And he passed. — Now he was passing. The people in the streets below would see him well as he passed along the rampart.
Looked. — Saw.
He had sackcloth. — Rather, the sackcloth was. “The sackcloth” — i.e., the well-known garb of penitence and woe (1 Kings 21:27). Jehoram had secretly assumed this ascetic garment in order to appease the wrath of Jehovah. That the king should wear sackcloth was a portent in the eyes of his subjects. The prophets wore it over the tunic as an official dress.
Within. — Under his royal robes, “upon his flesh” — i.e., next the skin. (Comp. Isaiah 20:2-3.)