Bible Strands
Job 2:8
And Job took a piece of broken pottery to scrape himself as he sat among the ashes.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Job sits among ashes after Satan inflicts severe boils on him from head to toe, immediately preceding his wife’s command to curse God and die.
The words — The text highlights חֶרֶשׂ (cheres), a potsherd, and יֹשֵׁב (yoshev), indicating Job’s action of sitting while scraping his sores.
The thread — The ash motif appears in Job 42:6 where Job repents in dust and ashes, Ezekiel 27:30 where mourners roll in ashes, and Jonah 3:6 where the king covers himself with sackcloth.
Why it lands — The passage records Job’s physical deterioration and his choice to remain in place rather than abandon his faith, demanding the reader confront the reality of unexplained suffering.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he sat down among the ashes.
Cross-references
- Job 42:6 Therefore I despise myself, and I repent in dust and ashes.”
- Ezekiel 27:30 They will raise their voices for you and cry out bitterly. They will throw dust on their heads and roll in ashes.
- 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.
- 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.
- Psalms 38:5 My wounds are foul and festering because of my sinful folly.
- Luke 16:20 And a beggar named Lazarus lay at his gate, covered with sores
- 2 Samuel 13:19 And Tamar put ashes on her head and tore her robe. And putting her hand on her head, she went away crying aloud.
- Job 19:14 My kinsmen have failed me, and my friends have forgotten me.
- Psalms 38:7 For my loins are full of burning pain, and no soundness remains in my body.
- Jeremiah 6:26 O daughter of my people, dress yourselves in sackcloth and roll in ashes. Mourn with bitter wailing, as you would for an only son, for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us.