Consider! It is planted, but will it prosper? Will it not wither completely when the east wind blows on it? Will it not wither in the soil where it sprouted?’”

All the choice men ¹  among his troops will die ²  by the sword and the survivors will be scattered to every wind. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken!

I will put tendons ¹  on you and muscles over you and will cover you with skin; I will put breath ²  in you and you will live. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

They consult their wooden idols, and their diviner’s staff answers with an oracle. The wind of prostitution blows them astray; they commit spiritual adultery ¹  against their God.

Their wicked deeds do not allow them to return to their God; because a spirit of idolatry ¹  controls their heart, ²  and they do not acknowledge the Lord.

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.

Ephraim continually feeds on the wind; he chases the east wind all day; he multiplies lies and violence. They make treaties ¹  with Assyria, and send olive oil as tribute ²  to Egypt.

But ¹  the Lord hurled ²  a powerful ³  wind on the sea. Such a violent ⁴  tempest arose on the sea that ⁵  the ship threatened to break up! ⁶ 

Does the family ¹  of Jacob say, ²  ‘The Lord’s patience ³  can’t be exhausted – he would never do such things’? ⁴  To be sure, my commands bring a reward for those who obey them, ⁵ 

If a lying windbag should come and say, ¹  ‘I’ll promise you blessings of wine and beer,’ ²  he would be just the right preacher for these people! ³ 

But I ¹  am full of the courage that the Lord’s Spirit gives, and have a strong commitment to justice. ²  This enables me to confront Jacob with its rebellion, and Israel with its sin. ³ 

The one who says to wood, ‘Wake up!’ is as good as dead ¹  – he who says ²  to speechless stone, ‘Awake!’ Can it give reliable guidance? ³  It is overlaid with gold and silver; it has no life’s breath inside it.

The revelation of the word of the Lord concerning Israel: The Lord – he who stretches out the heavens and lays the foundations of the earth, who forms the human spirit within a person ¹  – says,

No one who has even a small portion of the Spirit in him does this. ¹  What did our ancestor ²  do when seeking a child from God? Be attentive, then, to your own spirit, for one should not be disloyal to the wife he took in his youth. ³ 

I am about to bring ¹  floodwaters ²  on the earth to destroy ³  from under the sky all the living creatures that have the breath of life in them. ⁴  Everything that is on the earth will die,

But God remembered ¹  Noah and all the wild animals and domestic animals that were with him in the ark. God caused a wind to blow over ²  the earth and the waters receded.

But when they related to him everything Joseph had said to them, ¹  and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to transport him, their father Jacob’s spirit revived.

So Moses extended his staff over the land of Egypt, and then the Lord ¹  brought ²  an east wind on the land all that day and all night. ³  The morning came, ⁴  and the east wind had brought up ⁵  the locusts!

and the Lord turned a very strong west wind, ¹  and it picked up the locusts and blew them into the Red Sea. ²  Not one locust remained in all the territory of Egypt.

or when jealous feelings come over a man and he becomes suspicious of his wife; then he must have the woman stand before the Lord, and the priest will carry out all this law upon her.