Reference: Ashes
American
To repent in sackcloth and ashes, or to lie down among ashes, was an external sign of self-affliction for sin, or of grief under misfortune. We find it adopted by Job, Job 2:8; by many Jews when in great fear, Es 4:3; and by the king of Nineveh, Jon 3:6. The ashes of a red heifer were used in ceremonial purification, Nu 19.
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Throughout all the provinces, wherever the king's proclamation was made known, there was loud mourning among the Jews. They fasted, wept, wailed, and most of them put on sackcloth and lay in ashes.
Job took a piece of broken pottery to scratch his sores as he sat in the ashes.
The news reached the king of Nineveh. He left his throne, and took off his robe and covered himself with sackcloth. Then he sat in ashes.
Easton
The ashes of a red heifer burned entire (Nu 19:5) when sprinkled on the unclean made them ceremonially clean (Heb 9:13).
To cover the head with ashes was a token of self-abhorrence and humiliation (2Sa 13:19; Es 4:3; Jer 6:26, etc.).
To feed on ashes (Isa 44:20), means to seek that which will prove to be vain and unsatisfactory, and hence it denotes the unsatisfactory nature of idol-worship. (Comp. Ho 12:1).
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Then the entire cow, the skin, meat, blood, and excrement, will be burned while he watches.
Tamar tore the robe she was wearing. She put ashes on her head. Then she covered her face with her hands. She cried loudly as she walked away.
Throughout all the provinces, wherever the king's proclamation was made known, there was loud mourning among the Jews. They fasted, wept, wailed, and most of them put on sackcloth and lay in ashes.
They eat ashes because they are deceived. Their own misguided minds lead them astray. They cannot rescue themselves or ask themselves: Is what I hold in my right hand a false god?
O my people put on sackcloth and roll in ashes. Mourn as for an only son, a lamentation most bitter. For suddenly the destroyer will come upon us.
The people of Ephraim try to catch the wind and try to chase the east wind all day. They are very dishonest, violent and destructive. They make treaties with Assyria and take olive oil to Egypt.
The blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes from the burning of a young cow, sprinkled on the unclean made them outwardly clean.
Fausets
Sitting down in, or covering one's self with, is the symbol of mourning (Job 2:8; 42:6; Es 4:1; Isa 61:3; Mt 11:21). To eat asides expresses figuratively mourning is one's food, i.e. one's perpetual portion (Ps 102:9). "He feedeth on ashes," i.e., tries to feed his soul with what is at once humiliating and unsatisfying, on an idol which ought to have been reduced to ashes, like the rest of the tree of which it is made (Isa 44:20). The ashes of a red heifer burnt entire (Numbers 19), when sprinkled upon, purified ceremonially the unclean (Heb 9:13) but defiled the clean person.
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When Mordecai learned what had been done, he tore his clothes in anguish. Then he dressed in sackcloth, covered his head with ashes, and walked through the city, wailing loudly and bitterly,
When Mordecai learned what had been done, he tore his clothes in anguish. Then he dressed in sackcloth, covered his head with ashes, and walked through the city, wailing loudly and bitterly,
Job took a piece of broken pottery to scratch his sores as he sat in the ashes.
Job took a piece of broken pottery to scratch his sores as he sat in the ashes.
Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.
Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.
For I have eaten ashes like bread and mingled my drink with weeping.
For I have eaten ashes like bread and mingled my drink with weeping.
They eat ashes because they are deceived. Their own misguided minds lead them astray. They cannot rescue themselves or ask themselves: Is what I hold in my right hand a false god?
They eat ashes because they are deceived. Their own misguided minds lead them astray. They cannot rescue themselves or ask themselves: Is what I hold in my right hand a false god?
to present a garland, instead of ashes, to those who mourn in Zion, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and the mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. They will be called oaks of righteousness. They are the planting of Jehovah, that he may be glorified.
to present a garland, instead of ashes, to those who mourn in Zion, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and the mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. They will be called oaks of righteousness. They are the planting of Jehovah, that he may be glorified.
Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon that were done in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon that were done in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
The blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes from the burning of a young cow, sprinkled on the unclean made them outwardly clean.
The blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes from the burning of a young cow, sprinkled on the unclean made them outwardly clean.
Hastings
Ashes on the head formed one of the ordinary tokens of mourning for the dead (see Mourning Customs as of private (2Sa 13:19) and national humiliation (Ne 9:1,1Ma 3:47). The penitent and the afflicted might also sit (Job 2:8; Jon 3:6) or even wallow in ashes (Jer 6:25; Eze 27:30). In 1Ki 20:38,41 we must, with RV, read 'Headband' (wh. see) for 'ashes.'
In a figurative sense the term 'ashes' is often used to signify evanescence, worthlessness, insignificance (Ge 18:27; Job 30:19). 'Proverbs of ashes' (Pr 13:12 RV) is Job's equivalent for the modern 'rot.' For the use of ashes in the priestly ritual see Red Heifer.
A. R. S. Kennedy.
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Then Abraham answered and said: Indeed now, I who am only dust and ashes have taken it upon myself to speak to Jehovah:
Tamar tore the robe she was wearing. She put ashes on her head. Then she covered her face with her hands. She cried loudly as she walked away.
So the prophet went away, and pulling his headband over his eyes to keep his face covered. He took his place by the road waiting for the king.
He quickly took the headband from his eyes. The king of Israel saw that he was one of the prophets.
Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel came together, taking no food and putting sackcloth and dust on their bodies.
Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel came together, taking no food and putting sackcloth and dust on their bodies.
Job took a piece of broken pottery to scratch his sores as he sat in the ashes.
God has cast me into the mire. I have become like dust and ashes.
Expectation deferred makes the heart sick. When the desire comes, it is a tree of life.
Do not go out into the field. Do not walk on the road. The enemy has a sword and terror is on every side.
And they will make their voice heard over you and will cry bitterly. They will cast dust on their heads and wallow in ashes.
The news reached the king of Nineveh. He left his throne, and took off his robe and covered himself with sackcloth. Then he sat in ashes.
Morish
Ashes, mostly from burnt wood, were used as a sign of sorrow or mourning, either put on the head, 2Sa 13:19, or on the body with sackcloth, Es 4:1; Jer 6:26; La 3:16; Mt 11:21; Lu 10:13; or strewn on a couch on which to lie, Es 4:3; Isa 58:5; Jon 3:6. To eat ashes expresses great sorrow, Ps 102:9; and to be reduced to them is a figure of complete destruction, Eze 28:18; Mal 4:3; to feed on them tells of the vanities with which the soul may be occupied. Isa 44:20. 'Dust and ashes' was the figure Abraham used of himself before Jehovah, Ge 18:27; and Job said he had become like them by the hand of God. Job 30:19. For the ashes of the Red Heifer see HEIFER.
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Then Abraham answered and said: Indeed now, I who am only dust and ashes have taken it upon myself to speak to Jehovah:
Tamar tore the robe she was wearing. She put ashes on her head. Then she covered her face with her hands. She cried loudly as she walked away.
When Mordecai learned what had been done, he tore his clothes in anguish. Then he dressed in sackcloth, covered his head with ashes, and walked through the city, wailing loudly and bitterly,
Throughout all the provinces, wherever the king's proclamation was made known, there was loud mourning among the Jews. They fasted, wept, wailed, and most of them put on sackcloth and lay in ashes.
God has cast me into the mire. I have become like dust and ashes.
For I have eaten ashes like bread and mingled my drink with weeping.
They eat ashes because they are deceived. Their own misguided minds lead them astray. They cannot rescue themselves or ask themselves: Is what I hold in my right hand a false god?
Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to humble himself? Is it for bowing one's head like a reed (rush) and for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed? Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to Jehovah?
O my people put on sackcloth and roll in ashes. Mourn as for an only son, a lamentation most bitter. For suddenly the destroyer will come upon us.
