The man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob. You have struggled with God and with men, and you have won; so your name will be Israel."

God said to him, "Your name is Jacob, but from now on it will be Israel." So God named him Israel.

They still carry on their old customs to this day. They do not worship the LORD nor do they obey the laws and commands which he gave to the descendants of Jacob, whom he named Israel.

When Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, he said about him, "Here is a real Israelite; there is nothing false in him!"

What about you? You call yourself a Jew; you depend on the Law and boast about God;

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.

This means that the children born in the usual way are not the children of God; instead, the children born as a result of God's promise are regarded as the true descendants.

I know your troubles; I know that you are poor---but really you are rich! I know the evil things said against you by those who claim to be Jews but are not; they are a group that belongs to Satan!

Listen! As for that group that belongs to Satan, those liars who claim that they are Jews but are not, I will make them come and bow down at your feet. They will all know that I love you.

They will have abundant rainfall And plant their seed in well-watered fields. Their king shall be greater than Agag, And his rule shall be extended far and wide.

So Jacob's descendants live in peace, secure in a land full of grain and wine, where dew from the sky waters the ground.

"Praise God in the meeting of his people; praise the LORD, all you descendants of Jacob!"

Children that you have by other women will do you no good.

"One by one, people will say, 'I am the LORD's.' They will come to join the people of Israel. They each will mark the name of the LORD on their arms and call themselves one of God's people."

My promise is true, and it will not be changed. I solemnly promise by all that I am: Everyone will come and kneel before me and vow to be loyal to me.

Anyone in the land who asks for a blessing will ask to be blessed by the faithful God. Whoever takes an oath will swear by the name of the faithful God. The troubles of the past will be gone and forgotten."

"When the LORD heard this, he said to me, 'I have heard what these people said, and they are right.

Honor the LORD your God, worship only him, and make your promises in his name alone.

Have reverence for the LORD your God and worship only him. Be faithful to him and make your promises in his name alone.

Because God gives him victory, the king will rejoice. Those who make promises in God's name will praise him, but the mouths of liars will be shut.

I will destroy anyone who goes up on the roof and worships the sun, the moon, and the stars. I will also destroy those who worship me and swear loyalty to me, but then take oaths in the name of the god Molech.

LORD our God, we have been ruled by others, but you alone are our LORD.

The LORD has made a solemn promise, And by his power he will carry it out: "Your grain will no longer be food for your enemies, And foreigners will no longer drink your wine.

"Listen to everything that I, the LORD, have said to you. Do not pray to other gods; do not even mention their names.

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.

Who asked you to bring me all this when you come to worship me? Who asked you to do all this tramping around in my Temple?

I hate your New Moon Festivals and holy days; they are a burden that I am tired of bearing.

Do not make a promise in my name if you do not intend to keep it; that brings disgrace on my name. I am the LORD your God.

But God says to the wicked, "Why should you recite my commandments? Why should you talk about my covenant?

You become the friend of every thief you see, and you associate with adulterers.

You are ready to accuse your own relatives and to find fault with them.

Say to God, "How wonderful are the things you do! Your power is so great that your enemies bow down in fear before you.

it will be right for you to swear by my name. Then all the nations will ask me to bless them, and they will praise me."

Even though you claim to worship the LORD, you do not mean what you say.

You steal, murder, commit adultery, tell lies under oath, offer sacrifices to Baal, and worship gods that you had not known before.

You do these things I hate, and then you come and stand in my presence, in my own Temple, and say, 'We are safe!'

The LORD Almighty says, "I will appear among you to judge, and I will testify at once against those who practice magic, against adulterers, against those who give false testimony, those who cheat employees out of their wages, and those who take advantage of widows, orphans, and foreigners---against all who do not respect me.

'These people, says God, honor me with their words, but their heart is really far away from me.

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

OMITTED TEXT

God is Spirit, and only by the power of his Spirit can people worship him as he really is."

Such teachings are spread by deceitful liars, whose consciences are dead, as if burnt with a hot iron.

People will be selfish, greedy, boastful, and conceited; they will be insulting, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, and irreligious;

they will be treacherous, reckless, and swollen with pride; they will love pleasure rather than God;