Topical Bible: Ashes

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Smith's Bible Dictionary

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, (Hebrews 9:13) but of polluting the clean. [SACRIFICE] Ashes about the person, especially on the head, were used as a sign of sorrow. [MOURNING]

ATS Bible Dictionary

Ashes

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, Esther 4:3; and by the king of Nineveh, Jonah 3:6. The ashes of a red heifer were used in ceremonial purification, Numbers 19:1-22.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

The ashes of a red heifer burned entire (Numbers 19:5) when sprinkled on the unclean made them ceremonially clean (Hebrews 9:13).

To cover the head with ashes was a token of self-abhorrence and humiliation (2 Samuel 13:19; Esther 4:3; Jeremiah 6:26, etc.).

To feed on ashes (Isaiah 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. Hosea 12:1).

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

1. (n. pl.) The earthy or mineral particles of combustible substances remaining after combustion, as of wood or coal.

2. (n. pl.) Specifically: The remains of the human body when burnt, or when returned to dust by natural decay.

3. (n. pl.) The color of ashes; deathlike paleness.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

ASHES

ash'-iz: Among the ancient Hebrews and other Orientals, to sprinkle with or sit in ashes was a mark or token of grief, humiliation, or penitence. Ashes on the head was one of the ordinary signs of mourning for the dead, as when "Tamar put ashes on her head. and went on crying" (2 Samuel 13:19 the King James Version), and of national humiliation, as when the children of Israel were assembled under Nehemiah "with fasting, and with sackcloth, and earth (ashes) upon them" (Nehemiah 9:1), and when the people of Nineveh repented in sackcloth and ashes at the preaching of Jonah (Jonah 3:5, 6; compare 1 Maccabees 3:47). The afflicted or penitent often sat in ashes (compare Job 2:8; Job 42:6: "I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes"), or even wallowed in ashes, as Jeremiah exhorted sinning Israel to do: "O daughter of my people. wallow thyself in ashes" (Jeremiah 6:26), or as Ezekiel in his lamentation for Tyre pictures her mariners as doing, crying bitterly and `casting up dust upon their heads' and `wallowing themselves in the ashes' (in their weeping for her whose head was lifted up and become corrupted because of her beauty), "in bitterness of soul with bitter mourning" (Ezekiel 27:30, 31). However, these and various other modes of expressing grief, repentance, and humiliation among the Hebrews, such as rending the garments, tearing the hair and the like, were not of Divine appointment, but were simply the natural outbursts of the impassioned oriental temperament, and are still customary among eastern peoples.

Figurative: The term "ashes" is often used to signify worthlessness, insignificance or evanescence (Genesis 18:27 Job 30:19). "Proverbs of ashes," for instance, in Job 13:12, is Job's equivalent, says one writer, for our modern "rot." For the ritual use of the ashes of the Red Heifer by the priests, see RED HEIFER.

George B. Eager

Greek

5077. tephroo -- to burn to ashes
... to burn to ashes. Part of Speech: Verb Transliteration: tephroo Phonetic Spelling:
(tef-ro'-o) Short Definition: I reduce to ashes Definition: I reduce to ashes ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/5077.htm - 6k

4700. spodos -- ashes
... spodos. 4701 . ashes. Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine Transliteration: spodos Phonetic
Spelling: (spod-os') Short Definition: ashes Definition: ashes. ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/4700.htm - 6k

Strong's Hebrew

665. epher -- ashes
... 664, 665. epher. 666 . ashes. Transliteration: epher Phonetic Spelling:
(ay'-fer) Short Definition: ashes. Word Origin from an unused ...
/hebrew/665.htm - 5k

1880. deshen -- fatness, ashes of fat
... 1879, 1880. deshen. 1881 . fatness, ashes of fat. Transliteration: deshen
Phonetic Spelling: (deh'-shen) Short Definition: ashes. ...
/hebrew/1880.htm - 6k

1878. dashen -- to be fat, grow fat
... 1), become greasy (1), become prosperous (1), find your acceptable (1), made fat
(1), prosper (1), prosperous (1), puts fat (1), removing its ashes (1), sated ...
/hebrew/1878.htm - 6k

