Topic
Clay
27 passages cited, from 4 classic reference works.
These works date from 1884–1915 and are in the public domain. They reflect the Protestant scholarship of their time: their history, archaeology and dates can be out of date, and where they interpret, other traditions read the text differently. The verses are shown in the King James Version, the wording these works were written against.
The verses
The passages the works cite, those cited by more of them first.
- Isaiah 41:25Easton · Smith · ISBE · Nave Used by potter
I have raised up one from the north, and he shall come: from the rising of the sun shall he call upon my name: and he shall come upon princes as upon morter, and as the potter treadeth clay.
- John 9:6Easton · Smith · ISBE · Nave Blind man's eyes anointed with
When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay,
- Job 38:14Easton · Smith · Nave Seals made of
It is turned as clay to the seal; and they stand as a garment.
- Romans 9:21Easton · ISBE · Nave FIGURATIVE
Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?
- 1 Kings 7:46Easton · ISBE
In the plain of Jordan did the king cast them, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarthan.
- 2 Chronicles 4:17Easton · ISBE
In the plain of Jordan did the king cast them, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredathah.
- Isaiah 57:20Easton · Smith
But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.
- Jeremiah 32:14Easton · Smith
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Take these evidences, this evidence of the purchase, both which is sealed, and this evidence which is open; and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may continue many days.
- Nahum 3:14Easton · ISBE
Draw thee waters for the siege, fortify thy strong holds: go into clay, and tread the morter, make strong the brickkiln.
- Matthew 27:66Easton · Smith
So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch.
- Genesis 11:3Easton
And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter.
- Job 4:19Nave FIGURATIVE
How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth?
Show 15 more
- Job 33:6 Nave Man formed from
- Psalms 18:42 Smith
- Psalms 40:2 Nave FIGURATIVE
- Isaiah 29:16 Nave Used by potter
- Isaiah 45:9 Nave Used by potter
- Isaiah 64:8 Nave FIGURATIVE
- Jeremiah 18:1–6 Easton
- Jeremiah 18:6 Nave FIGURATIVE
- Jeremiah 38:6 Smith
- Jeremiah 43:9 ISBE
- Daniel 2:33 ISBE
- Daniel 2:33–41 Nave SYMBOLICAL
- Habakkuk 2:6 ISBE
- John 9:11 ISBE
- John 9:14 ISBE
In the reference works
Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897) · 12 references
This word is used of sediment found in pits or in streets (Isa. 57:20; Jer. 38:60), of dust mixed with spittle (John 9:6), and of potter’s clay (Isa. 41:25; Nah. 3:14; Jer. 18:1-6; Rom. 9:21). Clay was used for sealing (Job 38:14; Jer. 32:14). Our Lord’s tomb may have been thus sealed (Matt. 27:66). The practice of sealing doors with clay is still common in the East. Clay was also in primitive times used for mortar (Gen. 11:3). The “clay ground” in which the large vessels of the temple were cast (1 Kings 7:46; 2 Chr. 4:17) was a compact loam fitted for the purpose. The expression literally rendered is, “in the thickness of the ground,”, meaning, “in stiff ground” or in clay.
Smith's Bible Dictionary (1884) · 8 references
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915) · 11 references
kla (chomer, chacaph, TiT, meleT, `abhi, ma`abheh, abhTiT; pelos, "wet clay," "mud"): True clay, which is a highly aluminous soil, is found in certain localities in Palestine, and is used in making pottery. The Hebrew and Greek words, as well as the English "clay," are, however, used loosely for any sticky mud. In making mud bricks, true clay is not always used, but ordinary soil is worked up with water and mixed with straw, molded and left to dry in the sun. Chomer (compare chmar, "slime" or "bitumen") is rendered both "clay" and "mortar." TiT is rendered "clay" or "mire." In Isa 41:25 we have: "He shall come upon rulers as upon mortar (chomer), and as the potter treadeth clay" (TiT). In Na 3:14, "Go into the clay (TiT), and tread the mortar (chomer); make strong the brickkiln" (i.e. make the walls ready to withstand a siege). Chacaph is the clay of the image in Nebuchadnezzar's dream (Da 2:33 ff). MeleT occurs only in Jer 43:9, where we find: the King James Version, "Take great stones .... and hide them in the clay in the brickkiln"; the Revised Version (British and American), "hide them in mortar in the brickwork"; the Revised Version, margin, "lay them with mortar in the pavement." In Hab 2:6, `abhTiT (found only here) is rendered in the King James Version "thick clay," as if from `abhi and TiT, but the Revised Version (British and American) has "pledges," referring the word to the root `abhaT, "to give a pledge." In 1Ki 7:46, ma`abheh ha-'adhamah (compare 2Ch 4:17, `abhi ha-'adhamah) is the compact or clayey soil in the plain of Jordan between Succoth and Zarethan, in which Hiram cast the vessels of brass for Solomon's temple. In Joh 9:6,11,14, Thayer gives "made mud of the spittle"; in Ro 9:21, "wet clay."
Alfred Ely Day
In the topical indexes
Texts: Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897); Smith's Bible Dictionary (1884); International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915); Nave's Topical Bible (1896), from the CrossWire SWORD modules (public domain). Verse references were parsed from the works' own markup and checked against the KJV verse list.