Isaiah 44:20

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 

Jeremiah 2:13

2:13 “Do so because my people have committed a double wrong:

they have rejected me,

the fountain of life-giving water, ³ 

and they have dug cisterns for themselves,

cracked cisterns which cannot even hold water.”

Hosea 8:7

The Fertility Cultists Will Become Infertile

8:7 They sow the wind,

and so they will reap the whirlwind!

The stalk does not have any standing grain;

it will not produce any flour.

Even if it were to yield grain,

foreigners would swallow it all up.

Hosea 12:1

12:1 Ephraim continually feeds on the wind;

he chases the east wind all day;

he multiplies lies and violence.

They make treaties ⁴  with Assyria,

and send olive oil as tribute ⁵  to Egypt.

Habakkuk 2:13

2:13 Be sure of this! The Lord who commands armies has decreed:

The nations’ efforts will go up in smoke;

their exhausting work will be for nothing. ⁶ 

Matthew 15:9

15:9 and they worship me in vain,

teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’” ⁷ 

Luke 15:15-16

15:15 So he went and worked for ⁸  one of the citizens of that country, who ⁹  sent him to his fields to feed pigs. ¹⁰  15:16 He ¹¹  was longing to eat ¹²  the carob pods ¹³  the pigs were eating, but ¹⁴  no one gave him anything.

Romans 9:31

9:31 but Israel even though pursuing ¹⁵  a law of righteousness ¹⁶  did not attain it. ¹⁷ 

Romans 10:2-3

10:2 For I can testify that they are zealous for God, ¹⁸  but their zeal is not in line with the truth. ¹⁹  10:3 For ignoring the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking instead to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.

Philippians 3:4-7

3:4 – though mine too are significant. ²⁰  If someone thinks he has good reasons to put confidence in human credentials, ²¹  I have more: 3:5 I was circumcised on the eighth day, from the people of Israel and the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews. I lived according to the law as a Pharisee. ²²  3:6 In my zeal for God I persecuted the church. According to the righteousness stipulated in the law I was blameless. 3:7 But these assets I have come to regard as liabilities because of Christ.

Hebrews 13:9

13:9 Do not be carried away by all sorts of strange teachings. ²³  For it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not ritual meals, ²⁴  which have never benefited those who participated in them.

[44:20]  ¹ tn Or perhaps, “he eats on an ash heap.”

[44:20]  ² tn Heb “Is it not a lie in my right hand?”

[2:13]  ³ tn It is difficult to decide whether to translate “fresh, running water” which the Hebrew term for “living water” often refers to (e.g., Gen 26:19; Lev 14:5), or “life-giving water” which the idiom “fountain of life” as source of life and vitality often refers to (e.g., Ps 36:9; Prov 13:14; 14:27). The contrast with cisterns, which collected and held rain water, suggests “fresh, running water,” but the reality underlying the metaphor contrasts the Lord, the source of life, health, and vitality, with useless idols that cannot do anything.

[12:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “a treaty” (so NIV, NRSV); KJV, NASB “a covenant”; NAB “comes to terms.”

[12:1]  ⁵ 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.”

[2:13]  ⁶ tn Heb “Is it not, look, from the Lord of hosts that the nations work hard for fire, and the peoples are exhausted for nothing?”

[15:9]  ⁷ sn A quotation from Isa 29:13.

[15:15]  ⁸ tn Grk “joined himself to” (in this case an idiom for beginning to work for someone).

[15:15]  ⁹ tn Grk “and he.” Here the conjunction καί (kai) and the personal pronoun have been translated by a relative pronoun to improve the English style.

[15:15]  ¹⁰ sn To a Jew, being sent to the field to feed pigs would be an insult, since pigs were considered unclean animals (Lev 11:7).

[15:16]  ¹¹ tn Grk “And he.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[15:16]  ¹² tn Or “would gladly have eaten”; Grk “was longing to be filled with.”

[15:16]  ¹³ tn This term refers to the edible pods from a carob tree (BDAG 540 s.v. κεράτιον). They were bean-like in nature and were commonly used for fattening pigs, although they were also used for food by poor people (L&N 3.46).

[15:16]  ¹⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[9:31]  ¹⁵ tn Or “who pursued.” The participle could be taken adverbially or adjectivally.

[9:31]  ¹⁶ tn Or “a legal righteousness,” that is, a righteousness based on law. This translation would treat the genitive δικαιοσύνης (dikaiosunh") as an attributed genitive (see ExSyn 89-91).

[9:31]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “has not attained unto the law.”

[10:2]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “they have a zeal for God.”

[10:2]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “in accord with knowledge.”

[3:4]  ²⁰ tn Grk “though I have reason for confidence even in the flesh.”

[3:4]  ²¹ tn Grk “flesh.”

[3:5]  ²² sn A Pharisee was a member of one of the most important and influential religious and political parties of Judaism in the time of Jesus. There were more Pharisees than Sadducees (according to Josephus, Ant. 17.2.4 [17.42] there were more than 6,000 Pharisees at about this time). Pharisees differed with Sadducees on certain doctrines and patterns of behavior. The Pharisees were strict and zealous adherents to the laws of the OT and to numerous additional traditions such as angels and bodily resurrection.

[13:9]  ²³ tn Grk “by diverse and strange teachings.”

[13:9]  ²⁴ tn Grk “foods,” referring to the meals associated with the OT sacrifices (see the contrast with the next verse; also 9:9-10; 10:1, 4, 11).