ashes, dust, earth, ground, morter, powder, rubbish
“Ashes” From Boyd’s Bible Dictionary:
To sprinkle with or sit in ashes, marked humiliation, grief, and penitence (Gen. 18:27; 2 Sam. 13:19; Esth. 4:3; Job 2:8; Jer. 6:26; Lam. 3:16; Matt. 11:21). The altar ashes, when a red heifer was sacrificed, were watered and used for purifying the unclean (Num. 19:17-22).
“Dust” From Boyd’s Bible Dictionary:
(storm breath). Symbol of mourning (Josh. 7:6; Isa. 47:1); feebleness (Gen. 18:27; Job 30:19); countless numbers (Gen. 13:16); low condition (1 Sam. 2:8); rage (2 Sam. 16:13; Acts 22:23); renunciation (Matt. 10:14; Mark 6:11; Acts 13:51). A sand storm (Deut. 28:24).
“Earth” From Boyd’s Bible Dictionary:
(producer). The world (Gen. 1:1); dry land (Gen. 1:10); the soil (Gen. 2:7).
“Mortar” From Boyd’s Bible Dictionary:
(1) Hollow vessel of wood or stone, in which corn was ground with a pestle (Num. 11:8; Prov. 27:22). (2) Various cementing substances used in building, as bitumen, clay, and ordinary mixture of sand and lime (Gen. 11:3; Ex. 1:14; Lev. 14:42; Isa. 41:25).
“Ashes” From Concise Bible Dictionary:
Ashes, mostly from burnt wood, were used as a sign of sorrow or mourning, either put on the head (2 Sam. 13:19), or on the body with sackcloth (Esther 4:1; Jer. 6:26; Lam. 3:16; Matt. 11:21; Luke 10:13); or strewn on a couch on which to lie (Esther 4:3; Isa. 58:5; Jonah 3:6). To eat ashes expresses great sorrow (Psa. 102:9); and to be reduced to them is a figure of complete destruction (Ezek. 28:18; Mal. 4:3); to feed on them tells of the vanities with which the soul may be occupied (Isa. 44:20). “Dust and ashes” was the figure Abraham used of himself before Jehovah (Gen. 18:27); and Job said he had become like them by the hand of God (Job 30:19). For the ashes of the Red Heifer see HEIFER.
“Mortar” From Concise Bible Dictionary:
Stone Mortar and Pestle
The monuments of Egypt show that anciently, as now, stone mortars with stone pestles were used for pounding hard seeds. The manna was ground in mills or beaten in a mortar (Num. 11:8). Though by this means the seeds were pounded very small, yet even such treatment would not cure a fool of his folly: it shows the incorrigible nature of him who despises wisdom and instruction (Prov. 27:22).
“Eared, Earing” From Concise Bible Dictionary:
“Plowed” and “plowing,” as the same Hebrew word is elsewhere translated (Gen. 45:6; Ex. 34:21; 1 Sam. 8:12).
Plowing Scene in Palestine (1910-1920)
Strong’s Dictionary of Hebrew Words:
Meaning:
from 6080; dust (as powdered or gray); hence, clay, earth, mud
KJV Usage:
ashes, dust, earth, ground, morter, powder, rubbish