then the Lord God formed [that is, created the body of] man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being [an individual complete in body and spirit].

The Lord God said to the serpent,

“Because you have done this,
You are cursed more than all the cattle,
And more than any animal of the field;
On your belly you shall go,
And dust you shall eat
All the days of your life.

“By the sweat of your face
You will eat bread
Until you return to the ground,
For from it you were taken;
For you are dust,
And to dust you shall return.”

I will make your descendants [as numerous] as the dust of the earth, so that if a man could count the [grains of] dust of the earth, then your descendants could also be counted.

Abraham answered, “Now behold, I who am but dust [in origin] and ashes have decided to speak to the Lord.

Isaac said, “Your brother came deceitfully and has [fraudulently] taken away your blessing [for himself].”

Your descendants shall be as [countless as] the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and the east and the north and the south; and all the families (nations) of the earth shall be blessed through you and your descendants.

In this way you shall be tested: by the life of Pharaoh, you shall not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here!

And the man, the lord of the country, said to us, ‘By this [test] I will know that you are honest men: leave one of your brothers here with me and take grain for your starving households and go.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the ground, and it will become [biting] gnats (lice) throughout the land of Egypt.’”

They did so; Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff and struck the dust of the earth, and there were [biting] gnats on man and animal. All the dust of the land became gnats through all the land of Egypt.

It will become fine dust over the entire land of Egypt, and it will become boils breaking out in sores on man and animal in all the land [occupied by the Egyptians].”

and you are to make two chains of pure gold like twisted cords, and fasten the corded chains to the settings.

So when any Israelite or any stranger living temporarily among them, catches any ceremonially clean animal or bird when hunting, he shall pour out its blood and cover it with earth.

and the priest shall take holy water [from the sacred basin] in an earthenware vessel; and he shall take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it in the water.

“Who can count the dust (the descendants) of Jacob
And the number of even the fourth part of Israel?
Let me die the death of the righteous [those who are upright and in right standing with God],
And let my end be like his!”

He fed you manna in the wilderness, [a substance] which your fathers did not know, so that He might humble you [by dependence on Him] and that He might test you, to do good [things] for you at the end.

I took your sinful thing, the calf which you had made, and burned it in the fire and thoroughly crushed it, grinding the metal thoroughly until it was as fine as dust; and I threw its dust into the brook that came down from the mountain.

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

‘They will be wasted by hunger, and consumed by plague
And a bitter destruction;
And I will send the teeth of beasts against them,
With the venom of crawling things of the dust.

Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell face downward on the ground before the ark of the Lord until evening, he and the elders of Israel; and [with great sorrow] they put dust on their heads.

Then the Lord said to Gideon, “There are still too many people; bring them down to the water and I will test them for you there. Therefore it shall be that he of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go with you; but everyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.”

“He raises up the poor from the dust,
He lifts up the needy from the ash heap
To make them sit with nobles,
And inherit a seat of honor and glory;
For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s,
And He set the land on them.

On the third day a man came [unexpectedly] from Saul’s camp with his clothes torn and dust on his head [as in mourning]. When he came to David, he bowed to the ground and lay himself face down [in an act of great respect and submission].

So David and his men went on the road; and Shimei went along on the hillside close beside David and cursed as he went and threw stones and dust at him.

“Then I beat them as [small as] the dust of the earth;
I crushed and stamped them as the mire (dirt, mud) of the streets.

“Because I exalted you [Baasha] from the dust and made you leader over My people Israel, and you walked in the way of Jeroboam and made My people Israel sin, provoking Me to anger with their sins [of idol worship],

Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood, and even the stones and the dust; it also licked up the water in the trench.

For he left to Jehoahaz [king of Israel] an army of no more than fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and 10,000 footmen, for the king of Aram (Ben-hadad) had destroyed them and made them like dust to be trampled.

Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash (Joash) the son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, “Come, let us face each other [in combat].”

Josiah brought out the Asherah from the house of the Lord to the Brook Kidron outside Jerusalem, and burned it there, and ground it to dust, and threw its dust on the graves of the common people [who had sacrificed to it].

The altars [dedicated to the starry host of heaven] which were on the roof, the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courtyards of the house of the Lord, the king tore down; and he smashed them there and threw their dust into the Brook Kidron.

Further, the altar that was at Bethel, the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, had made, even that altar and the high place he tore down. Then he demolished its stones, ground them to dust, and burned the Asherah.

Now, O Lord God, Your promise to my father David is fulfilled, for You have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth.

When the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to Jerusalem to test Solomon with riddles. She was accompanied by a very large number of attendants, with camels bearing spices (balsam oil) and a large amount of gold and precious stones. And when she came to Solomon, she talked with him about all that was on her mind.

They tore down the altars of the Baals in his presence; he cut to pieces the incense altars that were high above them; he also smashed the Asherim and the carved images and the cast images to pieces, and ground them to dust and scattered it on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.

When they looked from a distance and did not recognize him [because of his disfigurement], they raised their voices and wept; and each one tore his robe [in grief] and they threw dust over their heads toward the sky [in sorrow].

‘How much more [will He blame and charge] those who dwell in houses (bodies) of clay,
Whose foundations are in the dust,
Who are crushed like a moth.

“For affliction does not come forth from the dust,
Nor does trouble spring forth from the ground.

“My body is clothed with worms and a crust of dust;
My skin is hardened [and broken and loathsome], and [breaks out and] runs.

