26:14 “‘If, however, 1 you do not obey me and keep 2 all these commandments – 26:15 if you reject my statutes and abhor my regulations so that you do not keep 3 all my commandments and you break my covenant –
1:17 But you, dear friends – recall the predictions 4 foretold by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. 5 1:18 For they said to you, “In the end time there will come 6 scoffers, propelled by their own ungodly desires.” 7 1:19 These people are divisive, 8 worldly, 9 devoid of the Spirit. 10 1:20 But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith, by praying in the Holy Spirit, 11
12:9 “But they forgot the Lord their God, so he gave 13 them into the hand of Sisera, the general in command of Hazor’s 14 army, 15 and into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against them. 12:10 Then they cried out to the Lord and admitted, 16 ‘We have sinned, for we have forsaken the Lord and have served the Baals and the images of Ashtoreth. 17 Now deliver us from the hand of our enemies so that we may serve you.’ 18
9:26 “Nonetheless they grew disobedient and rebelled against you; they disregarded your law. 55 They killed your prophets who had solemnly admonished them in order to cause them to return to you. They committed atrocious blasphemies.
5:24 Therefore, as flaming fire 62 devours straw,
and dry grass disintegrates in the flames,
so their root will rot,
and their flower will blow away like dust. 63
For they have rejected the law of the Lord who commands armies,
they have spurned the commands 64 of the Holy One of Israel. 65
5:25 So the Lord is furious 66 with his people;
he lifts 67 his hand and strikes them.
The mountains shake,
and corpses lie like manure 68 in the middle of the streets.
Despite all this, his anger does not subside,
and his hand is ready to strike again. 69
8:9 Your wise men will be put to shame.
They will be dumbfounded and be brought to judgment. 70
Since they have rejected the word of the Lord,
what wisdom do they really have?
16:1 The word of the Lord came to me: 16:2 “Son of man, confront Jerusalem 71 with her abominable practices 16:3 and say, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth were in the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. 16:4 As for your birth, on the day you were born your umbilical cord was not cut, nor were you washed in water; 72 you were certainly not rubbed down with salt, nor wrapped with blankets. 73 16:5 No eye took pity on you to do even one of these things for you to spare you; 74 you were thrown out into the open field 75 because you were detested on the day you were born.
16:6 “‘I passed by you and saw you kicking around helplessly in your blood. I said to you as you lay there in your blood, “Live!” I said to you as you lay there in your blood, “Live!” 76 16:7 I made you plentiful like sprouts in a field; you grew tall and came of age so that you could wear jewelry. Your breasts had formed and your hair had grown, but you were still naked and bare.
16:8 “‘Then I passed by you and watched you, noticing 77 that you had reached the age for love. 78 I spread my cloak 79 over you and covered your nakedness. I swore a solemn oath to you and entered into a marriage covenant with you, declares the sovereign Lord, and you became mine.
16:9 “‘Then I bathed you in water, washed the blood off you, and anointed you with fragrant oil. 16:10 I dressed you in embroidered clothing and put fine leather sandals on your feet. I wrapped you with fine linen and covered you with silk. 16:11 I adorned you with jewelry. I put bracelets on your hands and a necklace around your neck. 16:12 I put a ring in your nose, earrings on your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head. 16:13 You were adorned with gold and silver, while your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and embroidery. You ate the finest flour, honey, and olive oil. You became extremely beautiful and attained the position of royalty. 16:14 Your fame 80 spread among the nations because of your beauty; your beauty was perfect because of the splendor which I bestowed on you, declares the sovereign Lord. 81
16:15 “‘But you trusted in your beauty and capitalized on your fame by becoming a prostitute. You offered your sexual favors to every man who passed by so that your beauty 82 became his. 16:16 You took some of your clothing and made for yourself decorated high places; you engaged in prostitution on them. You went to him to become his. 83 16:17 You also took your beautiful jewelry, made of my gold and my silver I had given to you, and made for yourself male images and engaged in prostitution 84 with them. 16:18 You took your embroidered clothing and used it to cover them; you offered my olive oil and my incense to them. 16:19 As for my food that I gave you – the fine flour, olive oil, and honey I fed you – you placed it before them as a soothing aroma. That is exactly what happened, declares the sovereign Lord.