6368. piach -- soot
... ashes. From puwach; a powder (as easily puffed away), ie Ashes or dust -- ashes.
see HEBREW puwach. 6367, 6368. piach. 6369 . Strong's Numbers.
/hebrew/6368.htm - 6k

6083. aphar -- dry earth, dust
... Word Origin from an unused word Definition dry earth, dust NASB Word Usage ashes
(2), debris (2), dirt (1), dry soil (1), dust (91), dusty (1), earth (5 ...
/hebrew/6083.htm - 6k

666. apher -- a covering, bandage
... ashes. From the same as 'epher (in the sense of covering); a turban -- ashes.
see HEBREW 'epher. 665, 666. apher. 667 . Strong's Numbers.
/hebrew/666.htm - 6k

Library

Feeding on Ashes
... FEEDING ON ASHES. 'He feedeth on ashes: a deceived ... for all that. He asserts
that idolatry is empty, a feeding on ashes. He declares, in ...
/.../maclaren/expositions of holy scripture h/feeding on ashes.htm

Beauty for Ashes
... Beauty for Ashes. A Sermon (No.1016). Delivered by. CH SPURGEON,. At the
Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington. "To appoint unto them that ...
/.../spurgeon/spurgeons sermons volume 17 1871/beauty for ashes.htm

Whether the Ashes from which the Human Body Will be Restored have ...
... OF THE TERM "WHEREFROM" OF THE RESURRECTION (THREE ARTICLES) Whether the ashes from
which the human body will be restored have any natural inclination towards ...
/.../aquinas/summa theologica/whether the ashes from which.htm

Whether all Will Rise Again from Ashes?
... OF THE TERM "WHEREFROM" OF THE RESURRECTION (THREE ARTICLES) Whether all will rise
again from ashes? ... Therefore neither will all rise again from ashes. ...
/.../christianbookshelf.org/aquinas/summa theologica/whether all will rise again.htm

Whether the Ashes of the Human Body must Needs, by the ...
... OF THE CONDITIONS OF THOSE WHO RISE AGAIN, AND FIRST OF THEIR IDENTITY (THREE ARTICLES)
Whether the ashes of the human body must needs, by the resurrection ...
//christianbookshelf.org/aquinas/summa theologica/whether the ashes of the.htm

M. Luther. The Martyrs' Ashes.
... VIII. VARIOUS OCCASIONS. 428. 6s. M. Luther. The Martyrs' Ashes. 1 Flung
to the heedless winds, Or on the waters cast, Their ashes ...
/.../various/book of hymns for public and private devotion/428 6s m luther the.htm

The Preaching of Nature.
... I read the other day that lately a workman, employed in some excavations at Rome,
found a funeral urn containing the ashes of one of the Caesars. ...
/.../the life of duty a years plain sermons v 2/sermon l the preaching of.htm

Access into Grace
... in the New Testament is like a dying brand in the fire, where the little kernel
of glowing heat is getting covered thicker and thicker with grey ashes. ...
/.../maclaren/romans corinthians to ii corinthians chap v/access into grace.htm

Of Two Degrees of Perfection with which this Commandment May be ...
... And as a phoenix newly hatched from out its ashes, having as yet but little, tender
feathers and its first down, can only essay short flights, in which it ...
/.../francis/treatise on the love of god/chapter iv of two degrees.htm

St. Ambrose Gives Additional Rules Concerning Repentance, and ...
... field which we possess, and imitate those hard-working farmers, who are not ashamed
to satiate the land with rich dung and to scatter the grimy ashes over the ...
/.../ambrose/works and letters of st ambrose/chapter i st ambrose gives.htm

Thesaurus

Ashes (44 Occurrences)
... Easton's Bible Dictionary The ashes of a red heifer burned entire (Numbers 19:5)
when sprinkled on the unclean made them ceremonially clean (Hebrews 9:13). ...
/a/ashes.htm - 24k

Leach (1 Occurrence)
... 2. (n.) A quantity of wood ashes, through which water passes, and thus imbibes
the alkali. 3. (n.) A tub or vat for leaching ashes, bark, etc. ...
/l/leach.htm - 7k

