When they had eaten them, ¹  no one would have known ²  that they had done so, for they were just as bad-looking as before. Then I woke up.

The seven lean, bad-looking cows that came up after them represent seven years, as do the seven empty heads of grain burned with the east wind. They represent ¹  seven years of famine.

“‘If a man consecrates his house as holy to the Lord, the priest will establish its conversion value, whether good or bad. Just as the priest establishes its conversion value, thus it will stand. ¹ 

The owner ¹  must not examine the animals to distinguish between good and bad, and he must not exchange it. If, however, he does exchange it, ²  both the original animal ³  and its substitute will be holy. ⁴  It must not be redeemed.’”

Also, your infants, who you thought would die on the way, ¹  and your children, who as yet do not know good from bad, ²  will go there; I will give them the land and they will possess it.

The sin we committed at Peor was bad enough. To this very day we have not purified ourselves; it even brought a plague on the community of the Lord. ¹ 

Too bad for us! Who can deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all sorts of plagues in the desert!

When Ahijah heard the sound of her footsteps as she came through the door, he said, “Come on in, wife of Jeroboam! Why are you pretending to be someone else? I have been commissioned to give you bad news. ¹ 

As if following in the sinful footsteps of Jeroboam son of Nebat were not bad enough, he married Jezebel the daughter of King Ethbaal of the Sidonians. Then he worshiped and bowed to Baal. ¹ 

The men of the city said to Elisha, “Look, the city has a good location, as our ¹  master can see. But the water is bad and the land doesn’t produce crops.” ² 

The look on their faces ¹  testifies to their guilt; ²  like the people of Sodom they openly boast of their sin. ³  Too bad for them! ⁴  For they bring disaster on themselves.

I said, “Too bad for me! I am destroyed, ¹  for my lips are contaminated by sin, ²  and I live among people whose lips are contaminated by sin. ³  My eyes have seen the king, the Lord who commands armies.” ⁴ 

“The way you have lived and the things you have done ¹  will bring this on you. This is the punishment you deserve, and it will be painful indeed. ²  The pain will be so bad it will pierce your heart.” ³ 

They will say, ¹  ‘Prepare to do battle ²  against it! Come on! Let’s attack it at noon!’ But later they will say, ³  ‘Oh, oh! Too bad! ⁴  The day is almost over and the shadows of evening are getting long.

They continually say ¹  to those who reject what the Lord has said, ²  ‘Things will go well for you!’ ³  They say to all those who follow the stubborn inclinations of their own hearts, ‘Nothing bad will happen to you!’

The Lord who rules over all ¹  spoke about Edom. ²  “Is wisdom no longer to be found in Teman? ³  Can Edom’s counselors not give her any good advice? ⁴  Has all of their wisdom turned bad? ⁵ 

The Lord spoke ¹  about Damascus. ²  “The people of Hamath and Arpad ³  will be dismayed because they have heard bad news. Their courage will melt away because of worry. Their hearts will not be able to rest. ⁴ 

But I see the prophets of Jerusalem ¹  doing something just as shocking. They are unfaithful to me and continually prophesy lies. ²  So they give encouragement to people who are doing evil, with the result that they do not stop their evildoing. ³  I consider all of them as bad as the people of Sodom, and the citizens of Jerusalem as bad as the people of Gomorrah. ⁴ 

This is the account of Jacob. Joseph, his seventeen-year-old son, ¹  was taking care of ²  the flocks with his brothers. Now he was a youngster ³  working with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives. ⁴  Joseph brought back a bad report about them ⁵  to their father.

I am presently eighty years old. Am I able to discern good and bad? Can I ¹  taste what I eat and drink? Am I still able to hear the voices of male and female singers? Why should I ²  continue to be a burden to my lord the king?