SACKCLOTH

The English word “sackcloth” is derived from the Hebrew saq, meaning a coarse cloth used in making sacks or bags such as those for containing grain. It was usually woven from goat’s hair of a dark color. (Rev. 6:12; Isa. 50:3) The same Hebrew word for “sackcloth” is used also to describe the bags made from it.—Gen. 42:25; Josh. 9:4.

It was the traditional garment of mourning, and we first read of its use when Jacob mourned over the supposed death of his son Joseph, girding sackcloth upon his hips. (Gen. 37:34; 2 Sam. 3:31) In some cases the mourners used it as a seat or to sleep on. (2 Sam. 21:10; Isa. 58:5; Joel 1:13) The servants of Ben-hadad, in pleading for the life of their king before Ahab, went with sackcloth on their loins and ropes on their heads. (1 Ki. 20:31, 32) It was worn next to the skin at times, with other clothing on top. (Job 16:15; Isa. 32:11; 1 Ki. 21:27; 2 Ki. 6:30), while in other cases it may possibly have been simply “girded on” over undergarments.—Ezek. 7:18; Joel 1:8.

As a result of Jonah’s preaching, the king of Nineveh issued a decree, not only that all the people of the city should follow his example of putting on sackcloth, but that even the ‘domestic animals’ should be covered with it.—Jonah 3:6-8.

The Hebrew prophets were occasionally wearers of sackcloth, in harmony with the warning messages and calls to repentance they were commissioned to deliver, or when praying with expressions of repentance in behalf of the people. (Isa. 20:2; Dan. 9:3; compare Revelation 11:3.) It was worn by the king and the people in times of great crisis or upon receiving calamitous news.—2 Ki. 19:1; Isa. 15:3; 22:12.