At that time the Lord announced through ¹  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 ²  and barefoot.

His advisers ¹  said to him, “Look, we have heard that the kings of the Israelite dynasty are kind. ²  Allow us to put sackcloth around our waists and ropes on our heads ³  and surrender ⁴  to the king of Israel. Maybe he will spare our lives.”

So they put sackcloth around their waists and ropes on their heads and went to the king of Israel. They said, “Your servant ¹  Ben Hadad says, ‘Please let me live!’” Ahab ²  replied, “Is he still alive? He is my brother.” ³ 

Is this really the kind of fasting I want? ¹  Do I want a day when people merely humble themselves, ²  bowing their heads like a reed and stretching out ³  on sackcloth and ashes? Is this really what you call a fast, a day that is pleasing to the Lord?

Wail, you people in Heshbon, because Ai in Ammon is destroyed. Cry out in anguish, you people in the villages surrounding ¹  Rabbah. Put on sackcloth and cry out in mourning. Run about covered with gashes. ²  For your god Milcom will go into exile along with his priests and officials. ³ 

I will turn your festivals into funerals, ¹  and all your songs into funeral dirges. I will make everyone wear funeral clothes ²  and cause every head to be shaved bald. ³  I will make you mourn as if you had lost your only son; ⁴  when it ends it will indeed have been a bitter day. ⁵ 

Also, anything they fall on ¹  when they die will become unclean – any wood vessel or garment or article of leather or sackcloth. Any such vessel with which work is done must be immersed in water ²  and will be unclean until the evening. Then it will become clean.