And it came to pass, when the king heard the words of the
woman, that he rent his clothes
At the horror of the fact reported, and through grief that his people were brought into such distress through famine:
and he passed by upon the wall;
returning to his palace:
and the people looked, and, behold, he had sackcloth upon his flesh;
which, in token of humiliation for averting the calamities he was under, he had put there before, and now was seen through the rending of his clothes.