4:10 They will eat, but not be satisfied;
they will engage in prostitution, but not increase in numbers;
because they have abandoned the Lord
by pursuing other gods. 1
5:4 Their wicked deeds do not allow them to return to their God;
because a spirit of idolatry 2 controls their heart, 3
and they do not acknowledge the Lord.
7:9 Foreigners are consuming what his strenuous labor produced, 4
but he does not recognize it!
His head is filled with gray hair,
but he does not realize it!
1 tn Heb “by guarding harlotry.” The present translation assumes that the first word of v. 11 in the Hebrew text is to be taken with the infinitive at the end of v. 10 (so also NAB, NIV, NCV, NRSV).
2 tn Heb “a spirit of harlotries”; NIV “a spirit of prostitution”; TEV “Idolatry has a powerful hold on them.” However, CEV takes this literally: “your constant craving for sex keeps you from knowing me.”
3 tn Heb “is in their heart” (so NIV); NASB, NRSV “is within them.”
4 tn Heb “foreigners consume his strength”; NRSV “devour (sap NIV) his strength.”