ουαι 3759 INJ σοι 4671 P-2DS χωραζιν 5523 N-PRI ουαι 3759 INJ σοι 4671 P-2DS βηθσαιδα 966 N-PRI οτι 3754 CONJ ει 1487 COND εν 1722 PREP τυρω 5184 N-DSF και 2532 CONJ σιδωνι 4605 N-DSF εγενοντο 1096 5633 V-2ADI-3P αι 3588 T-NPF δυναμεις 1411 N-NPF αι 3588 T-NPF γενομεναι 1096 5637 V-2ADP-NPF εν 1722 PREP υμιν 5213 P-2DP παλαι 3819 ADV αν 302 PRT εν 1722 PREP σακκω 4526 N-DSM και 2532 CONJ σποδω 4700 N-DSM καθημεναι 2521 5740 V-PNP-NPF μετενοησαν 3340 5656 V-AAI-3P
Vincent's NT Word Studies
13. Mighty works. See on Matt. xi. 20.Sackcloth (sakkw). From the Hebrew sak: what is knotted together; net-shaped; coarsely woven. It was made of goats' or camels' hair (Apoc. vi. 12), and was a material similar to that upon which Paul wrought in tent-making. The same word in Hebrew is used to describe a grain-sack, and this coarse material of which it is made (Gen. xlii. 25; Josh. ix. 4). So the Greek sagh means a pack or baggage. The same root, according to some etymologists, appears in saghnh, a drag-net (see Matt. xiii. 47), and sagov, Latin sagum, a coarse, soldier's cloak. It was employed for the rough garments for mourners (Esther iv. 1; 1 Kings xxi. 27), in which latter passage the sackcloth is put next the flesh in token of extreme sorrow. Compare 2 Kings vi. 30; Job xvi. 15.
Ashes (spodw). As a sign of mourning. Defiling one's self with dead things, as ashes or dirt, as a sign of sorrow, was common among the Orientals and Greeks. Thus Homer describes Achilles on hearing of the death of Patroclus:
"Grasping in both hands The ashes of the hearth, he showered them o'er His head, and soiled with them his noble face."
Iliad, xviii. 28.
And Priam, mourning for Hector:
"In the midst the aged man Sat with a cloak wrapped round him, and much dust Strewn on his head and neck, which, when he rolled Upon the earth, he gathered with his hands."
Iliad, xxiv. 162-5.
See 1 Sam. iv. 12; 2 Sam. i. 2; xiii. 19; Job ii. 12; Ezek. xvii. 30; Apoc. xviii. 19. In Judith iv. 14, 15, in the mourning over the ravages of the Assyrians, the priests minister at the altar, girded with sackcloth, and with ashes on their mitres. Sir Gardner Wilkinson, describing a funeral at Thebes, says: "Men, women, and children, with the body exposed above the waist, throw dust on their heads, or cover their faces with mud" ("Modern Egypt and Thebes"). Stifling with ashes was a Persian mode of punishment. Compare Apocrypha, 2 Macc. xiii. 5-7. Herodotus relates that Nitocris, an Egyptian queen, after having drowned the murderers of her brother, threw herself into an apartment full of ashes, in order to escape the vengeance of their friends.
Robertson's NT Word Studies
10:13 {Would have repented} (an metenoesan). Conclusion (apodosis) of second-class condition, determined as unfulfilled. {Long ago} (palai). Implies a considerable ministry in these cities of which we are not told. Chorazin not mentioned save here and #Mt 11:21. Perhaps karazeh near Tell Hum (Capernaum). {Sitting in sackcloth and ashes} (en sakkwi kai spodoi kaqemenoi). Pictorial and graphic. The sakkos (sackcloth) was dark coarse cloth made of goat's hair and worn by repentants, mourners, suppliants. It is a Hebrew word, _sag_. The rough cloth was used for sacks or bags. To cover oneself with ashes was a mode of punishment as well as of voluntary humiliation.
