Genesis 37:29

37:29 Later Reuben returned to the cistern to find that Joseph was not in it! ¹  He tore his clothes,

Joshua 7:6

7:6 Joshua tore his clothes; ²  he and the leaders ³  of Israel lay face down on the ground before the ark of the Lord until evening ⁴  and threw dirt on their heads. ⁵ 

Joshua 7:2

7:2 Joshua sent men from Jericho ⁶  to Ai (which is located near Beth Aven, east of Bethel ⁷ ) and instructed them, “Go up and spy on the land.” So the men went up and spied on Ai.

Joshua 1:11

1:11 “Go through the camp and command the people, ‘Prepare your supplies, for within three days you will cross the Jordan River and begin the conquest of the land the Lord your God is ready to hand over to you.’” ⁸ 

Joshua 3:1

Israel Crosses the Jordan

3:1 Bright and early the next morning Joshua and the Israelites left Shittim and came to the Jordan. ⁹  They camped there before crossing the river. ¹⁰ 

Joshua 3:1

Israel Crosses the Jordan

3:1 Bright and early the next morning Joshua and the Israelites left Shittim and came to the Jordan. ¹¹  They camped there before crossing the river. ¹² 

Joshua 20:1

Israel Designates Cities of Refuge

20:1 The Lord instructed Joshua:

Joshua 21:27

21:27 They assigned to the Gershonite clans of the Levites the following cities: ¹³  from the half-tribe of Manasseh: Golan in Bashan (a city of refuge for one who committed manslaughter) and Beeshtarah, along with the grazing areas of each – a total of two cities;

Joshua 21:2

21:2 in Shiloh in the land of Canaan and said, “The Lord told Moses to assign us cities in which to live along with the grazing areas for our cattle.”

Joshua 19:1

Simeon’s Tribal Lands

19:1 The second lot belonged to the tribe of Simeon by its clans. ¹⁴ 

Joshua 19:1

Simeon’s Tribal Lands

19:1 The second lot belonged to the tribe of Simeon by its clans. ¹⁵ 

Joshua 21:16

21:16 Ain, Juttah, and Beth Shemesh, along with the grazing areas of each – a total of nine cities taken from these two tribes.

Ezra 9:3-5

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. 9:4 Everyone who held the words of the God of Israel in awe ¹⁶  gathered around me because of the unfaithful acts of the people of the exile. ¹⁷  Devastated, I continued to sit there until the evening offering.

9:5 At the time of the evening offering I got up from my self-abasement, ¹⁸  with my tunic and robe torn, and then dropped to my knees and spread my hands to the Lord my God.

Nehemiah 9:1

The People Acknowledge Their Sin before God

9:1 On the twenty-fourth day of this same month the Israelites assembled; they were fasting and wearing sackcloth, their heads covered with dust.

Esther 4:1-3

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 ¹⁹  tore his garments and put on sackcloth and ashes. He went out into the city, crying out in a loud ²⁰  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 ²¹  there was considerable ²²  mourning among the Jews, along with fasting, weeping, and sorrow. ²³  Sackcloth and ashes were characteristic ²⁴  of many.

Job 1:20

1:20 Then Job got up ²⁵  and tore his robe. ²⁶  He shaved his head, ²⁷  and then he threw himself down with his face to the ground. ²⁸ 

Job 2:12

2:12 But when they gazed intently ²⁹  from a distance but did not recognize ³⁰  him, they began to weep loudly. Each of them tore his robes, and they threw dust into the air over their heads. ³¹ 

Psalms 69:11

69:11 I wear sackcloth

and they ridicule me. ³² 

Isaiah 22:12-13

22:12 At that time the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies, called for weeping and mourning,

for shaved heads and sackcloth. ³³ 

22:13 But look, there is outright celebration! ³⁴ 

You say, “Kill the ox and slaughter the sheep,

eat meat and drink wine.

Eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!” ³⁵ 

Isaiah 32:11

32:11 Tremble, you complacent ones!

Shake with fear, you carefree ones!

Strip off your clothes and expose yourselves –

put sackcloth on your waist! ³⁶ 

Isaiah 36:22--37:2

36:22 Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace supervisor, accompanied by Shebna the scribe and Joah son of Asaph, the secretary, went to Hezekiah with their clothes torn in grief ³⁷  and reported to him what the chief adviser had said. 37:1 When King Hezekiah heard this, ³⁸  he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and went to the Lord’s temple. 37:2 Eliakim the palace supervisor, Shebna the scribe, and the leading priests, ³⁹  clothed in sackcloth, sent this message to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz:

Jeremiah 36:24

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. ⁴⁰ 

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 ⁴¹  – often relenting from calamitous punishment. ⁴² 

