Isaiah 3:24

3:24 A putrid stench will replace the smell of spices, ¹ 

a rope will replace a belt,

baldness will replace braided locks of hair,

a sackcloth garment will replace a fine robe,

and a prisoner’s brand will replace beauty.

Isaiah 20:2

20:2 At that time the Lord announced through ²  Isaiah son of Amoz: “Go, remove the sackcloth from your waist and take your sandals off your feet.” He did as instructed and walked around in undergarments ³  and barefoot.

Isaiah 37:2

37:2 Eliakim the palace supervisor, Shebna the scribe, and the leading priests, ⁴  clothed in sackcloth, sent this message to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz:

Isaiah 58:5

58:5 Is this really the kind of fasting I want? ⁵ 

Do I want a day when people merely humble themselves, ⁶ 

bowing their heads like a reed

and stretching out ⁷  on sackcloth and ashes?

Is this really what you call a fast,

a day that is pleasing to the Lord?

[3:24]  ¹ tn Heb “and it will be in place of spices there will be a stench.” The nouns for “spices” and “stench” are right next to each other in the MT for emphatic contrast. The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[20:2]  ² tn Heb “spoke by the hand of.”

[20:2]  ³ tn The word used here (עָרוֹם, ’arom) sometimes means “naked,” but here it appears to mean simply “lightly dressed,” i.e., stripped to one’s undergarments. See HALOT 883 s.v. עָרוֹם. The term also occurs in vv. 3, 4.

[37:2]  ³ tn Heb “elders of the priests” (so KJV, NAB, NASB); NCV “the older priests”; NRSV, TEV, CEV “the senior priests.”

[58:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “choose” (so NASB, NRSV); NAB “wish.”

[58:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “a day when man humbles himself.” The words “Do I want” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[58:5]  ⁶ tn Or “making [their] bed.”