Job 2:8 BSB — MannaFest

Job 2:8

And Job took a piece of broken pottery to scrape himself as he sat among the ashes.

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself therewith; and he sat among the ashes.

KJV

And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he sat down among the ashes.

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Commentary

4 voices

Gregory the Dialogist

Morals on the Book of Job, Book III (604)

ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION. And he took him a potsherd to scrape the humour withal. For what is the potsherd in the hand of the Lord, but the flesh which He took of the clay of our nature? For the potsherd receives firmness by fire. And the Flesh of our Lord was rendered stronger by His Passion, in so far as dying by infirmity, He arose from death void of infirmity. And hence too it is rightly delivered by the Prophet, My strength is dried up like a potsherd.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

Nor with his own hands or fingers, which were also ulcerous, and so unfit for that use; but with potsherds, either because they were next at hand, and ready for his present use; or in token of his deep humiliation under God's hand, which made him decline all things that favoured of tenderness and delicacy. Hebrew. in dust or ashes, as mourners used to do.

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

If God lay him among the ashes, there he will contentedly sit down. A low spirit becomes low circumstances, and will help to reconcile us to them. The LXX. reads it, He sat down upon a dunghill without the city (which is commonly said, in mentioning this story); but the original says no more than that he sat in the midst of the ashes, which he might do in his own house.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

Albert Barnes

1798–1870

Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)

And he took him a potsherd - The word used here חרשׁ chârâsh means a fragment of a broken vessel; see the notes at Isa 45:9. The Septuagint renders it ὄστρακον ostrakon - “a shell.” One object of taking this was to remove from his body the filth accumulated by the universal ulcer, compare Job 7:4-5; and another design probably was, to “indicate” the greatness of his calamity and sorrow.

Voices on this verse

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Original language & word study

9 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
וַיִּֽקַּֽח־	vai.yi.kach-	and he took	H3947 →
ל֣וֹ	lo	for himself
חֶ֔רֶשׂ	Che.res	a potsherd	H2789 →
לְהִתְגָּרֵ֖ד	le.hit.ga.Red	to scrape himself	H1623 →
בּ֑וֹ	bo	with it
וְה֖וּא	ve.Hu'	and he	H1931 →
יֹשֵׁ֥ב	yo.Shev	[was] sitting	H3427 →
בְּתוֹךְ־	be.tokh-	in [the] midst	H8432 →
הָאֵֽפֶר׃	ha.'E.fer	the ash[es]	H665 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

H665haeferthe ash[es]22×

The walk

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
Job 42:6
Therefore I retract my words, and I repent in dust and ashes.”
leads to
- Daniel 9:3
  So I turned my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and petition, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.
  Reached by 2 independent paths from here.
- Ezra 9:6
  and said: “O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to You, my God, because our iniquities are higher than our heads, and our guilt has reached the heavens.
- 1 Timothy 1:13–16
  I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a violent man; yet because I had acted in ignorance and unbelief, I was shown mercy.
- James 4:7–10
  Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
- Job 40:3–4
  Then Job answered the LORD:
Through
Jonah 3:6
When word reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
leads to
- Esther 4:1–4
  When Mordecai learned of all that had happened, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the middle of the city, wailing loudly and bitterly.
- James 4:6–10
  But He gives us more grace. This is why it says: “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
Through
Matthew 11:21
“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
leads to
- Ezekiel 3:6–7
  not to the many peoples of unfamiliar speech and difficult language whose words you cannot understand. Surely if I had sent you to them, they would have listened to you.

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01Commentary

The record, by era

Voices on this verse

02Original language & word study

03The walk

Where the connections lead

04Related verses

05Featured studies on this passage

06About Job

The record, by era

Where the connections lead

Commentary

Original language & word study

The walk

Related verses

Featured studies on this passage

About Job