Sackcloth and ashes are symbols of deep repentance, mourning, and humility before God. Sackcloth was a coarse, dark material, usually made of goat hair, worn in times of grief or penitence. Ashes were a sign of sorrow and mortality, often sprinkled on one’s head or sat in as an expression of deep anguish.
In Genesis 37:34, when Jacob believed Joseph was dead, he tore his clothes, put sackcloth on his waist, and mourned many days. It was a physical expression of inner sorrow. Likewise, Job 42:6 says, “Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes,” after Job encountered the majesty of God.
The people of Nineveh demonstrated true repentance in this way after Jonah’s warning. Jonah 3:6 records, “The king… arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes.” God saw their hearts, not merely their garments, and He relented from the judgment He had pronounced.
Even kings and prophets used this symbol. Daniel 9:3 says, “Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.” Daniel’s heart was broken over the sins of his people, and he humbled himself in intercession.
In the New Testament, the external use of sackcloth and ashes gives way to a deeper, spiritual call for genuine repentance of the heart. Jesus rebuked unrepentant cities in Matthew 11:21, saying, “If the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.”
True repentance is always inward first, but the use of sackcloth and ashes in Scripture reveals the seriousness with which sin and sorrow should be approached before a holy God.
