a memento (or memorable thing · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine plural
like
מִשְׁלֵיmish.lei-
H4912
properly · noun, common masculine plural construct
ashes
אֵ֑פֶר'E.fer
H665
ashes · noun, common masculine singular absolute
bodies
לְגַבֵּיle.ga.bei-
H1354
the back (as rounded) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
bodies
גַּבֵּיכֶֽםga.bei.Khem
H1354
the back (as rounded) · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine plural
clay
חֹ֝֗מֶרCho.mer
H2563
properly · noun, common masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Genesis 18:27 And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes:
Exodus 17:14 And the LORD said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the rem…
Job 4:19 How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth?
Job 18:17 His remembrance shall perish from the earth, and he shall have no name in the street.
Psalms 34:16 The face of the LORD is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
Psalms 102:12 But thou, O LORD, shalt endure for ever; and thy remembrance unto all generations.
Psalms 109:15 Let them be before the LORD continually, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Job 13:1-12
Job here warmly expresses his resentment of the unkindness of his friends.
I. He comes up with them as one that understood the matter in dispute as well as they, and did not need to be taught by them, Job 13:1, Job 13:2. They compelled him, as the Corinthians did Paul, to commend himself and his own knowledge, yet not in a way of self-applause, but of self-justification. All he had before said his eye had seen confirmed by many instances, and his ear had heard seconded by many authorities, and he well understood it and what use to make of it. Happy are those who not only see and hear, but understand, the greatness, glory, and sovereignty of God. This, he thought, would justify what he had sa…
remembrances--"proverbial maxims," so called because well remembered.
like unto ashes--or, "parables of ashes"; the image of lightness and nothingness (Isa 44:20).
bodies--rather, "entrenchments"; those of clay, as opposed to those of stone, are easy to be destroyed; so the proverbs, behind which they entrench themselves, will not shelter them when God shall appear to reprove them for their injustice to Job.
John Gill on Job 13:12
Your remembrances are like unto ashes,.... Either of things they put Job in remembrance of, the mementos which they had suggested to him; see Job 4:7; or the things which they had brought forth out of their memories, the instances they had given of what had been in the world, the arguments, objections, and reasonings, they had made use of in this controversy; their "memorable sentences" (e), as some render it, were of no more moment and importance than ashes, and easily blown away like them; or whatsoever was memorable in them, or they thought would perpetuate their memory hereafter, as their houses and lands, and towns and cities, called by their names, these memorials should perish, Psalm…
Your remembrances are like unto ashes. All that are confounded to this present state of being by an earthly temper of mind, mean, by all that they do, to leave the remembrance of themselves to the world. Some in the toils of war, some in the towering walls of edifices, some in eloquent books of this world's lore, they are eagerly toiling and striving and building up for themselves a name of remembrance. But whereas life itself runs on to an end with speed, what is there in it that will stand stedfast, when even its very self by nature running rapidly speeds away. For a breath of air seizes the ashes, as it is written; The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff, which the wind scattereth away from the face of the earth. And so the remembrance of fools is rightly compared to 'ashes,' in that it is placed there, where it is liable to be carried away by a breath of air. For howsoever a man may toil to achieve the glory of his name, he has placed his 'remembrance like ashes,' in that the wind of mortality hurries it away in a moment. Contrary to which it is written of the just man, The righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance. For by the very circumstance, that he imprints his deeds upon the eyes of God alone, he sets firm the name of his remembrance in the eternal world. It goes on; And your necks shall be brought down to the mire. As the sight is used to be denoted by the eye, so is pride by the 'neck.' Thus 'the neck is brought down to the mire,' when every proud man is humbled in death, and the flesh that was lifted up rots in corruption. For let us contemplate how and like what the carcases of the rich lie in their graves, what that form of death is in the lifeless flesh, what the rottenness of corruption. And surely these were the very persons who were lifted up with honours, swollen with the things gotten by them, who looked down upon others, and exulted to stand as it were alone. Yet, while they never considered whereunto they were going, they knew nothing at all what they were. But 'the neck is brought down to the mire,' in that they lie neglected in rottenness, who swelled high in emptiness. 'The neck is brought down to the mire,' because what the might of flesh is good for, the rottenness of corruption evidences.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Life · BREVITY AND UNCERTAINTY OF — BREVITY AND UNCERTAINTY OF
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
12 Your memorable words are proverbs of dust,
Your strongholds are become strongholds of clay!
13 Leave me in peace, and I will speak,
And let what will come on me.
14 Wherefore should I bear my flesh in my teeth?
I take my soul in my hands.
15 Behold, He slayeth me-I wait for Him:
I will only prove my way before Him.
16 Even this would by my salvation,
That a hypocrite dare not appear before Him.
The words by which they exhort and warn him are called זכרנים, not because they recall the experience and teaching of the ancients (Hirz.), but as sayings to which attention and thought should be given, with the tone of זכר־נא, Job 4:7 (Hahn); as ספר זכרון, Mal 3:16, the book of remembrance; and ספ…
your memorials are compared to ashes Your memorials are compared to ashes. You expect to be compared to Abraham, who said (Genesis 18:27), “I am only dust and ashes.”
are like eminences of clay Your eminences ore equal to eminences of clay, compared to Him. The word גביכם means, your height, like (Ezek. 16:24), “and you built for yourself a platform (גב).”
