ashes

⁶Therefore, I find myself reprehensible, and I will do penance in embers and ashes.

¹The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for the Lord has anointed me. He has sent me to bring good news to the meek, so as to heal the contrite of heart, to preach leniency to captives and release to the confined, ²and so to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vindication of our God: to console all who are mourning, ³to take up the mourners of Zion and to give them a crown in place of ashes, an oil of joy in place of mourning, a cloak of praise in place of a spirit of grief. And there, they shall be called the strong ones of justice, the planting of the Lord, unto glorification. ⁴And they will rebuild the deserted places of past ages, and they will raise up the ruins of antiquity, and they will repair the desolate cities, which had been dissipated for generation after generation. ⁵And foreigners will stand up and will pasture your flocks. And the sons of sojourners will be your farmers and the workers of your vineyards. ⁶But you yourselves will be called the priests of the Lord. It will be said to you, “You are the ministers of our God.” You will eat from the strength of the Gentiles, and you will pride yourself on their glory.

¹⁷And they shall take some of the ashes from the burning and the sin offering, and they shall pour living waters over them into a vessel.

³And I set my face to the Lord, my God, to ask and make supplication with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes.

⁸So he took a shard of earthenware and scraped the discharge, while sitting on a heap of refuse.

³And you will trample the impious, while they will be ashes under the sole of your foot, on the day that I act, says the Lord of hosts.

³to take up the mourners of Zion and to give them a crown in place of ashes, an oil of joy in place of mourning, a cloak of praise in place of a spirit of grief. And there, they shall be called the strong ones of justice, the planting of the Lord, unto glorification.

¹⁹And she sprinkled ashes upon her head, and she tore her ankle-length robe. And placing her hands upon her head, she went forth, walking and crying out.

³Likewise, in all provinces, towns, and places where the king’s cruel decision arrived, there was extraordinary mourning among the Jews with fasting, wailing, and weeping, with many using sackcloth and ashes for their bed.

¹When Mordecai had heard this, he tore his garments and put on sackcloth, strewing ashes on his head, and he cried out with a loud voice in the main street of the city, revealing the anguish of his soul.

²¹“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in haircloth and ashes.

⁶And word reached the king of Nineveh. And he rose from his throne, and he threw off his robe from himself and was clothed in sackcloth, and he sat in ashes.

¹³Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that have been wrought in you, had been wrought in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in haircloth and ashes.

¹³For if the blood of goats and oxen, and the ashes of a calf, when these are sprinkled, sanctify those who have been defiled, in order to cleanse the flesh,

¹⁰And when he who had carried the ashes of the cow will have washed his garments, he shall be unclean until evening. The sons of Israel, and the newcomers who live among them, shall have this as a holy and perpetual right.

²⁰And all things continue on to one place; for from the earth they were made, and unto the earth they shall return together.

¹Therefore, I beg the elders who are among you, as one who is also an elder and a witness of the Passion of Christ, who also shares in that glory which is to be revealed in the future: ²pasture the flock of God that is among you, providing for it, not as a requirement, but willingly, in accord with God, and not for the sake of tainted profit, but freely, ³not so as to dominate by means of the clerical state, but so as to be formed into a flock from the heart. ⁴And when the Leader of pastors will have appeared, you shall secure an unfading crown of glory. ⁵Similarly, young persons, be subject to the elders. And infuse all humility among one another, for God resists the arrogant, but to the humble he gives grace. ⁶And so, be humbled under the powerful hand of God, so that he may exalt you in the time of visitation.

²⁷And Abraham responded by saying: “Since now I have begun, I will speak to my Lord, though I am dust and ashes.

¹⁹By the sweat of your face shall you eat bread, until you return to the earth from which you were taken. For dust you are, and unto dust you shall return.”