Charles Ellicott Commentary Job 13:12

"Your memorable sayings are proverbs of ashes, Your defences are defences of clay." — Job 13:12 (ASV)

Remembrances — that is, “Wise and memorable sayings of garnered wisdom are proverbs of ashes, worthless as the dust, and fit for bodies of clay like your bodies.” Or, as some understand it, “Your high structures, or defenses, are structures of clay,” as an independent parallelism.