Ash (4 Occurrences)
... 3. (n.) sing. of Ashes. 4. (vt) To strew or sprinkle with ashes. Int. Standard Bible
Encyclopedia. ASH (1). ... Where the ashes are poured out it shall be burned. ...
/a/ash.htm - 9k

Soap (4 Occurrences)
... Easton's Bible Dictionary (Jeremiah 2:22; Malachi 3:2; Hebrews borith), properly
a vegetable alkali, obtained from the ashes of certain plants, particularly ...
/s/soap.htm - 10k

Ceremonially (38 Occurrences)
... Hebrews 9:13 For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling
those who have contracted defilement make them holy so as to bring about ...
/c/ceremonially.htm - 18k

Red (124 Occurrences)
... In Numbers 19 a rite is described in which the ashes of a "red heifer" and of certain
objects are mixed with running water to obtain the so-called "water for ...
/r/red.htm - 77k

Sackcloth (47 Occurrences)
... For if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon which were done in you,
they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. ...
/s/sackcloth.htm - 23k

Wallow (5 Occurrences)
... ASV WBS NAS RSV NIV). Jeremiah 6:26 Daughter of my people, gird yourself
with sackcloth, and wallow in ashes! Mourn, as for an only ...
/w/wallow.htm - 8k

Reduced (16 Occurrences)
... 2 Peter 2:6 He reduced to ashes the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, and condemned
them to overthrow, making them an example to people who might in future be ...
/r/reduced.htm - 11k

Sprinkling (48 Occurrences)
... cleansing. The water of separation consisted of the ashes of a red heifer
(slain for the purpose) mixed with running water (Numbers 19). ...
/s/sprinkling.htm - 29k

Resources

What is the meaning of sackcloth and ashes? | GotQuestions.org

What does it mean that Job repented in dust and ashes? | GotQuestions.org

What is the significance of a red heifer in the Bible? Is a red heifer a sign of the end times? | GotQuestions.org

Ashes: Dictionary and Thesaurus | Clyx.com

Bible Concordance • Bible Dictionary • Bible Encyclopedia • Topical Bible • Bible Thesuarus

Concordance

Ashes (44 Occurrences)

Matthew 11:21
"Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon which were done in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
(WEB KJV WEY ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Luke 10:13
"Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For 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.
(WEB KJV WEY ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Hebrews 9:13
For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctify to the cleanness of the flesh:
(WEB KJV WEY ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

2 Peter 2:6
and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly;
(WEB KJV WEY ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Genesis 18:27
Abraham answered, "See now, I have taken it on myself to speak to the Lord, who am but dust and ashes.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Exodus 9:8
Yahweh said to Moses and to Aaron, "Take to you handfuls of ashes of the furnace, and let Moses sprinkle it toward the sky in the sight of Pharaoh.
(WEB KJV ASV DBY WBS RSV)

Exodus 9:10
They took ashes of the furnace, and stood before Pharaoh; and Moses sprinkled it up toward the sky; and it became a boil breaking forth with boils on man and on animal.
(WEB KJV ASV DBY WBS RSV)

Exodus 27:3
You shall make its pots to take away its ashes, its shovels, its basins, its flesh hooks, and its fire pans: all its vessels you shall make of brass.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Leviticus 1:16
and he shall take away its crop with its filth, and cast it beside the altar on the east part, in the place of the ashes.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Leviticus 4:12
even the whole bull shall he carry forth outside the camp to a clean place, where the ashes are poured out, and burn it on wood with fire. Where the ashes are poured out it shall be burned.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Leviticus 6:10
The priest shall put on his linen garment, and he shall put on his linen breeches upon his body; and he shall remove the ashes from where the fire has consumed the burnt offering on the altar, and he shall put them beside the altar.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Leviticus 6:11
He shall take off his garments, and put on other garments, and carry the ashes outside the camp to a clean place.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Numbers 4:13
"They shall take away the ashes from the altar, and spread a purple cloth on it.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Numbers 19:9
"A man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and lay them up outside of the camp in a clean place; and it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for a water for impurity: it is a sin offering.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Numbers 19:10
He who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even: and it shall be to the children of Israel, and to the stranger who lives as a foreigner among them, for a statute forever.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Numbers 19:17
"For the unclean they shall take of the ashes of the burning of the sin offering; and running water shall be put thereto in a vessel:
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Deuteronomy 28:24
Jehovah giveth the rain of thy land -- dust and ashes; from the heavens it cometh down on thee till thou art destroyed.
(YLT)

