Then Jacob rent his garments: see verse 29.

Put sackcloth upon his loins: sackcloth is a dark-colored coarse cloth made of goat or camel hair. It is worn next to the skin as a sign of mourning or distress. We may need to translate sackcloth in more general terms; for example, “he put on the clothes that people wear when they mourn for the dead.” If a footnote is required, we may say “At that time [or, in that part of the world] mourning clothes were pieces of coarse cloth made from goats’ hair and worn by people when they mourned for the dead.”

Mourned … many days: that is, “for a long time.” For comments on mourned see 23.2.

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .