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and went to the Lord’s temple.

2 Kings 22:11

22:11 When the king heard the words of the law scroll, he tore his clothes.

2 Kings 22:19

22:19 ‘You displayed a sensitive spirit ¹  and humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard how I intended to make this place and its residents into an appalling example of an accursed people. ²  You tore your clothes and wept before me, and I have heard you,’ says the Lord.

Jeremiah 36:22-24

36:22 Since it was the ninth month of the year, the king was sitting in his winter quarters. ³  A fire was burning in the firepot in front of him. ⁴  36:23 As soon as Jehudi had read three or four columns ⁵  of the scroll, the king ⁶  would cut them off with a penknife ⁷  and throw them on the fire in the firepot. He kept doing so until the whole scroll was burned up in the fire. ⁸  36:24 Neither he nor any of his attendants showed any alarm when they heard all that had been read. Nor did they tear their clothes to show any grief or sorrow. ⁹ 

Joel 2:13

2:13 Return to the Lord your God,

for he is merciful and compassionate,

slow to anger and boundless in loyal love ¹⁰  – often relenting from calamitous punishment. ¹¹ 

[22:19]  ¹ tn Heb “Because your heart was tender.”

[22:19]  ² tn Heb “how I said concerning this place and its residents to become [an object of] horror and [an example of] a curse.” The final phrase (“horror and a curse”) refers to Judah becoming a prime example of an accursed people. In curse formulations they would be held up as a prime example of divine judgment. For an example of such a curse, see Jer 29:22.

[36:22]  ³ tn Heb “in the autumn house.” Commentators are agreed that this was not a separate building or palace but the winter quarters in the palace.

[36:22]  ⁴ tc Heb “the fire in the firepot was burning before him.” The translation assumes that the word “fire” (אֵשׁ, ’esh) has dropped out after the particle אֶת (’et) because of the similar beginnings of the two words. The word “fire” is found in the Greek, Syriac, and Targumic translations according to BHS. The particle אֵת should be retained rather than dropped as an erroneous writing of אֵשׁ. Its presence is to be explained as the usage of the sign of the accusative introducing a new subject (cf. BDB 85 s.v. אֶת 3.α and compare the usage in 27:8; 38:16 [in the Kethib]; 45:4).

[36:23]  ⁵ tn Heb “doors.” This is the only time the word “door” is used in this way but all the commentaries and lexicons agree that it means “columns.” The meaning is figurative based on the similarity of shape.

[36:23]  ⁶ tn Heb “he.” The majority of commentaries and English versions are agreed that “he” is the king. However, since a penknife (Heb “a scribe’s razor”) is used to cut the columns off, it is possible that Jehudi himself did it. However, even if Jehudi himself did it, he was acting on the king’s orders.

[36:23]  ⁷ sn Heb “a scribe’s razor.” There is some irony involved here since a scribe’s razor was used to trim the sheets to be sewn together, scrape them in preparation for writing, and to erase errors. What was normally used to prepare the scroll was used to destroy it.

[36:23]  ⁸ tn Heb “until the whole scroll was consumed upon the fire which was in the fire pot.”

[36:24]  ⁹ tn Heb “Neither the king nor any of his servants who heard all these words were afraid or tore their clothes.” The sentence has been broken up into two shorter sentences to better conform to English style and some of the terms explained (e.g., tore their clothes) for the sake of clarity.

[2:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and great of loyal love.”

[2:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and he relents from calamity.”