He broke my teeth with crushed stones. I am bent low in the dust.
By the multitude of your iniquities, in the unrighteousness of your trade you profaned your sanctuaries. Therefore I have brought fire from the midst of you. It has consumed you. I have turned you to ashes on the earth in the eyes of all who see you.
The news reached the king of Nineveh. He left his throne, and took off his robe and covered himself with sackcloth. Then he sat in ashes.
When I act you will tread down the wicked. They will be like dust under your feet, Jehovah of Hosts said.
Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon that were done in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
Woe to you Chorazin! Woe to you Bethsaida! If the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, which were done in you, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.
Smith
Ashes.
The ashes on the altar of burnt offering were gathered into a cavity in its surface. The ashes of a red heifer burnt entire, according to regulations prescribed in Numb. 19, had the ceremonial efficacy of purifying the unclean,
but of polluting the clean. [SACRIFICE]
See Sacrifice
Ashes about the person, especially on the head, were used as a sign of sorrow. [MOURNING]
See Mourning
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The blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes from the burning of a young cow, sprinkled on the unclean made them outwardly clean.
Watsons
ASHES. Several religious ceremonies, and some symbolical ones, anciently depended upon the use of ashes. To repent in sackcloth and ashes, or, as an external sign of self-affliction for sin, or of suffering under some misfortune, to sit in ashes, are expressions common in Scripture. "I am but dust and ashes," exclaims Abraham before the Lord, Ge 18:27; indicating a deep sense of his own meanness in comparison with God. God threatens to shower down dust and ashes on the lands instead of rain, De 28:24; thereby to make them barren instead of blessing them, to dry them up instead of watering them. Tamar, after the injury she had received from Amnon, covered her head with ashes, 2Sa 13:19. The Psalmist, in great sorrow, says poetically, he had "eaten ashes as it were bread, Ps 102:9; that is, he sat on ashes, he threw ashes on his head; and his food, his bread, was sprinkled with the ashes wherewith he was himself covered. So Jeremiah introduces Jerusalem saying, "The Lord hath covered me with ashes," La 3:16. Sitting on ashes, or lying down among ashes, was a token of extreme grief. We find it adopted by Job 2:8; by many Jews when in great fear, Es 4:3; and by the king of Nineveh, Jon 3:6. He arose from his throne, laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. This token of affliction is illustrated by Homer's description of old Laertes. grieving for the absence of his son, "Sleeping in the apartment where the slaves slept, in the ashes, near the fire." Compare Jer 6:26, "Daughter of my people, wallow thyself in ashes." There was a sort of ley and lustral water, made with the ashes of the heifer sacrificed on the great, day of expiation; these ashes, were distributed to the people, and used in purifications, by sprinkling, to such as had touched a dead body, or had been present at funerals, Nu 19:17.
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Then Abraham answered and said: Indeed now, I who am only dust and ashes have taken it upon myself to speak to Jehovah:
Do this for people who become unclean from touching a dead body. Put some of the ashes from the red cow that was burned as an offering for sin into a container. Then pour fresh water on them.
Jehovah will send dust storms and sandstorms on you from the sky until you are destroyed.
Tamar tore the robe she was wearing. She put ashes on her head. Then she covered her face with her hands. She cried loudly as she walked away.
Throughout all the provinces, wherever the king's proclamation was made known, there was loud mourning among the Jews. They fasted, wept, wailed, and most of them put on sackcloth and lay in ashes.
Job took a piece of broken pottery to scratch his sores as he sat in the ashes.
For I have eaten ashes like bread and mingled my drink with weeping.
O my people put on sackcloth and roll in ashes. Mourn as for an only son, a lamentation most bitter. For suddenly the destroyer will come upon us.
He broke my teeth with crushed stones. I am bent low in the dust.
The news reached the king of Nineveh. He left his throne, and took off his robe and covered himself with sackcloth. Then he sat in ashes.