2 Kings 6:30

6:30 When the king heard what the woman said, he tore his clothes. As he was passing by on the wall, the people could see he was wearing sackcloth under his clothes. ¹ 

Genesis 37:34

37:34 Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, ²  and mourned for his son many days.

Genesis 37:1

Joseph’s Dreams

37:1 But Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, ³  in the land of Canaan. ⁴ 

Genesis 21:27

21:27 Abraham took some sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelech. The two of them made a treaty. ⁵ 

Genesis 21:29

21:29 Abimelech asked Abraham, “What is the meaning of these ⁶  seven ewe lambs that you have set apart?”

Esther 4:1-4

Esther Decides to Risk Everything in order to Help Her People

4:1 Now when Mordecai became aware of all that had been done, he ⁷  tore his garments and put on sackcloth and ashes. He went out into the city, crying out in a loud ⁸  and bitter voice. 4:2 But he went no further than the king’s gate, for no one was permitted to enter the king’s gate clothed in sackcloth. 4:3 Throughout each and every province where the king’s edict and law were announced ⁹  there was considerable ¹⁰  mourning among the Jews, along with fasting, weeping, and sorrow. ¹¹  Sackcloth and ashes were characteristic ¹²  of many. 4:4 When Esther’s female attendants and her eunuchs came and informed her about Mordecai’s behavior, ¹³  the queen was overcome with anguish. Although she sent garments for Mordecai to put on so that he could remove his sackcloth, he would not accept them.

Psalms 35:13

35:13 When they were sick, I wore sackcloth, ¹⁴ 

and refrained from eating food. ¹⁵ 

(If I am lying, may my prayers go unanswered!) ¹⁶ 

Jonah 3:8

3:8 Every person and animal must put on sackcloth and must cry earnestly ¹⁷  to God, and everyone ¹⁸  must turn from their ¹⁹  evil way of living ²⁰  and from the violence that they do. ²¹ 

Matthew 11:21

11:21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! ²²  Woe to you, Bethsaida! If ²³  the miracles ²⁴  done in you had been done in Tyre ²⁵  and Sidon, ²⁶  they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

[6:30]  ¹ tn Heb “the people saw, and look, [there was] sackcloth against his skin underneath.”

[37:34]  ² tn Heb “and put sackcloth on his loins.”

[37:1]  ³ tn Heb “the land of the sojournings of his father.”

[37:1]  ⁴ sn The next section begins with the heading This is the account of Jacob in Gen 37:2, so this verse actually forms part of the preceding section as a concluding contrast with Esau and his people. In contrast to all the settled and expanded population of Esau, Jacob was still moving about in the land without a permanent residence and without kings. Even if the Edomite king list was added later (as the reference to kings in Israel suggests), its placement here in contrast to Jacob and his descendants is important. Certainly the text deals with Esau before dealing with Jacob – that is the pattern. But the detail is so great in chap. 36 that the contrast cannot be missed.

[21:27]  ⁵ tn Heb “cut a covenant.”

[21:29]  ⁶ tn Heb “What are these?”

[4:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “Mordecai.” The pronoun (“he”) was used in the translation for stylistic reasons. A repetition of the proper name here is redundant in terms of contemporary English style.

[4:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “great.”

[4:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “reached” (so NAB, NLT); KJV, NASB, NIV “came”; TEV “wherever the king’s proclamation was made known.”

[4:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “great” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NAB “the Jews went into deep mourning.”

[4:3]  ¹¹ sn Although prayer is not specifically mentioned here, it is highly unlikely that appeals to God for help were not a part of this reaction to devastating news. As elsewhere in the book of Esther, the writer seems deliberately to keep religious actions in the background.

[4:3]  ¹² tn Heb “were spread to many”; KJV, NIV “many (+ people NLT) lay in sackcloth and ashes.”

[4:4]  ¹³ tn The words “about Mordecai’s behavior” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in translation for the sake of clarity. Cf. NIV, NLT “about Mordecai”; TEV, CEV “what Mordecai was doing.”

[35:13]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth.” Sackcloth was worn by mourners. When the psalmist’s enemies were sick, he was sorry for their misfortune and mourned for them.

[35:13]  ¹⁵ sn Fasting was also a practice of mourners. By refraining from normal activities, such as eating food, the mourner demonstrated the sincerity of his sorrow.

[35:13]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and my prayer upon my chest will return.” One could translate, “but my prayer was returning upon my chest,” but the use of the imperfect verbal form sets this line apart from the preceding and following lines (vv. 13a, 14), which use the perfect to describe the psalmist’s past actions.

[3:8]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “with strength”; KJV, NRSV “mightily”; NAB, NCV “loudly”; NIV “urgently.”

[3:8]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “let them turn, a man from his evil way.” The alternation between the plural verb וְיָשֻׁבוּ (vÿyashuvu, “and let them turn”) and the singular noun אִישׁ (’ish, “a man, each one”) and the singular suffix on מִדַּרְכּוֹ (middarko, “from his way”) emphasizes that each and every person in the collective unity is called to repent.

[3:8]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “his.” See the preceding note on “one.”

[3:8]  ²⁰ tn Heb “evil way.” For other examples of “way” as “way of living,” see Judg 2:17; Ps 107:17-22; Prov 4:25-27; 5:21.

[3:8]  ²¹ tn Heb “that is in their hands.” By speaking of the harm they did as “in their hands,” the king recognized the Ninevites’ personal awareness and immediate responsibility. The term “hands” is either a synecdoche of instrument (e.g., “Is not the hand of Joab in all this?” 2 Sam 14:19) or a synecdoche of part for the whole. The king's descriptive figure of speech reinforces their guilt.

[11:21]  ²² sn Chorazin was a town of Galilee that was probably fairly small in contrast to Bethsaida and is otherwise unattested. Bethsaida was declared a polis by the tetrarch Herod Philip, sometime after a.d. 30.

[11:21]  ²³ tn This introduces a second class (contrary to fact) condition in the Greek text.

[11:21]  ²⁴ tn Or “powerful deeds.”

[11:21]  ²⁵ map For location see Map1 A2; Map2 G2; Map4 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

[11:21]  ²⁶ sn Tyre and Sidon are two other notorious OT cities (Isa 23; Jer 25:22; 47:4). The remark is a severe rebuke, in effect: “Even the sinners of the old era would have responded to the proclamation of the kingdom, unlike you!”