Jonah 3:5-8

3:5 The people ⁴³  of Nineveh believed in God, ⁴⁴  and they declared a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. ⁴⁵  3:6 When the news ⁴⁶  reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, put on sackcloth, and sat on ashes. 3:7 He issued a proclamation and said, ⁴⁷  “In Nineveh, by the decree of the king and his nobles: No human or animal, cattle or sheep, is to taste anything; they must not eat and they must not drink water. 3:8 Every person and animal must put on sackcloth and must cry earnestly ⁴⁸  to God, and everyone ⁴⁹  must turn from their ⁵⁰  evil way of living ⁵¹  and from the violence that they do. ⁵² 

Matthew 11:21

11:21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! ⁵³  Woe to you, Bethsaida! If ⁵⁴  the miracles ⁵⁵  done in you had been done in Tyre ⁵⁶  and Sidon, ⁵⁷  they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

Matthew 26:65

26:65 Then the high priest tore his clothes and declared, ⁵⁸  “He has blasphemed! Why do we still need witnesses? Now ⁵⁹  you have heard the blasphemy!

Acts 14:14

14:14 But when the apostles ⁶⁰  Barnabas and Paul heard about ⁶¹  it, they tore ⁶²  their clothes and rushed out ⁶³  into the crowd, shouting, ⁶⁴ 

Revelation 11:3

11:3 And I will grant my two witnesses authority ⁶⁵  to prophesy for 1,260 days, dressed in sackcloth.

[37:29]  ¹ tn Heb “and look, Joseph was not in the cistern.” By the use of וְהִנֵּה (vÿhinneh, “and look”), the narrator invites the reader to see the situation through Reuben’s eyes.

[7:6]  ² sn Tearing one’s clothes was an outward expression of extreme sorrow (see Gen 37:34; 44:13).

[7:6]  ³ tn Or “elders.”

[7:6]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ sn Throwing dirt on one’s head was an outward expression of extreme sorrow (see Lam 2:10; Ezek 27:30).

[7:2]  ⁶ map For location see Map5 B2; Map6 E1; Map7 E1; Map8 E3; Map10 A2; Map11 A1.

[7:2]  ⁷ map For the location of Bethel see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[1:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “to enter to possess the land which the Lord your God is giving to you to possess it.”

[3:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “And Joshua arose early in the morning and he and the Israelites left Shittim and came to the Jordan.”

[3:1]  ¹⁰ tn The words “the river,” though not in the Hebrew text, have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[3:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “And Joshua arose early in the morning and he and the Israelites left Shittim and came to the Jordan.”

[3:1]  ¹² tn The words “the river,” though not in the Hebrew text, have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[21:27]  ¹³ tn The words “they assigned” and “the following cities” are supplied for clarification (also in v. 34).

[19:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and the second lot came out for Simeon, for the tribe of the sons of Simeon by their clans.”

[19:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and the second lot came out for Simeon, for the tribe of the sons of Simeon by their clans.”

[9:4]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “who trembled at the words of the God of Israel.”

[9:4]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the exile”; the words “the people” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[9:5]  ¹⁸ tn The Hebrew word used here is a hapax legomenon. It refers to the self-abasement that accompanies religious sorrow and fasting.

[4:1]  ¹⁹ 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]  ²⁰ tn Heb “great.”

[4:3]  ²¹ tn Heb “reached” (so NAB, NLT); KJV, NASB, NIV “came”; TEV “wherever the king’s proclamation was made known.”

[4:3]  ²² tn Heb “great” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NAB “the Jews went into deep mourning.”

[4:3]  ²³ 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]  ²⁴ tn Heb “were spread to many”; KJV, NIV “many (+ people NLT) lay in sackcloth and ashes.”

[1:20]  ²⁵ tn The verb וַיָּקָם (vayyaqom, “and he arose”) indicates the intentionality and the rapidity of the actions to follow. It signals the beginning of his response to the terrible news. Therefore, the sentence could be translated, “Then Job immediately began to tear his robe.”

[1:20]  ²⁶ sn It was the custom to tear the robe in a time of mourning, to indicate that the heart was torn (Joel 2:13). The “garment, mantel” here is the outer garment frequently worn over the basic tunic. See further D. R. Ap-Thomas, “Notes on Some Terms Relating to Prayer,” VT 6 (1956): 220-24.

[1:20]  ²⁷ sn In mourning one normally put off every adornment that enhanced or embellished the person, including that which nature provided (Jer 7:29; Mic 1:16).

[1:20]  ²⁸ tn This last verb is the Hishtaphel of the word חָוָה (khavah; BDB 1005 s.v. שָׁחָה); it means “to prostrate oneself, to cause oneself to be low to the ground.” In the OT it is frequently translated “to worship” because that is usually why the individual would kneel down and then put his or her forehead to the ground at the knees. But the word essentially means “to bow down to the ground.” Here “worship” (although employed by several English translations, cf. KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, CEV) conveys more than what is taking place – although Job’s response is certainly worshipful. See G. I. Davies, “A Note on the Etymology of histah^awah,” VT 29 (1979): 493-95; and J. A. Emerton, “The Etymology of histah^awah,” OTS (1977): 41-55.

