The Lord God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, cursed are you above all the wild beasts and all the living creatures of the field! On your belly you will crawl and dust you will eat all the days of your life.

By the sweat of your brow you will eat food until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you will return."

And I will make your descendants like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone is able to count the dust of the earth, then your descendants also can be counted.

Then Abraham asked, "Since I have undertaken to speak to the Lord (although I am but dust and ashes),

Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west, east, north, and south. All the families of the earth will pronounce blessings on one another using your name and that of your descendants.

The Lord said to Moses, "Tell Aaron, 'Extend your staff and strike the dust of the ground, and it will become gnats throughout all the land of Egypt.'"

They did so; Aaron extended his hand with his staff, he struck the dust of the ground, and it became gnats on people and on animals. All the dust of the ground became gnats throughout all the land of Egypt.

It will become fine dust over the whole land of Egypt and will cause boils to break out and fester on both people and animals in all the land of Egypt."

Then the Lord said to Moses, "I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people will go out and gather the amount for each day, so that I may test them. Will they will walk in my law or not?

So the people contended with Moses, and they said, "Give us water to drink!" Moses said to them, "Why do you contend with me? Why do you test the Lord?"

Moses said to the people, "Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you so that you do not sin."

The priest will then take holy water in a pottery jar, and take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle, and put it into the water.

Who can count the dust of Jacob, Or number the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the upright, and let the end of my life be like theirs."

You must not put the Lord your God to the test as you did at Massah.

Remember the whole way by which he has brought you these forty years through the desert so that he might, by humbling you, test you to see if you have it within you to keep his commandments or not.

fed you in the desert with manna (which your ancestors had never before known) so that he might by humbling you test you and eventually bring good to you.

As for your sinful thing that you had made, the calf, I took it, melted it down, ground it up until it was as fine as dust, and tossed the dust into the stream that flows down the mountain.

The Lord will make the rain of your land powder and dust; it will come down on you from the sky until you are destroyed.

They will be starved by famine, eaten by plague, and bitterly stung; I will send the teeth of wild animals against them, along with the poison of creatures that crawl in the dust.

Joshua left those nations to test Israel. I wanted to see whether or not the people would carefully walk in the path marked out by the Lord, as their ancestors were careful to do."

These were the nations the Lord permitted to remain so he could use them to test Israel -- he wanted to test all those who had not experienced battle against the Canaanites.

They were left to test Israel, so the Lord would know if his people would obey the commands he gave their ancestors through Moses.

Gideon said to God, "Please do not get angry at me, when I ask for just one more sign. Please allow me one more test with the fleece. This time make only the fleece dry, while the ground around it is covered with dew."

He lifts the weak from the dust; he raises the poor from the ash heap to seat them with princes and to bestow on them an honored position. The foundations of the earth belong to the Lord, and he has placed the world on them.

When David's oldest brother Eliab heard him speaking to the men, he became angry with David and said, "Why have you come down here? To whom did you entrust those few sheep in the desert? I am familiar with your pride and deceit! You have come down here to watch the battle!"

I grind them as fine as the dust of the ground; I crush them and stomp on them like clay in the streets.

"I raised you up from the dust and made you ruler over my people Israel. Yet you followed in Jeroboam's footsteps and encouraged my people Israel to sin; their sins have made me angry.

Then you will invoke the name of your god, and I will invoke the name of the Lord. The god who responds with fire will demonstrate that he is the true God." All the people responded, "This will be a fair test."

Jehoahaz had no army left except for fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and 10,000 foot soldiers. The king of Syria had destroyed his troops and trampled on them like dust.

He removed the Asherah pole from the Lord's temple and took it outside Jerusalem to the Kidron Valley, where he burned it. He smashed it to dust and then threw the dust in the public graveyard.

The king tore down the altars the kings of Judah had set up on the roof of Ahaz's upper room, as well as the altars Manasseh had set up in the two courtyards of the Lord's temple. He crushed them up and threw the dust in the Kidron Valley.

He also tore down the altar in Bethel at the high place made by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who encouraged Israel to sin. He burned all the combustible items at that high place and crushed them to dust; including the Asherah pole.

Now, Lord God, may your promise to my father David be realized, for you have made me king over a great nation as numerous as the dust of the earth.

So when the envoys arrived from the Babylonian officials to visit him and inquire about the sign that occurred in the land, God left him alone to test him, in order to know his true motives.

He ordered the altars of the Baals to be torn down, and broke the incense altars that were above them. He smashed the Asherah poles, idols and images, crushed them up and sprinkled the dust over the tombs of those who had sacrificed to them.

and in the presence of his colleagues and the army of Samaria he said, "What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they be left to themselves? Will they again offer sacrifice? Will they finish this in a day? Can they bring these burnt stones to life again from piles of dust?"

On the twenty-fourth day of this same month the Israelites assembled; they were fasting and wearing sackcloth, their heads covered with dust.

But when they gazed intently from a distance but did not recognize him, they began to weep loudly. Each of them tore his robes, and they threw dust into the air over their heads.

how much more to those who live in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed like a moth?

For evil does not come up from the dust, nor does trouble spring up from the ground,

And why do you not pardon my transgression, and take away my iniquity? For now I will lie down in the dust, and you will seek me diligently, but I will be gone."

Remember that you have made me as with the clay; will you return me to dust?

