Then Judah said to his father Israel, “Please, send the boy with me and we’ll get up and go, so that we’ll live and not die—we and you, and our children.
Why should we die before your eyes—both we and our land? Buy us and our land for food—we and our land will become Pharaoh’s slaves. Provide seed so that we may live and not die, and the land won’t be deserted.”
Now a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha saying, “Your servant my husband is dead—you know that your servant feared Adonai. Now the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves.”
You sowed much but bring in little. You eat but are never satisfied. You drink but not enough to get filled. You put on clothes but no one is warm. And whoever earns wages works for a bag full of holes.”
If you will not listen, and if you will not take to heart to give glory to My Name” —says Adonai-Tzva’ot— “then I will send the curse on you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, indeed I have cursed them, because you did not take it to heart.
You are not to bring the fee of a prostitute or the wages of a dog into the House of Adonai your God for any vow, for both of these are detestable to Adonai your God.