Kejadian 18:27

18:27 Then Abraham asked, “Since I have undertaken to speak to the Lord ¹  (although I am but dust and ashes), ² 

Ayub 42:6

42:6 Therefore I despise myself, ³ 

and I repent in dust and ashes!

Yesaya 6:5

6:5 I said, “Too bad for me! I am destroyed, ⁴  for my lips are contaminated by sin, ⁵  and I live among people whose lips are contaminated by sin. ⁶  My eyes have seen the king, the Lord who commands armies.” ⁷ 

[18:27]  ¹ tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here and in vv. 30, 31, 32 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[18:27]  ² tn The disjunctive clause is a concessive clause here, drawing out the humility as a contrast to the Lord.

[42:6]  ³ tn Or “despise what I said.” There is no object on the verb; Job could be despising himself or the things he said (see L. J. Kuyper, “Repentance of Job,” VT 9 [1959]: 91-94).

[6:5]  ⁴ tn Isaiah uses the suffixed (perfect) form of the verb for rhetorical purposes. In this way his destruction is described as occurring or as already completed. Rather than understanding the verb as derived from דָּמַה (damah, “be destroyed”), some take it from a proposed homonymic root דמה, which would mean “be silent.” In this case, one might translate, “I must be silent.”

[6:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “a man unclean of lips am I.” Isaiah is not qualified to praise the king. His lips (the instruments of praise) are “unclean” because he has been contaminated by sin.

[6:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “and among a nation unclean of lips I live.”

[6:5]  ⁷ tn Perhaps in this context, the title has a less militaristic connotation and pictures the Lord as the ruler of the heavenly assembly. See the note at 1:9.