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).