And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.
And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks [ toon (G3588 ) keratioon (G2769 )] that the swine did eat, х kai (G2532) epethumei (G1937) gemisai (G1072)] - rather, 'was fain to fill,' or ate greedily of the only food he could get. These husks, or pulse-pods, were in the East the food of cattle and swine, and in times of distress were the nourishment of the very poorest people, as Stier remarks.
And no man gave unto him - that is, no one minded him, to give him anything better than this. "All thy lovers have forgotten thee; they seek thee not: for I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the multitude of thine iniquity; because thy sins were increased" (Jeremiah 30:14). This was his lowest depth: he was perishing unpitied; he was alone in the world; he was ready to disappear from it unmissed. But this is just the blessed turning-point-the midnight before dawn of day. "Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God" (Jeremiah 2:19). "The Lord brought upon Manasseh's people the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, which took Manasseh among the thorns, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon. And when he was in affliction, he besought the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, and prayed unto Him; and He was entreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord he was God" (2 Chronicles 33:11-13; and see 2 Chronicles 12:7-8).