16:20 “‘You took your sons and your daughters whom you bore to me and you sacrificed them 85 as food for the idols to eat. As if your prostitution not enough, 16:21 you slaughtered my children and sacrificed them to the idols. 86 16:22 And with all your abominable practices and prostitution you did not remember the days of your youth when you were naked and bare, kicking around in your blood.
16:23 “‘After all of your evil – “Woe! Woe to you!” declares the sovereign Lord – 16:24 you built yourself a chamber 87 and put up a pavilion 88 in every public square. 16:25 At the head of every street you erected your pavilion and you disgraced 89 your beauty when you spread 90 your legs to every passerby and multiplied your promiscuity. 16:26 You engaged in prostitution with the Egyptians, your sexually aroused neighbors, 91 multiplying your promiscuity and provoking me to anger. 16:27 So see here, I have stretched out my hand against you and cut off your rations. I have delivered you into the power of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed by your obscene conduct. 16:28 You engaged in prostitution with the Assyrians because your sexual desires were insatiable; you prostituted yourself with them and yet you were still not satisfied. 16:29 Then you multiplied your promiscuity to the land of merchants, Babylonia, 92 but you were not satisfied there either.
16:30 “‘How sick is your heart, declares the sovereign Lord, when you perform all of these acts, the deeds of a bold prostitute. 16:31 When you built your chamber at the head of every street and put up your pavilion in every public square, you were not like a prostitute, because you scoffed at payment. 93
16:32 “‘Adulterous wife, who prefers strangers instead of her own husband! 16:33 All prostitutes receive payment, 94 but instead you give gifts to every one of your lovers. You bribe them to come to you from all around for your sexual favors! 16:34 You were different from other prostitutes 95 because no one solicited you. When you gave payment and no payment was given to you, you became the opposite!
16:35 “‘Therefore O prostitute, hear the word of the Lord: 16:36 This is what the sovereign Lord says: Because your lust 96 was poured out and your nakedness was uncovered in your prostitution with your lovers, and because of all your detestable idols, and because of the blood of your children you have given to them, 16:37 therefore, take note: I am about to gather all your lovers whom you enjoyed, both all those you loved and all those you hated. I will gather them against you from all around, and I will expose your nakedness to them, and they will see all your nakedness. 97 16:38 I will punish you as an adulteress and murderer deserves. 98 I will avenge your bloody deeds with furious rage. 99 16:39 I will give you into their hands and they will destroy your chambers and tear down your pavilions. They will strip you of your clothing and take your beautiful jewelry and leave you naked and bare. 16:40 They will summon a mob who will stone you and hack you in pieces with their swords. 16:41 They will burn down your houses and execute judgments on you in front of many women. Thus I will put a stop to your prostitution, and you will no longer give gifts to your clients. 100 16:42 I will exhaust my rage on you, and then my fury will turn from you. I will calm down and no longer be angry.
16:43 “‘Because you did not remember the days of your youth and have enraged me with all these deeds, I hereby repay you for what you have done, 101 declares the sovereign Lord. Have you not engaged in prostitution on top of all your other abominable practices?
16:44 “‘Observe – everyone who quotes proverbs will quote this proverb about you: “Like mother, like daughter.” 16:45 You are the daughter of your mother, who detested her husband and her sons, and you are the sister of your sisters who detested their husbands and their sons. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite. 16:46 Your older sister was Samaria, who lived north 102 of you with her daughters, and your younger sister, who lived south 103 of you, was Sodom 104 with her daughters. 16:47 Have you not copied their behavior 105 and practiced their abominable deeds? In a short time 106 you became even more depraved in all your conduct than they were! 16:48 As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, your sister Sodom and her daughters never behaved as wickedly as you and your daughters have behaved.
