He put up an altar there and named it for El, the God of Israel.

Tell the Israelites that I, the LORD, the God of their ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, have sent you to them. This is my name forever; this is what all future generations are to call me.

Do not bow down to any idol or worship it, because I am the LORD your God and I tolerate no rivals. I bring punishment on those who hate me and on their descendants down to the third and fourth generation.

The heathen have dug a pit and fallen in; they have been caught in their own trap.

Proud people are coming to attack me; cruel people are trying to kill me--- those who do not care about God.

Jerusalem, your rulers and your people are like those of Sodom and Gomorrah. Listen to what the LORD is saying to you. Pay attention to what our God is teaching you.

The LORD says, "People of Israel, I think as much of the people of Ethiopia as I do of you. I brought the Philistines from Crete and the Syrians from Kir, just as I brought you from Egypt.

After all, who is a real Jew, truly circumcised? It is not the man who is a Jew on the outside, whose circumcision is a physical thing.

Rather, the real Jew is the person who is a Jew on the inside, that is, whose heart has been circumcised, and this is the work of God's Spirit, not of the written Law. Such a person receives praise from God, not from human beings.

I am not saying that the promise of God has failed; for not all the people of Israel are the people of God.

If they do not change their ways, God will sharpen his sword. He bends his bow and makes it ready;

he takes up his deadly weapons and aims his burning arrows.

May my enemies die before their time; may they go down alive into the world of the dead! Evil is in their homes and in their hearts.

The branches of the trees are withered and broken, and women gather them for firewood. Because the people have understood nothing, God their Creator will not pity them or show them any mercy.

When someone evil stops sinning and does what is right and good, he saves his life.

He realizes what he is doing and stops sinning, so he will certainly not die, but go on living.

For God will not show mercy when he judges the person who has not been merciful; but mercy triumphs over judgment.