44:20 He feeds on ashes; 1
his deceived mind misleads him.
He cannot rescue himself,
nor does he say, ‘Is this not a false god I hold in my right hand?’ 2
55:2 Why pay money for something that will not nourish you? 3
Why spend 4 your hard-earned money 5 on something that will not satisfy?
Listen carefully 6 to me and eat what is nourishing! 7
Enjoy fine food! 8
ה (He)
4:5 Those who once feasted on delicacies 9
are now starving to death 10 in the streets.
Those who grew up 11 wearing expensive clothes 12
are now dying 13 amid garbage. 14
12:1 Ephraim continually feeds on the wind;
he chases the east wind all day;
he multiplies lies and violence.
They make treaties 15 with Assyria,
and send olive oil as tribute 16 to Egypt.
6:21 So what benefit 18 did you then reap 19 from those things that you are now ashamed of? For the end of those things is death.
1 tn Or perhaps, “he eats on an ash heap.”
2 tn Heb “Is it not a lie in my right hand?”
3 tn Heb “for what is not food.”
4 tn The interrogative particle and the verb “spend” are understood here by ellipsis (note the preceding line).
5 tn Heb “your labor,” which stands by metonymy for that which one earns.
6 tn The infinitive absolute follows the imperative and lends emphasis to the exhortation.
7 tn Heb “good” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).
8 tn Heb “Let your appetite delight in fine food.”
5 tn Heb “eaters of delicacies.” An alternate English gloss would be “connoisseurs of fine foods.”
6 tn Heb “are desolate.”
7 tn Heb “were reared.”
8 tn Heb “in purple.” The term תוֹלָע (tola’, “purple”) is a figurative description of expensive clothing: it is a metonymy of association: the color of the dyed clothes (= purple) stands for the clothes themselves.
9 tn Heb “embrace garbage.” One may also translate “rummage through” (cf. NCV “pick through trash piles”; TEV “pawing through refuse”; NLT “search the garbage pits.”
10 tn The Hebrew word אַשְׁפַּתּוֹת (’ashpatot) can also mean “ash heaps.” Though not used as a combination elsewhere, to “embrace ash heaps” might also envision a state of mourning or even dead bodies lying on the ash heaps.
7 tn Heb “a treaty” (so NIV, NRSV); KJV, NASB “a covenant”; NAB “comes to terms.”
8 tn The phrase “as tribute” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity. Cf. NCV “send a gift of olive oil.”
9 tn Or “because of your natural limitations” (NRSV).
11 tn Grk “fruit.”
12 tn Grk “have,” in a tense emphasizing their customary condition in the past.