“Why then do You not pardon my transgression
And take away my sin and guilt?
For now I will lie down in the dust;
And You will seek me [diligently], but I will not be.”

“Behold, this is the joy of His way;
And from out of the dust others will spring up and grow [to take his place].

‘Remember now, that You have made me as clay;
So will You turn me into dust again?

“They conceive mischief and bring forth wickedness,
And their inmost soul prepares deceit and fraud.”

“I have sewed sackcloth over my skin [as a sign of mourning]
And have defiled my horn (symbol of strength) in the dust.

“Will my hope go down with me to Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead)?
Shall we go down together in the dust?”

“His bones are full of youthful strength
But it lies down with him in the dust.

“Together they lie down in the dust,
And the worms cover them.

And place your gold in the dust,
And the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks [considering it of little value],

My lips will not speak unjustly,
Nor will my tongue utter deceit.

“Though he heaps up silver like dust
And piles up clothing like clay,

“Its stones are the bed of sapphires;
It holds dust of gold.

“God has cast me into the mire [a swampland of crisis],
And I have become [worthless] like dust and ashes.

“If I have walked with falsehood,
Or if my foot has chased after deceit,

All flesh would perish together,
And man would return to dust.

When the dust hardens into a mass
And the clods stick together [because of the heat]?

For she leaves her eggs on the ground
And warms them in the dust,

“[Crush and] hide them in the dust together;
Shut them up in the hidden place [the house of death].

“Therefore I retract [my words and hate myself]
And I repent in dust and ashes.”

Let the enemy pursue me and overtake me;
And let him trample my life to the ground
And lay my honor in the dust. Selah.

His mouth is full of curses and deceit (fraud) and oppression;
Under his tongue is mischief and wickedness [injustice and sin].

The Lord is in His holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven.
His eyes see, His eyelids test the children of men.

Then I beat them fine as the dust before the wind;
I emptied them out as the dirt of the streets.

My strength is dried up like a fragment of clay pottery;
And my [dry] tongue clings to my jaws;
And You have laid me in the dust of death.

All the prosperous of the earth will eat and worship;
All those who go down to the dust (the dead) will bow before Him,
Even he who cannot keep his soul alive.

Examine me, O Lord, and try me;
Test my heart and my mind.

“What profit is there in my blood (death), if I go down to the pit (grave)?
Will the dust praise You? Will it declare Your faithfulness [to man]?

Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute wickedness,
And in whose spirit there is no deceit.

Keep your tongue from evil
And your lips from speaking deceit.

Those who seek my life lay snares for me,
And those who seek to injure me threaten mischievous things and destruction;
They devise treachery all the day long.

For our life has melted away into the dust;
Our body clings to the ground.

“You give your mouth to evil
And your tongue frames deceit.

All day long they twist my words and say hurtful things;
All their thoughts are against me for evil.

The nomads of the desert will bow before him,
And his enemies will lick the dust.

He rained meat upon them like the dust,
And winged birds (quail) like the sand of the seas.

O my God, make them like whirling dust,
Like chaff before the wind [worthless and without substance].

You turn man back to dust,
And say, “Return [to the earth], O children of [mortal] men!”

He who practices deceit will not dwell in my house;
He who tells lies and half-truths will not continue [to remain] in my presence.

For Your servants find [melancholy] pleasure in the stones [of her ruins]
And feel pity for her dust.

For He knows our [mortal] frame;
He remembers that we are [merely] dust.

You hide Your face, they are dismayed;
You take away their breath, they die
And return to their dust.

For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me;
They have spoken against me with a lying tongue.

He raises the poor out of the dust
And lifts the needy from the ash heap,

Daleth.
My earthly life clings to the dust;
Revive and refresh me according to Your word.

Whose mouths speak deceit [without restraint],
And whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.

Set me free and rescue me from the hand of [hostile] foreigners,
Whose mouth speaks deceit [without restraint],
And whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.

While He had not yet made the earth and the fields,
Or the first of the dust of the earth.

He who speaks truth [when he testifies] tells what is right,
But a false witness utters deceit [in court].

Deceit is in the heart of those who devise evil,
But counselors of peace have joy.

A righteous man hates lies,
But a wicked man is loathsome, and he acts shamefully.

Food gained by deceit is sweet to a man,
But afterward his mouth will be filled with gravel [just as sin may be sweet at first, but later its consequences bring despair].

He who hates, disguises it with his lips,
But he stores up deceit in his heart.

I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure and gratification; so enjoy yourself and have a good time.” But behold, this too was vanity (futility, meaninglessness).

All go to the same place. All came from the dust and all return to the dust.

then the dust [out of which God made man’s body] will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.

Go among the rocks and hide in the dust
From the terror of the Lord and from the splendor of His majesty.

Therefore, as the tongue of fire consumes the stubble [from straw]
And the dry grass collapses into the flame,
So their root will become like rot and their blossom blow away like fine dust;
Because they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts
And despised and discarded the word of the Holy One of Israel.

The nations roar on like the roaring of many waters,
But God will rebuke them and they will flee far away,
And be chased like chaff on the mountains before the wind,
Or like whirling dust before the storm.

Behold, the Lord lays waste to the earth, devastates it, twists and distorts its face and scatters its inhabitants.

The high fortifications of your walls He will bring down,
Lay low, and cast to the ground, to the dust.