16:49 “‘See here – this was the iniquity 107 of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters had majesty, abundance of food, and enjoyed carefree ease, but they did not help 108 the poor and needy. 16:50 They were haughty and practiced abominable deeds before me. Therefore when I saw it I removed them. 16:51 Samaria has not committed half the sins you have; you have done more abominable deeds than they did. 109 You have made your sisters appear righteous with all the abominable things you have done. 16:52 So now, bear your disgrace, because you have given your sisters reason to justify their behavior. 110 Because the sins you have committed were more abominable than those of your sisters; they have become more righteous than you. So now, be ashamed and bear the disgrace of making your sisters appear righteous.
16:53 “‘I will restore their fortunes, the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters, and the fortunes of Samaria and her daughters (along with your fortunes among them), 16:54 so that you may bear your disgrace and be ashamed of all you have done in consoling them. 16:55 As for your sisters, Sodom and her daughters will be restored to their former status, Samaria and her daughters will be restored to their former status, and you and your daughters will be restored to your former status. 16:56 In your days of majesty, 111 was not Sodom your sister a byword in your mouth, 16:57 before your evil was exposed? Now you have become an object of scorn to the daughters of Aram 112 and all those around her and to the daughters of the Philistines – those all around you who despise you. 16:58 You must bear your punishment for your obscene conduct and your abominable practices, declares the Lord.
16:59 “‘For this is what the sovereign Lord says: I will deal with you according to what you have done when you despised your oath by breaking your covenant. 16:60 Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish a lasting 113 covenant with you. 16:61 Then you will remember your conduct, and be ashamed when you receive your older and younger sisters. I will give them to you as daughters, but not on account of my covenant with you. 16:62 I will establish my covenant with you, and then you will know that I am the Lord. 16:63 Then you will remember, be ashamed, and remain silent 114 when I make atonement for all you have done, 115 declares the sovereign Lord.’”
23:11 “Her sister Oholibah watched this, 122 but she became more corrupt in her lust than her sister had been, and her acts of prostitution were more numerous than those of her sister. 23:12 She lusted after the Assyrians – governors and officials, warriors in full armor, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men. 23:13 I saw that she was defiled; both of them followed the same path. 23:14 But she increased her prostitution. She saw men carved on the wall, images of the Chaldeans carved in bright red, 123 23:15 wearing belts on their waists and flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like officers, the image of Babylonians 124 whose native land is Chaldea. 23:16 When she saw them, 125 she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea. 126 23:17 The Babylonians crawled into bed with her. 127 They defiled her with their lust; after she was defiled by them, she 128 became disgusted with them. 23:18 When she lustfully exposed her nakedness, 129 I 130 was disgusted with her, just as I 131 had been disgusted with her sister. 23:19 Yet she increased her prostitution, remembering the days of her youth when she engaged in prostitution in the land of Egypt. 23:20 She lusted after their genitals – as large as those of donkeys, 132 and their seminal emission was as strong as that of stallions. 23:21 This is how you assessed 133 the obscene conduct of your youth, when the Egyptians fondled 134 your nipples and squeezed 135 your young breasts.
9:7 “You are righteous, 139 O Lord, but we are humiliated this day 140 – the people 141 of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far away in all the countries in which you have scattered them, because they have behaved unfaithfully toward you. 9:8 O LORD, we have been humiliated 142 – our kings, our leaders, and our ancestors – because we have sinned against you. 9:9 Yet the Lord our God is compassionate and forgiving, 143 even though we have rebelled against him. 9:10 We have not obeyed 144 the LORD our God by living according to 145 his laws 146 that he set before us through his servants the prophets.
9:11 “All Israel has broken 147 your law and turned away by not obeying you. 148 Therefore you have poured out on us the judgment solemnly threatened 149 in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against you. 150 9:12 He has carried out his threats 151 against us and our rulers 152 who were over 153 us by bringing great calamity on us – what has happened to Jerusalem has never been equaled under all heaven!
9:1 In the first year of Darius 154 son of Ahasuerus, 155 who was of Median descent and who had been 156 appointed king over the Babylonian 157 empire –