Sackcloth

Passages on this topic

From Nave’s Topical Bible (1896), a historical reference index. The groupings are Nave’s; the verses are shown in the text used across this site.

A symbol of mourning

• 1 Kings 20:31–32 Then the servants of Ben-hadad said to him, “Look now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful. Let us go out to the king of Israel with sackcloth around our waists and ropes around our heads. Perhaps he will spare your life.” So with sackcloth around their waists and ropes…
• Job 16:15 I have sewn sackcloth over my skin; I have buried my horn in the dust.
• Isaiah 15:3 In its streets they wear sackcloth; on the rooftops and in the public squares they all wail, falling down weeping.
• Jeremiah 4:8 So put on sackcloth, mourn and wail, for the fierce anger of the LORD has not turned away from us.”
• Jeremiah 6:26 O daughter of my people, dress yourselves in sackcloth and roll in ashes. Mourn with bitter wailing, as you would for an only son, for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us.
• Jeremiah 49:3 Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai has been destroyed; cry out, O daughters of Rabbah! Put on sackcloth and mourn; run back and forth within your walls, for Milcom will go into exile together with his priests and officials.
• Lamentations 2:10 The elders of the Daughter of Zion sit on the ground in silence. They have thrown dust on their heads and put on sackcloth. The young women of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground.
• Ezekiel 7:18 They will put on sackcloth, and terror will overwhelm them. Shame will cover all their faces, and all their heads will be shaved.
• Daniel 9:3 So I turned my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and petition, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.
• Joel 1:8 Wail like a virgin dressed in sackcloth, grieving for the husband of her youth.

Worn by Jacob when it was reported to him that Joseph had been devoured by wild animals

• Genesis 37:34 Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth around his waist, and mourned for his son many days.

Animals covered with, at a time of national mourning

• Jonah 3:8 Furthermore, let both man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and have everyone call out earnestly to God. Let each one turn from his evil ways and from the violence in his hands.

See Mourning