Nehemiah 9:1

in the twenty and fourth day of this month i. e. on the second day after the 8th day of the Feast of Tabernacles.

fasting Cf. Ezra 8:21; Ezra 10:6.

sackclothes R.V. sackcloth. The symbol of sorrow, often of the sorrow of penitence, as in Daniel 9:3; Jonah 3:5; Jonah 3:8; 1 Chronicles 21:16.

earth upon them For the sign of mourning, earth or dust upon the head, cf. 1 Samuel 4:12; 2 Samuel 1:2; 2 Samuel 15:32; Job 2:12.