spodos denotes ashes, appearing in repentance imagery and in a rite involving a heifer’s ashes.

The attested uses show ashes chiefly in the paired expression with sackcloth in a hypothetical response of repentance; a separate occurrence names the ashes of a heifer in a sprinkling rite connected with bodily cleanness.

1. Ashes in repentance imagery · dominant

   In Luke 10:13 and Matthew 11:21, the dative singular form occurs with sackcloth in the hypothetical statement that Tyre and Sidon would have repented. The APB renders the paired setting as sitting or repenting “in sackcloth and ashes.”

   Luke 10:13Matthew 11:21
2. Ashes of a heifer in sprinkling · rare

   In Hebrews 9:13, the nominative singular form identifies the ashes of a heifer within the clause about sprinkling those who have become profane for bodily cleanness. The APB renders the phrase “the ashes of a heifer.”

   Hebrews 9:13

In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB explicitly uses “ashes” in all three verses: paired with sackcloth in Luke 10:13 and Matthew 11:21, and specified as a heifer’s ashes in Hebrews 9:13. These renderings confirm the clauses without assigning every English detail to the term alone.