שַׂק
sak · sackcloth, sack
Hebrew word · Strong’s number H8242 · appears 48 times in the Bible
What is the Strong number?
Strong’s number identifies this word: use it to find the same word in other study tools.What it means
sak (שַׂק) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “sackcloth, sack”.
Coarse cloth of goats' hair, worn in times of mourning or repentance; also a sack.
How to say it
sak
Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.
Its senses in the Bible
- Rough cloth worn in mourning.
- A large cloth bag for carrying grain or other loads.
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)
Word study
Sackcloth, sack: a coarse cloth, and the bag made from it. Wearing this cloth was a sign of mourning or humiliation.
- Putting on sackcloth in mourning Genesis 37:342 Samuel 3:31Esther 4:1
- Sackcloth in humiliation before YHWH 1 Kings 21:272 Kings 19:1Jonah 3:5
- “You have loosed my sackcloth” Psalms 30:11
- The grain sack Genesis 42:25Genesis 42:35Leviticus 11:32
Historical and cultural background
Sackcloth went with other signs of mourning, depending on the case: Jacob tore his garments and put on sackcloth for Joseph (Genesis 37:34); Mordecai tore his garments and put on sackcloth and ashes on learning of the decree (Esther 4:1); the people of Nineveh proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, and their king sat in the ashes (Jonah 3:5-8).
How we translate it
The rendering distinguishes the use: when it is a bag, “sack” (4) or “sacks” (2); when it is a garment of mourning, “sackcloth” (42).
How it is translated
The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.
- sackcloth ×42
- sack ×4
- sacks ×2
Related words
Comes from
Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.
Where it appears
- Genesis×5
- Leviticus×1
- Joshua×1
- 2 Samuel×2
- 1 Kings×4
- 2 Kings×3
- 1 Chronicles×1
- Nehemiah×1
- Esther×4
- Job×1
- Psalms×3
- Isaiah×8
- Jeremiah×4
- Lamentations×1
- Ezekiel×2
- Daniel×1
- Joel×2
- Amos×1
- Jonah×3
- Genesis 37:34
Jacob tore his garments, put sackcloth on his loins, and mourned for his son many days.
- Genesis 42:25
Joseph gave orders to fill their containers with grain, and to return their silver, each into his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. And so it was done for them.
- Genesis 42:27
One of them opened his sack to give fodder to his donkey at the lodging place, and he saw his silver, and look, it was in the mouth of his bag.
- Genesis 42:35
As they were emptying their sacks, look, each man’s bundle of silver was in his sack. When they and their father saw their bundles of silver, they were afraid.
- Leviticus 11:32
And anything on which any of them falls when they are dead will be unclean, whether any article of wood or garment or skin or sack, any article with which work is done; it shall be put into water, and it will be unclean until the evening; then it will be clean.
- Joshua 9:4
and they too acted with cunning: they went and posed as envoys, and took worn-out sacks for their donkeys, and wineskins worn-out, torn, and mended,
- 2 Samuel 3:31
David said to Joab and to all the people who were with him, “Tear your clothes, gird on sackcloth, and lament before Abner.” And King David walked behind the bed.
- 2 Samuel 21:10
Rizpah daughter of Aiah took the sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water poured on them from the heavens; and she did not allow the birds of the heavens to settle on them by day, or the animals of the field by night.
- 1 Kings 20:31
His servants said to him, “Look, please, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are kings of loyal love. Let us put, please, sackcloth on our waists and ropes on our heads, and let us go out to the king of Israel; perhaps he will spare your life.”
- 1 Kings 20:32
They girded sackcloth on their waists and ropes on their heads, and came to the king of Israel and said, “Your servant Ben-hadad says, ‘Please, let my soul live.’” He said, “Is he still alive? He is my brother.”
- 1 Kings 21:27
And it happened, when Ahab heard these words, that he tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his flesh and fasted; and he lay in the sackcloth and went about slowly.