2 Samuel 13:19
Tamar put ashes on her head, and tore her garment of various colors that was on her; and she laid her hand on her head, and went her way, crying aloud as she went.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

1 Kings 13:3
He gave a sign the same day, saying, "This is the sign which Yahweh has spoken: Behold, the altar will be split apart, and the ashes that are on it will be poured out."
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

1 Kings 13:5
The altar also was split apart, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of Yahweh.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

1 Kings 20:38
So the prophet departed, and waited for the king by the way, and disguised himself with ashes upon his face.
(KJV WBS YLT)

1 Kings 20:41
And he hasted, and took the ashes away from his face; and the king of Israel discerned him that he was of the prophets.
(KJV WBS YLT)

2 Kings 23:4
The king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the threshold, to bring forth out of the temple of Yahweh all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the Asherah, and for all the army of the sky, and he burned them outside of Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron, and carried the ashes of them to Bethel.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV

Esther 4:1
Now when Mordecai found out all that was done, Mordecai tore his clothes, and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and wailed loudly and a bitterly.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Esther 4:3
In every province, wherever the king's commandment and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Job 2:8
He took for himself a potsherd to scrape himself with, and he sat among the ashes.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Job 13:12
Your memorable sayings are proverbs of ashes, Your defenses are defenses of clay.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Job 30:19
He has cast me into the mire. I have become like dust and ashes.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Job 42:6
Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes."
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Psalms 20:3
He doth remember all thy presents, And thy burnt-offering doth reduce to ashes. Selah.
(YLT)

Psalms 102:9
For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mixed my drink with tears,
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Psalms 147:16
He gives snow like wool, and scatters frost like ashes.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Isaiah 44:20
He feeds on ashes. A deceived heart has turned him aside; and he can't deliver his soul, nor say, "Isn't there a lie in my right hand?"
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Isaiah 58:5
Is such the fast that I have chosen? the day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a rush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and an acceptable day to Yahweh?
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Isaiah 61:3
to appoint to those who mourn in Zion, to give to them a garland for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of Yahweh, that he may be glorified.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Jeremiah 6:26
Daughter of my people, gird yourself with sackcloth, and wallow in ashes! Mourn, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation; for the destroyer shall suddenly come on us.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Jeremiah 25:34
Wail, you shepherds, and cry; and wallow in ashes, you principal of the flock; for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions are fully come, and you shall fall like a goodly vessel.
(WEB KJV ASV WBS NAS RSV)

Jeremiah 31:40
The whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields to the brook Kidron, to the corner of the horse gate toward the east, shall be holy to Yahweh; it shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any more forever.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Lamentations 3:16
He has also broken my teeth with gravel stones; he has covered me with ashes.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT RSV)

Ezekiel 27:30
and shall cause their voice to be heard over you, and shall cry bitterly, and shall cast up dust on their heads, they shall wallow themselves in the ashes:
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Ezekiel 28:18
By the multitude of your iniquities, in the unrighteousness of your traffic, you have profaned your sanctuaries; therefore have I brought forth a fire from the midst of you; it has devoured you, and I have turned you to ashes on the earth in the sight of all those who see you.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Daniel 9:3
I set my face to the Lord God, to seek by prayer and petitions, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Jonah 3:6
The news reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and took off his royal robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV)

Malachi 4:3
You shall tread down the wicked; for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I make," says Yahweh of Armies.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Subtopics

Ashes

Ashes: A Symbol of Mourning

Ashes: Disguises In

Ashes: Repenting In

Ashes: Sitting In

Ashes: Uses of, in Purification

Related Terms

Leach (1 Occurrence)

Ash (4 Occurrences)

Soap (4 Occurrences)

Ceremonially (38 Occurrences)