2 Samuel 1:2

1:2 On the third day a man arrived from the camp of Saul with his clothes torn and dirt on his head. ¹  When he approached David, the man ²  threw himself to the ground. ³ 

Joshua 7:6

7:6 Joshua tore his clothes; ⁴  he and the leaders ⁵  of Israel lay face down on the ground before the ark of the Lord until evening ⁶  and threw dirt on their heads. ⁷ 

Job 2:12

2:12 But when they gazed intently ⁸  from a distance but did not recognize ⁹  him, they began to weep loudly. Each of them tore his robes, and they threw dust into the air over their heads. ¹⁰ 

Job 42:6

42:6 Therefore I despise myself, ¹¹ 

and I repent in dust and ashes!

[1:2]  ¹ sn Tearing one’s clothing and throwing dirt on one’s head were outward expressions of grief in the ancient Near East, where such demonstrable reactions were a common response to tragic news.

[1:2]  ² tn Heb “he”; the referent (the man mentioned at the beginning of v. 2) has been specified in the translation to avoid confusion as to who fell to the ground.

[1:2]  ³ tn Heb “he fell to the ground and did obeisance.”

[7:6]  ⁴ sn Tearing one’s clothes was an outward expression of extreme sorrow (see Gen 37:34; 44:13).

[7:6]  ⁵ tn Or “elders.”

[7:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “and fell on his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord until evening, he and the elders of Israel.”

[7:6]  ⁷ sn Throwing dirt on one’s head was an outward expression of extreme sorrow (see Lam 2:10; Ezek 27:30).

[2:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “they lifted up their eyes.” The idiom “to lift up the eyes” (or “to lift up the voice”) is intended to show a special intensity in the effort. Here it would indicate that they were trying to see Job from a great distance away.

[2:12]  ⁹ tn The Hiphil perfect here should take the nuance of potential perfect – they were not able to recognize him. In other words, this does not mean that they did not know it was Job, only that he did not look anything like the Job they knew.

[2:12]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “they tossed dust skyward over their heads.”

[42:6]  ¹¹ tn Or “despise what I said.” There is no object on the verb; Job could be despising himself or the things he said (see L. J. Kuyper, “Repentance of Job,” VT 9 [1959]: 91-94).