- 2 Kings 6:30
And it happened, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he tore his clothes, and he was passing by on the wall, and the people saw, and there was the sackcloth on his flesh underneath.
- 2 Kings 19:1
And it happened, when King Hezekiah heard it, that he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of YHWH.
- 2 Kings 19:2
He sent Eliakim, who was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, son of Amoz.
- 1 Chronicles 21:16
David lifted his eyes and saw the angel of YHWH standing between the earth and the heavens, with his sword drawn in his hand, stretched out over Jerusalem. David and the elders, covered in sackcloth, fell on their faces.
- Nehemiah 9:1
And on the twenty-fourth day of this month the sons of Israel gathered with fasting and in sackcloth and with earth on them.
- Esther 4:1
And Mordecai knew all that had been done, and Mordecai tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and cried out with a great and bitter cry;
- Esther 4:2
and he came as far as the front of the king’s gate, for no one could enter the gate of the king in clothing of sackcloth.
- Esther 4:3
And in every province, in the place where the word of the king and his law reached, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting and weeping and lamenting; sackcloth and ashes were spread out for many.
- Esther 4:4
And Esther’s young women and her eunuchs came and made it known to her, and the queen was greatly shaken; and she sent clothes to clothe Mordecai, and to remove his sackcloth from him, but he did not accept them.
- Job 16:15
Sackcloth I have sewn on my skin, and thrust my horn into the dust.
- Psalms 30:11
You have turned my mourning into dancing for me; you have loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness,
- Psalms 35:13
But I, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth; I afflicted with fasting my soul, and my prayer to my bosom would return.
- Psalms 69:11
And I made sackcloth my clothing, and I became to them a byword.
- Isaiah 3:24
And it will happen that instead of balsam there will be rot, and instead of a belt, a rope; and instead of the work of hairdressing, baldness; and instead of a rich robe, a binding of sackcloth; a burn instead of beauty.
- Isaiah 15:3
In its streets they gird themselves with sackcloth; on its rooftops and in its squares all of it wails, going down in weeping.
- Isaiah 20:2
at that time YHWH spoke through Isaiah son of Amoz, saying, “Go, and loosen the sackcloth from your loins, and take off your sandals from your feet.” And he did so, walking naked and barefoot.
- Isaiah 22:12
And Adonai YHWH Tsevaot called on that day to weeping and to lamentation and to baldness and to girding on sackcloth.
- Isaiah 37:1
And it happened, when King Hezekiah heard it, that he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of YHWH.
- Isaiah 37:2
He sent Eliakim, who was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah son of Amoz, the prophet.
- Isaiah 50:3
I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering.”
- Isaiah 58:5
Will the fast that I choose be like this: a day for a human being to humble his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast and a day of favor to YHWH?
- Jeremiah 4:8
For this gird yourselves with sackcloth, lament and wail, for the burning anger of YHWH has not turned back from us.
- Jeremiah 6:26
Daughter of my people, gird yourself with sackcloth, and roll in ashes; make mourning as for an only son, most bitter lamentation, for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us.
- Jeremiah 48:37
For every head is baldness, and every beard shaved off; on all hands gashes, and on the loins sackcloth.
- Jeremiah 49:3
Wail, Heshbon, for Ai is devastated! Cry out, daughters of Rabbah! Gird on sackcloth, lament, and run to and fro among the enclosures; for their king will go into exile, his priests and his princes together.
- Lamentations 2:10
They sit on the ground, they are silent, the elders of the daughter of Zion; they have thrown up dust on their heads; they have girded themselves with sackcloth; they have bowed to the ground their heads, the virgins of Jerusalem.
- Ezekiel 7:18
And they will gird on sackcloth, and shuddering will cover them; and on all faces will be shame, and on all their heads baldness.
- Ezekiel 27:31
And they will make themselves bald for you, and gird on sackcloth, and weep for you in bitterness of soul, with bitter lamentation.
- Daniel 9:3
And I set my face toward Adonai Elohim, to seek him by prayer and supplications, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.
And 8 more times.