Skin sores and blisters

Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Take handfuls of ashes from a furnace and have Moses throw it up in the air in front of Pharaoh.

The ashes will turn to soot over the whole land of Egypt. It will cause skin sores that will break out in blisters on people and animals in the whole land of Egypt.”

So they took ashes from the furnace, and they stood in front of Pharaoh. Moses threw the ash up in the air, and it caused skin sores and blisters to break out on people and animals.

Make pails for removing its ashes and its shovels, bowls, meat forks, and trays. Make all its equipment out of copper.

Then the priest will remove its throat along with its contents and throw it by the east side of the altar, into the place for the ashes.

The priest will dress in his linen robe, with linen undergarments on his body. Because the fire will have devoured the entirely burned offering on the altar, he must remove the ashes and place them beside the altar.

The priest will then take off his clothes, dress in a different set of clothes, and take the ashes outside the camp to a clean location.

They will remove the ashes from the altar and spread a purple cloth on it.

Tell Eleazar, Aaron the priest’s son, to raise the censers from the fire and scatter the ashes about, because they are holy.

A person who is clean will gather the ashes of the cow and place them outside the camp in a clean place. They will be kept for the water of purification for the Israelite community as a purification offering.

The one who gathers the ashes of the cow will wash his clothes but will be unclean until evening. This will be a permanent regulation for the Israelites and for the immigrant who lives among them.

For the unclean person, they will take some of the ashes of the purification offering and place fresh water with it in a jar.

Tamar put ashes on her head and tore the long-sleeved robe she was wearing. She put her hand on her head and walked away, crying as she went.

At that time the man of God gave a sign: “This is the sign that the Lord mentioned: ‘Look! The altar will be broken apart, and its ashes will spill out.’”

The altar broke apart, and the ashes spilled out from the altar, just like the sign that the man of God gave by the Lord’s word.

The king then commanded the high priest Hilkiah, the second-order priests, and the doorkeepers to remove from the Lord’s temple all the religious objects made for Baal, Asherah, and all the heavenly bodies. The king burned them outside Jerusalem in the Kidron fields and took the ashes to Bethel.

A crisis for the Jews

When Mordecai learned what had been done, he tore his clothes, dressed in mourning clothes, and put ashes on his head. Then he went out into the heart of the city and cried out loudly and bitterly.

At the same time, in every province and place where the king’s order and his new law arrived, a very great sadness came over the Jews. They gave up eating and spent whole days weeping and crying out loudly in pain. Many Jews lay on the ground in mourning clothes and ashes.

Job took a piece of broken pottery to scratch himself and sat down on a mound of ashes.

Your old sayings are proverbs made of ashes, your sayings defenses made of clay.

He hurls me into mud; I’m a cliché, like dust and ashes.

Therefore, I relent and find comfort on dust and ashes.

I’ve been eating ashes instead of bread. I’ve been mixing tears into my drinks

God spreads snow like it was wool; God scatters frost like it was ashes;

He’s feeding on ashes; his deluded mind has led him astray. He can’t save himself and say, “Isn’t this thing in my hand a lie?”