Job 10:9

10:9 Remember that you have made me as with ¹  the clay;

will ²  you return me to dust?

Job 13:12

13:12 Your maxims ³  are proverbs of ashes; ⁴ 

your defenses ⁵  are defenses of clay. ⁶ 

Job 33:6

33:6 Look, I am just like you in relation to God;

I too have been molded ⁷  from clay.

Genesis 2:7

2:7 The Lord God formed ⁸  the man from the soil of the ground ⁹  and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, ¹⁰  and the man became a living being. ¹¹ 

Genesis 3:19

3:19 By the sweat of your brow ¹²  you will eat food

until you return to the ground, ¹³ 

for out of it you were taken;

for you are dust, and to dust you will return.” ¹⁴ 

Genesis 18:27

18:27 Then Abraham asked, “Since I have undertaken to speak to the Lord ¹⁵  (although I am but dust and ashes), ¹⁶ 

Ecclesiastes 12:7

12:7 and the dust returns to the earth as it was,

and the life’s breath ¹⁷  returns to God who gave it.

Ecclesiastes 12:2

12:2 before the sun and the light ¹⁸  of the moon and the stars grow dark,

and the clouds disappear ¹⁹  after the rain;

Colossians 4:7

Personal Greetings and Instructions

4:7 Tychicus, a dear brother, faithful minister, and fellow slave ²⁰  in the Lord, will tell you all the news about me. ²¹ 

Colossians 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ²²  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

[10:9]  ¹ tn The preposition “like” creates a small tension here. So some ignore the preposition and read “clay” as an adverbial accusative of the material (GKC 371 §117.hh but cf. 379 §119.i with reference to beth essentiae: “as it were, by clay”). The NIV gets around the problem with a different meaning for the verb: “you molded me like clay.” Some suggest the meaning was “as [with] clay” (in the same manner that we have “as [in] the day of Midian” [Isa 9:4]).

[10:9]  ² tn The text has a conjunction: “and to dust….”

[13:12]  ³ tn The word is זִכְרֹנֵיכֶם (zikhronekhem, “your remembrances”). The word זִכָּרֹן (zikkaron) not only can mean the act of remembering, but also what is remembered – what provokes memory or is worth being remembered. In the plural it can mean all the memorabilia, and in this verse all the sayings and teachings. H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 99) suggests that in Job’s speech it could mean “all your memorized sayings.”

[13:12]  ⁴ tn The parallelism of “dust” and “ashes” is fairly frequent in scripture. But “proverbs of ashes” is difficult. The genitive is certainly describing the proverbs; it could be classified as a genitive of apposition, proverbs that are/have become ashes. Ashes represent something that at one time may have been useful, but now has been reduced to what is worthless.

[13:12]  ⁵ tn There is a division of opinion on the source of this word. Some take it from “answer”, related to Arabic, Aramaic, and Syriac words for “answer,” and so translate it “responses” (JB). Others take it from a word for “back,” with a derived meaning of the “boss” of the shield, and translate it bulwark or “defenses” (NEB, RSV, NIV). The idea of “answers” may fit the parallelism better, but “defenses” can be taken figuratively to refer to verbal defenses.

[13:12]  ⁶ sn Any defense made with clay would crumble on impact.

[33:6]  ⁷ tn The verb means “nipped off,” as a potter breaks off a piece of clay when molding a vessel.

[2:7]  ⁸ tn Or “fashioned.” The prefixed verb form with vav (ו) consecutive initiates narrative sequence. The Hebrew word יָצַר (yatsar) means “to form” or “to fashion,” usually by plan or design (see the related noun יֵצֶר [yetser] in Gen 6:5). It is the term for an artist’s work (the Hebrew term יוֹצֵר [yotser] refers to a potter; see Jer 18:2-4.)

[2:7]  ⁹ tn The line literally reads “And Yahweh God formed the man, soil, from the ground.” “Soil” is an adverbial accusative, identifying the material from which the man was made.

[2:7]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew word נְשָׁמָה (nÿshamah, “breath”) is used for God and for the life imparted to humans, not animals (see T. C. Mitchell, “The Old Testament Usage of Nÿshama,” VT 11 [1961]: 177-87). Its usage in the Bible conveys more than a breathing living organism (נֶפֶשׁ חַיַּה, nefesh khayyah). Whatever is given this breath of life becomes animated with the life from God, has spiritual understanding (Job 32:8), and has a functioning conscience (Prov 20:27).

[2:7]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “being”) is often translated “soul,” but the word usually refers to the whole person. The phrase נֶפֶשׁ חַיַּה (nefesh khayyah, “living being”) is used of both animals and human beings (see 1:20, 24, 30; 2:19).

[3:19]  ¹² tn The expression “the sweat of your brow” is a metonymy, the sweat being the result of painful toil in the fields.

[3:19]  ¹³ sn Until you return to the ground. The theme of humankind’s mortality is critical here in view of the temptation to be like God. Man will labor painfully to provide food, obviously not enjoying the bounty that creation promised. In place of the abundance of the orchard’s fruit trees, thorns and thistles will grow. Man will have to work the soil so that it will produce the grain to make bread. This will continue until he returns to the soil from which he was taken (recalling the creation in 2:7 with the wordplay on Adam and ground). In spite of the dreams of immortality and divinity, man is but dust (2:7), and will return to dust. So much for his pride.

[3:19]  ¹⁴ sn In general, the themes of the curse oracles are important in the NT teaching that Jesus became the cursed one hanging on the tree. In his suffering and death, all the motifs are drawn together: the tree, the sweat, the thorns, and the dust of death (see Ps 22:15). Jesus experienced it all, to have victory over it through the resurrection.

[18:27]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here and in vv. 30, 31, 32 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[18:27]  ¹⁶ tn The disjunctive clause is a concessive clause here, drawing out the humility as a contrast to the Lord.

[12:7]  ¹⁷ tn Or “spirit.” The likely referent is the life’s breath that originates with God. See Eccl 3:19, as well as Gen 2:7; 6:17; 7:22.

[12:2]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the light and the moon and the stars.” The phrase “the light and the moon” is a hendiadys (two separate terms denoting one idea) or perhaps even a hendiatris (three separate terms denoting one idea) for “the light of the moon and stars” (e.g., Gen 1:14).

[12:2]  ¹⁹ tn The verb שׁוּב (shuv, “to return”) here denotes “to desist” (HALOT 1430 s.v. שׁוּב 3). It pictures the disappearance of the clouds as a result of the precipitation of their contents.

[4:7]  ²⁰ tn See the note on “fellow slave” in 1:7.

[4:7]  ²¹ tn Grk “all things according to me.”

[1:1]  ²² tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.