16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

Read full chapter

16 And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.

Read full chapter

19 I am using an example from everyday life(A) because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness(B) leading to holiness. 20 When you were slaves to sin,(C) you were free from the control of righteousness.(D) 21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!(E)

Read full chapter

19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.

20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.

21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.

Read full chapter

Those who once ate delicacies
    are destitute in the streets.
Those brought up in royal purple(A)
    now lie on ash heaps.(B)

Read full chapter

They that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets: they that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills.

Read full chapter

Look and see, there is no one at my right hand;
    no one is concerned for me.
I have no refuge;(A)
    no one cares(B) for my life.

Read full chapter

I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me: refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul.

Read full chapter

He said:

“In my distress I called(A) to the Lord,(B)
    and he answered me.
From deep in the realm of the dead(C) I called for help,
    and you listened to my cry.
You hurled me into the depths,(D)
    into the very heart of the seas,
    and the currents swirled about me;
all your waves(E) and breakers
    swept over me.(F)
I said, ‘I have been banished
    from your sight;(G)
yet I will look again
    toward your holy temple.’(H)
The engulfing waters threatened me,[a]
    the deep surrounded me;
    seaweed was wrapped around my head.(I)
To the roots of the mountains(J) I sank down;
    the earth beneath barred me in forever.
But you, Lord my God,
    brought my life up from the pit.(K)

“When my life was ebbing away,
    I remembered(L) you, Lord,
and my prayer(M) rose to you,
    to your holy temple.(N)

“Those who cling to worthless idols(O)
    turn away from God’s love for them.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Jonah 2:5 Or waters were at my throat

And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.

For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me.

Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.

The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head.

I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God.

When my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.

They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.

Read full chapter

12 [a]Ephraim(A) feeds on the wind;(B)
    he pursues the east wind all day
    and multiplies lies and violence.(C)
He makes a treaty with Assyria(D)
    and sends olive oil to Egypt.(E)

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Hosea 12:1 In Hebrew texts 12:1-14 is numbered 12:2-15.

12 Ephraim feedeth on wind, and followeth after the east wind: he daily increaseth lies and desolation; and they do make a covenant with the Assyrians, and oil is carried into Egypt.

Read full chapter

“But you—come here, you children of a sorceress,(A)
    you offspring of adulterers(B) and prostitutes!(C)

Read full chapter

But draw near hither, ye sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the whore.

Read full chapter

Why spend money on what is not bread,
    and your labor on what does not satisfy?(A)
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,(B)
    and you will delight in the richest(C) of fare.

Read full chapter

Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.

Read full chapter

20 Such a person feeds on ashes;(A) a deluded(B) heart misleads him;
    he cannot save himself, or say,
    “Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?(C)

Read full chapter

20 He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?

Read full chapter

22 I was senseless(A) and ignorant;
    I was a brute beast(B) before you.

Read full chapter

22 So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee.

Read full chapter