Then he sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the household, with 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 blackness, And make sackcloth their covering.”

Is it a fast like this that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it for bowing one’s head like a reed And for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed? Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to the Lord?

For this, put on sackcloth, Mourn and wail; For the fierce anger of the Lord Has not turned away from us.”

Daughter of my people, put on sackcloth And roll in ashes; Mourn as for an only son, A most bitter mourning. For suddenly the destroyer Will come against us.

For every head is shaved bald, and every beard cut short; there are gashes on all the hands, and sackcloth around the waists.

“Wail, Heshbon, for Ai has been destroyed! Cry out, daughters of Rabbah, Put on sackcloth and mourn, And move about inside the walls; For Malcam will go into exile Together with his priests and his leaders.

The elders of the daughter of Zion Sit on the ground and are silent. They have thrown dust on their heads; They have put on sackcloth. The virgins of Jerusalem Have bowed their heads to the ground.

They will put on sackcloth and shuddering will overwhelm them; and shame will be on all faces, and a bald patch on all their heads.

Also they will shave themselves bald for you And put on sackcloth; And they will weep for you in bitterness of soul With bitter mourning.

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

Wail like a virgin clothed with sackcloth For the groom of her youth.

Put on sackcloth And mourn, you priests; Wail, you ministers of the altar! Come, spend the night in sackcloth, You ministers of my God, For the grain offering and the drink offering Have been withheld from the house of your God.

Then I will turn your festivals into mourning, And all your songs into songs of mourning; And I will put sackcloth around everyone’s waist, And baldness on every head. And I will make it like a time of mourning for an only son, And the end of it will be like a bitter day.

Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them.

When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, removed his robe from himself, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat on the dust.

But every person and animal must be covered with sackcloth; and people are to call on God vehemently, and they are to turn, each one from his evil way, and from the violence which is in their hands.

“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that occurred in you had occurred in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that occurred in you had occurred in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.

The Sixth Seal: Terror

And I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became as 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 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”