It makes as much sense as eating ashes. His foolish ideas have so misled him that he is beyond help. He won't admit to himself that the idol he holds in his hand is not a god at all.

for my people have committed two sins: they have turned away from me, the spring of fresh water, and they have dug cisterns, cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all.

When they sow the wind, they will reap a storm! A field of grain that doesn't ripen can never produce any bread. But even if it did, foreigners would eat it up.

Everything that the people of Israel do from morning to night is useless and destructive. Treachery and acts of violence increase among them. They make treaties with Assyria and do business with Egypt."

The nations you conquered wore themselves out in useless labor, and all they have built goes up in flames. The LORD Almighty has done this.

It is no use for them to worship me, because they teach human rules as though they were my laws!' "

So he went to work for one of the citizens of that country, who sent him out to his farm to take care of the pigs.

He wished he could fill himself with the bean pods the pigs ate, but no one gave him anything to eat.

while God's people, who were seeking a law that would put them right with God, did not find it.

I can assure you that they are deeply devoted to God; but their devotion is not based on true knowledge.

They have not known the way in which God puts people right with himself, and instead, they have tried to set up their own way; and so they did not submit themselves to God's way of putting people right.

I could, of course, put my trust in such things. If any of you think you can trust in external ceremonies, I have even more reason to feel that way.

and I was so zealous that I persecuted the church. As far as a person can be righteous by obeying the commands of the Law, I was without fault.

Do not let all kinds of strange teachings lead you from the right way. It is good to receive inner strength from God's grace, and not by obeying rules about foods; those who obey these rules have not been helped by them.

People open their purses and pour out gold; they weigh out silver on the scales. They hire a goldsmith to make a god; then they bow down and worship it.

The LORD says, "Listen to me, you that want to be saved, you that come to me for help. Think of the rock from which you came, the quarry from which you were cut.

"Listen to me, my people, listen to what I say: I give my teaching to the nations; my laws will bring them light.

"Listen to me, you that know what is right, who have my teaching fixed in your hearts. Do not be afraid when people taunt and insult you;

He said, "If you will obey me completely by doing what I consider right and by keeping my commands, I will not punish you with any of the diseases that I brought on the Egyptians. I am the LORD, the one who heals you."

"So then, obey the commands that I have given you today; love the LORD your God and serve him with all your heart.

Come, my young friends, and listen to me, and I will teach you to honor the LORD.

But whoever listens to me will have security. He will be safe, with no reason to be afraid."

where an arrow would pierce its heart. He was like a bird going into a net---he did not know that his life was in danger.

"Now, young people, listen to me. Do as I say, and you will be happy.

Then Jesus called the crowd to him once more and said to them, "Listen to me, all of you, and understand.

So then, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message comes through preaching Christ.

Here on Mount Zion the LORD Almighty will prepare a banquet for all the nations of the world---a banquet of the richest food and the finest wine.

The poor will eat as much as they want; those who come to the LORD will praise him. May they prosper forever!

We feast on the abundant food you provide; you let us drink from the river of your goodness.

My soul will feast and be satisfied, and I will sing glad songs of praise to you.

"Come, eat my food and drink the wine that I have mixed.

I will fill the priests with the richest food and satisfy all the needs of my people. I, the LORD, have spoken."

So he sent other servants with this message for the guests: 'My feast is ready now; my steers and prize calves have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast!'

Then go and get the prize calf and kill it, and let us celebrate with a feast!

I am the bread of life.

But the bread that comes down from heaven is of such a kind that whoever eats it will not die.

This started an angry argument among them. "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" they asked.

Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them to life on the last day.

Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood live in me, and I live in them.

This, then, is the bread that came down from heaven; it is not like the bread that your ancestors ate, but then later died. Those who eat this bread will live forever."