³ tn Heb “they have girded themselves with sackcloth.”

¹ tn Heb “and put sackcloth on his loins.”

³ tn Or “like hairy sackcloth” (L&N 8.13).

² tn Heb “I will place sackcloth on all waists.”

² sn Mourners wore sackcloth (funeral clothes) as an outward expression of grief.

³ sn Along with putting dirt on one’s head, wearing sackcloth was a sign of mourning.

¹ tn Heb “for baldness and the wearing of sackcloth.” See the note at 15:2.

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

¹ tn Heb “and David and the elders, covered with sackcloth, fell on their faces.”

¹ tn Heb “the people saw, and look, [there was] sackcloth against his skin underneath.”

¹ tn Heb “as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth.” Sackcloth was worn by mourners. When the psalmist’s enemies were sick, he was sorry for their misfortune and mourned for them.

³ sn When lamenting, ancient Israelites would fast, wear sackcloth, and put ashes on their heads to show their sorrow and contrition.

¹ tc The Old Greek translation includes the following words here: “he tore his garments and put on sackcloth. After these things.”

⁶ sn To clothe oneself in sackcloth and ashes was a public sign of mourning or lament, in this case for past behavior and associated with repentance.

⁶ sn To clothe oneself in sackcloth and ashes was a public sign of mourning or lament, in this case for past behavior and associated with repentance.

¹ tn Heb “put on.” There is no object present in the Hebrew text, but many translations assume “sackcloth” to be the understood object of the verb “put on.” Its absence in the Hebrew text of v. 13 is probably due to metrical considerations. The meter here is 3 + 3, and that has probably influenced the prophet’s choice of words.

¹ tn Heb “upon every loin [there is] sackcloth.” The word “all” is restored here before “loin,” in agreement with a number of Hebrew mss and a number of versions. The words “in mourning” and “to show their sorrow” are not in the text. They have been supplied in the translation to give the average reader some idea of the significance of these acts.

¹ sn The language is hyperbolic; Job is saying that the sackcloth he has put on in his lamentable state is now stuck to his skin as if he had stitched it into the skin. It is now a habitual garment that he never takes off.

³ sn Sackcloth was worn as a sign of sorrow and repentance. The precise significance of the ropes on the head is uncertain, but it probably was a sign of submission. These actions were comparable to raising a white flag on the battlefield or throwing in the towel in a boxing match.

² 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.