[2:12]  ²⁹ 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]  ³⁰ 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]  ³¹ tn Heb “they tossed dust skyward over their heads.”

[69:11]  ³² tn Heb “and I am an object of ridicule to them.”

[22:12]  ³³ tn Heb “for baldness and the wearing of sackcloth.” See the note at 15:2.

[22:13]  ³⁴ tn Heb “happiness and joy.”

[22:13]  ³⁵ tn The prophet here quotes what the fatalistic people are saying. The introductory “you say” is supplied in the translation for clarification; the concluding verb “we die” makes it clear the people are speaking. The six verbs translated as imperatives are actually infinitives absolute, functioning here as finite verbs.

[32:11]  ³⁶ tn The imperatival forms in v. 11 are problematic. The first (חִרְדוּ, khirdu, “tremble”) is masculine plural in form, though spoken to a feminine plural addressee (שַׁאֲנַנּוֹת, sha’anannot, “complacent ones”). The four imperatival forms that follow (רְגָזָה, rÿgazah, “shake with fear”; פְּשֹׁטָה, pÿshotah, “strip off your clothes”; עֹרָה, ’orah, “expose yourselves”; and חֲגוֹרָה, khagorah, “put on”) all appear to be lengthened (so-called “emphatic”) masculine singular forms, even though they too appear to be spoken to a feminine plural addressee. GKC 131-32 §48.i suggests emending חִרְדוּ (khirdu) to חֲרָדָה (kharadah) and understanding all five imperatives as feminine plural “aramaized” forms.

[36:22]  ³⁷ tn Heb “with their clothes torn”; the words “in grief” have been supplied in the translation to indicate that this was done as a sign of grief and mourning.

[37:1]  ³⁸ tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[37:2]  ³⁹ tn Heb “elders of the priests” (so KJV, NAB, NASB); NCV “the older priests”; NRSV, TEV, CEV “the senior priests.”

[36:24]  ⁴⁰ 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]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “and great of loyal love.”

[2:13]  ⁴² tn Heb “and he relents from calamity.”

[3:5]  ⁴³ tn Heb “men.” The term is used generically here for “people” (so KJV, ASV, and many other English versions); cf. NIV “the Ninevites.”

[3:5]  ⁴⁴ sn The people of Nineveh believed in God…. Verse 5 provides a summary of the response in Nineveh; the people of all ranks believed and gave evidence of contrition by fasting and wearing sackcloth (2 Sam 12:16, 19-23; 1 Kgs 21:27-29; Neh 9:1-2). Then vv. 6-9 provide specific details, focusing on the king’s reaction. The Ninevites’ response parallels the response of the pagan sailors in 1:6 and 13-16.

[3:5]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “from the greatest of them to the least of them.”

[3:6]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “word” or “matter.”

[3:7]  ⁴⁷ tn Contrary to many modern English versions, the present translation understands the king’s proclamation to begin after the phrase “and he said” (rather than after “in Nineveh”), as do quotations in 1:14; 2:2, 4; 4:2, 8, 9. In Jonah where the quotation does not begin immediately after “said” (אָמַר, ’amar), it is only the speaker or addressee or both that come between “said” and the start of the quotation (1:6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12; 4:4, 9, 10; cf. 1:1; 3:1).

[3:8]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “with strength”; KJV, NRSV “mightily”; NAB, NCV “loudly”; NIV “urgently.”

[3:8]  ⁴⁹ 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]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “his.” See the preceding note on “one.”

[3:8]  ⁵¹ 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]  ⁵² 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]  ⁵³ 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]  ⁵⁴ tn This introduces a second class (contrary to fact) condition in the Greek text.

[11:21]  ⁵⁵ tn Or “powerful deeds.”

[11:21]  ⁵⁶ map For location see Map1 A2; Map2 G2; Map4 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

[11:21]  ⁵⁷ 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!”

[26:65]  ⁵⁸ tn Grk “the high priest tore his clothes, saying.”

[26:65]  ⁵⁹ tn Grk “Behold now.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).

[14:14]  ⁶⁰ sn The apostles Barnabas and Paul. This is one of only two places where Luke calls Paul an apostle, and the description here is shared with Barnabas. This is a nontechnical use here, referring to a commissioned messenger.

[14:14]  ⁶¹ tn The participle ἀκούσαντες (akousante") is taken temporally.

[14:14]  ⁶² tn Grk “tearing their clothes they rushed out.” The participle διαρρήξαντες (diarrhxante") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style. This action is a Jewish response to blasphemy (m. Sanhedrin 7.5; Jdt 14:16-17).

[14:14]  ⁶³ tn So BDAG 307 s.v. ἐκπηδάω 1, “rush (lit. ‘leap’) out…εἰς τὸν ὄχλον into the crowd Ac 14:14.”

[14:14]  ⁶⁴ tn Grk “shouting and saying.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes, in v. 15) has not been translated because it is redundant.

[11:3]  ⁶⁵ tn The word “authority” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. “Power” would be another alternative that could be supplied here.