Does not the ear test words, as the tongue tastes food?

I have sewed sackcloth on my skin, and buried my horn in the dust;

Will it go down to the barred gates of death? Will we descend together into the dust?"

His bones were full of his youthful vigor, but that vigor will lie down with him in the dust.

Together they lie down in the dust, and worms cover over them both.

and throw your gold in the dust -- your gold of Ophir among the rocks in the ravines --

my lips will not speak wickedness, and my tongue will whisper no deceit.

If he piles up silver like dust and stores up clothing like mounds of clay,

a place whose stones are sapphires and which contains dust of gold;

He has flung me into the mud, and I have come to resemble dust and ashes.

If I have walked in falsehood, and if my foot has hastened to deceit --

all flesh would perish together and human beings would return to dust.

when the dust hardens into a mass, and the clumps of earth stick together?

Hide them in the dust together, imprison them in the grave.

Therefore I despise myself, and I repent in dust and ashes!

may an enemy relentlessly chase me and catch me; may he trample me to death and leave me lying dishonored in the dust. (Selah)

I grind them as fine windblown dust; I beat them underfoot like clay in the streets.

The roof of my mouth is as dry as a piece of pottery; my tongue sticks to my gums. You set me in the dust of death.

Examine me, O Lord, and test me! Evaluate my inner thoughts and motives!

"What profit is there in taking my life, in my descending into the Pit? Can the dust of the grave praise you? Can it declare your loyalty?

How blessed is the one whose wrongdoing the Lord does not punish, in whose spirit there is no deceit.

Disaster is within it; violence and deceit do not depart from its public square.

They spend all their time planning how to bring him down. They love to use deceit; they pronounce blessings with their mouths, but inwardly they utter curses. (Selah)

Before him the coastlands will bow down, and his enemies will lick the dust.

He rained down meat on them like dust, birds as numerous as the sand on the seashores.

You make mankind return to the dust, and say, "Return, O people!"

Indeed, your servants take delight in her stones, and feel compassion for the dust of her ruins.

When you ignore them, they panic. When you take away their life's breath, they die and return to dust.

Remove me from the path of deceit! Graciously give me your law!

(Tsade) You are just, O Lord, and your judgments are fair.

I hate and despise deceit; I love your law.

Examine me, and probe my thoughts! Test me, and know my concerns!

before he made the earth and its fields, or the beginning of the dust of the world.

The faithful witness tells what is right, but a false witness speaks deceit.

Deceit is in the heart of those who plot evil, but those who promote peace have joy.

Bread gained by deceit tastes sweet to a person, but afterward his mouth will be filled with gravel.

The one who hates others disguises it with his lips, but he stores up deceit within him.

Though his hatred may be concealed by deceit, his evil will be uncovered in the assembly.

Both go to the same place, both come from the dust, and to dust both return.

and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the life's breath returns to God who gave it.

Therefore, as flaming fire devours straw, and dry grass disintegrates in the flames, so their root will rot, and their flower will blow away like dust. For they have rejected the law of the Lord who commands armies, they have spurned the commands of the Holy One of Israel.

But Ahaz responded, "I don't want to ask; I don't want to put the Lord to a test."

along with the plants by the mouth of the river. All the cultivated land near the river will turn to dust and be blown away.

Indeed, the Lord knocks down those who live in a high place, he brings down an elevated town; he brings it down to the ground, he throws it down to the dust.

You will fall; while lying on the ground you will speak; from the dust where you lie, your words will be heard. Your voice will sound like a spirit speaking from the underworld; from the dust you will chirp as if muttering an incantation.

But the horde of invaders will be like fine dust, the horde of tyrants like chaff that is blown away. It will happen suddenly, in a flash.

Look, the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales. He lifts the coastlands as if they were dust.

Who stirs up this one from the east? Who officially commissions him for service? He hands nations over to him, and enables him to subdue kings. He makes them like dust with his sword, like windblown straw with his bow.

Like a cage filled with the birds that have been caught, their houses are filled with the gains of their fraud and deceit. That is how they have gotten so rich and powerful.

"That is because, from the least important to the most important of them, all of them are greedy for dishonest gain. Prophets and priests alike, all of them practice deceit.

The Lord said to me, "I have made you like a metal assayer to test my people like ore. You are to observe them and evaluate how they behave."

So I will give their wives to other men and their fields to new owners. For from the least important to the most important of them, all of them are greedy for dishonest gain. Prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit.

Therefore the Lord who rules over all says, "I will now purify them in the fires of affliction and test them. The wickedness of my dear people has left me no choice. What else can I do?

But you, Lord, know all about me. You watch me and test my devotion to you. Drag these wicked men away like sheep to be slaughtered! Appoint a time when they will be killed!

I will scatter them before their enemies like dust blowing in front of a burning east wind. I will turn my back on them and not look favorably on them when disaster strikes them."

O Lord who rules over all, you test and prove the righteous. You see into people's hearts and minds. Pay them back for what they have done because I trust you to vindicate my cause.

Wail and cry out in anguish, you rulers! Roll in the dust, you who shepherd flocks of people! The time for you to be slaughtered has come. You will lie scattered and fallen like broken pieces of fine pottery.

(Tsade) The Lord is right to judge me! Yes, I rebelled against his commands. Please listen, all you nations, and look at my suffering! My young women and men have gone into exile.