'Sackcloth' in the Bible

So Jacob tore his clothes [in grief], put on sackcloth and mourned many days for his son.

Then David said to Joab and to all the people with him, “Tear your clothes, put on sackcloth, and mourn before Abner.” And King David walked behind the bier.

Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it out for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest [in the spring] until [the autumn] rain fell on them; and she allowed neither the birds of the sky to rest on their bodies by day, nor the beasts of the field [to feed on them] by night.

But his servants said to him, “We have heard that the kings of the house (royal line) of Israel are merciful kings. Please let us put sackcloth around our loins and ropes on our necks [as symbols of submission], and go out to the king of Israel; perhaps he will spare your life.”

So they put sackcloth around their loins and ropes on their necks, and came to the king of Israel and said, “Your servant Ben-hadad says, ‘Please let me live.’” And Ahab asked, “Is he still alive? He is my brother.”

Now when Ahab heard these words [of Elijah], he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and fasted, and he lay in sackcloth and went about dejectedly (mourning).

When the king heard the woman’s words, he tore his clothes—now he was still walking along on the wall—and the people looked [at him], and he had on sackcloth underneath [his royal robe] next to his skin.

When king Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes and he covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house (temple) of the Lord.

Then he sent Eliakim who was in charge of his household, Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.

Then David raised his eyes and saw the angel of the Lord standing between earth and heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, covered in sackcloth, fell on their faces.

Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the Israelites assembled with fasting and in sackcloth and with dirt on their heads.

Now when Mordecai learned of everything that had been done, he tore his clothes [in mourning], and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the center of the city and cried out loudly and bitterly.

He went [only] as far as the king’s gate, because no one was to enter the king’s gate dressed in sackcloth.

In each and every province that the decree and law of the king reached, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing; and many lay on sackcloth and ashes.

When Esther’s maids and her eunuchs came and told her [what had happened], the queen was seized by great fear. She sent garments to clothe Mordecai so that he would remove his sackcloth, but he did not accept them.

“I have sewed sackcloth over my skin [as a sign of mourning]And have defiled my horn (symbol of strength) in the dust.

You have turned my mourning into dancing for me;You have taken off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,

But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth (mourning garment);I humbled my soul with fasting,And I prayed with my head bowed on my chest.

When I made sackcloth my clothing [as one in mourning],I became a byword [a mere object of scorn] to them.

Now it will come to pass that instead of the sweet fragrance of spices there will be [the stench of] rottenness;Instead of a belt, a rope;Instead of well-set hair, baldness;Instead of fine clothes, a robe of sackcloth;And branding [of captives by the scorching heat] instead of beauty.

In their streets they have wrapped themselves with sackcloth;On their [flat] housetops and in their open squaresEveryone is wailing, dissolved in tears.

at that time the Lord spoke through Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, “Go, untie the sackcloth from your hips and take your sandals off your feet.” And he did so, walking around stripped [to his loincloth] and barefoot.

Therefore in that day the Lord God of hosts called you to weeping, to mourning,To shaving the head and to wearing sackcloth [in humiliation].

Tremble, you women who are carefree;Tremble with fear, you complacent ones!Strip, undress and wear sackcloth on your waist [in grief],

And when King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord.

Then he sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the [royal] household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz.

“I clothe the heavens with the blackness [of storm clouds]And make sackcloth [of mourning] their clothing.”

“Is a fast such as this what I have chosen, a day for a man to humble himself [with sorrow in his soul]?Is it only to bow down his head like a reedAnd to make sackcloth and ashes as a bed [pretending to have a repentant heart]?Do you call this a fast and a day pleasing to the Lord?

“For this reason, put on sackcloth [for mourning],Lament (mourn with expressions of grief for the dead) and wail,For the fierce anger of the LordHas not turned back from us.”

O daughter of my people [says Jeremiah],Clothe yourself in sackcloth and wallow in ashes;Mourn [aloud] as for an only son,A most bitter cry [of sorrow and regret],For suddenly the destroyer will come upon us [on both prophet and people].

For every head is [shaven] bald and every beard cut off; there are cuts (slashes) on all the hands and sackcloth on the loins [all expressions of mourning].

“Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai [in Ammon] has been destroyed!Cry out, O daughters of Rabbah!Wrap yourselves with sackcloth and lament (cry out in grief),And rush back and forth inside the enclosures;For Malcam [your powerless god] will go into exileTogether with his priests and his princes.

The elders of the Daughter of ZionSit on the ground keeping silent;They have thrown dust on their heads,They have covered themselves with sackcloth.The virgins of JerusalemHave bowed their heads to the ground.

They will also cover themselves with sackcloth; horror will overwhelm them, and shame will be on all faces and baldness on all their heads [as evidence of grief].

“And they will make themselves [completely] bald for youAnd wrap themselves in sackcloth;And in bitterness of soul they will weep for youWith bitter mourning and wailing.

So I directed my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes.

Wail like a virgin [bride] clothed with sackclothFor the bridegroom of her youth [who has died].

Clothe yourselves with sackclothAnd lament (cry out in grief), O priests;Wail, O ministers of the altar!Come, spend the night in sackcloth [and pray without ceasing],O ministers of my God,For the grain offering and the drink offeringAre withheld from the house of your God.

“And I shall turn your festivals and feasts into mourningAnd all your songs into dirges (funeral poems to be sung);And I shall cause sackcloth to be put on everyone’s loinsAnd baldness on every head [shaved for mourning].And I shall make that time like a time of mourning for an only son [who has died],And the end of it shall be like a bitter day.

The people of Nineveh believed and trusted in God; and they proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth [in penitent mourning], from the greatest even to the least of them.

When word reached the king of Nineveh [of Jonah’s message from God], he rose from his throne, took off his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in the dust [in repentance].

But both man and animal must be covered with sackcloth; and every one is to call on God earnestly and forcefully that each may turn from his wicked way and from the violence that is in his hands.

“Woe (judgment is coming) to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon [cities of the Gentiles], they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes [their hearts would have been changed and they would have expressed sorrow for their sin and rebellion against God].

“Woe (judgment is coming) to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented and changed their minds long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes [to show deep regret for sin].

I looked when He (the Lamb) broke open the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth [made] of hair, and the whole moon became like blood;

And I will grant authority to My two witnesses, and they will prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days (forty-two months; three and one-half years), dressed in sackcloth.”