Ezra 9:3

9:3 When I heard this report, I tore my tunic and my robe and ripped out some of the hair from my head and beard. Then I sat down, quite devastated.

Nehemiah 1:4

1:4 When I heard these things I sat down abruptly, ¹  crying and mourning for several days. I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.

Isaiah 3:26

3:26 Her gates will mourn and lament;

deprived of her people, she will sit on the ground. ² 

Isaiah 47:1

Babylon Will Fall

47:1 “Fall down! Sit in the dirt,

O virgin ³  daughter Babylon!

Sit on the ground, not on a throne,

O daughter of the Babylonians!

Indeed, ⁴  you will no longer be called delicate and pampered.

[1:4]  ¹ tn Heb “sat down.” Context suggests that this was a rather sudden action, resulting from the emotional shock of the unpleasant news, so “abruptly” has been supplied in the present translation.

[3:26]  ² tn Heb “she will be empty, on the ground she will sit.” Jerusalem is personified as a destitute woman who sits mourning the empty city.

[47:1]  ³ tn בְּתוּלַה (bÿtulah) often refers to a virgin, but the phrase “virgin daughter” is apparently stylized (see also 23:12; 37:22). In the extended metaphor of this chapter, where Babylon is personified as a queen (vv. 5, 7), she is depicted as being both a wife and mother (vv. 8-9).

[47:1]  ⁴ tn Or “For” (NASB, NRSV).