After ¹  a few days, ²  the younger son gathered together all he had and left on a journey to a distant country, and there he squandered ³  his wealth ⁴  with a wild lifestyle.

You ¹  received the law by decrees given by angels, ²  but you did not obey ³  it.” ⁴ 

Listen! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you at all!

But when this son of yours ¹  came back, who has devoured ²  your assets with prostitutes, ³  you killed the fattened calf ⁴  for him!’

From earliest times our worship of that shameful god, Baal, has taken away ¹  all that our ancestors ²  worked for. It has taken away our flocks and our herds, and even our sons and daughters.

Israel was a fertile vine that yielded fruit. As his fruit multiplied, he multiplied altars to Baal. ¹  As his land prospered, they adorned the fertility pillars.