The LORD said to Moses, "You will soon die, and after your death the people will become unfaithful to me and break the covenant that I made with them. They will abandon me and worship the pagan gods of the land they are about to enter.

And I will refuse to help them then, because they have done evil and worshiped other gods.

"The LORD's people grew rich, but rebellious; they were fat and stuffed with food. They abandoned God their Creator and rejected their mighty savior.

They sacrificed to gods that are not real, new gods their ancestors had never known, gods that Israel had never obeyed.

"When the LORD saw this, he was angry and rejected his sons and daughters.

With their idols they have made me angry, jealous with their so-called gods, gods that are really not gods. So I will use a so-called nation to make them angry; I will make them jealous with a nation of fools.

" 'I will bring on them endless disasters and use all my arrows against them.

War will bring death in the streets; terrors will strike in the homes. Young men and young women will die; neither babies nor old people will be spared.

But I could not let their enemies boast that they had defeated my people, when it was I myself who had crushed them.'

"Of all the nations on earth, you are the only one I have known and cared for. That is what makes your sins so terrible, and that is why I must punish you for them."

But even the people of Judah did not obey the laws of the LORD their God; they imitated the customs adopted by the people of Israel.

The LORD says, "The time is coming when I will punish the people of Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab, and the desert people, who have their hair cut short. All these people are circumcised, but have not kept the covenant it symbolizes. None of these people and none of the people of Israel have kept my covenant."

(SEE 9:25)

I will bring destruction on Israel and ruin on the people of Judah.

"When Israel saw how sick she was and when Judah saw her own wounds, then Israel went to Assyria to ask the great emperor for help, but he could not cure them or heal their wounds.

"And as for you, people of Judah, I have set a time to punish you also for what you are doing.

The LORD has an accusation to bring against the people of Judah; he is also going to punish Israel for the way her people act. He will pay them back for what they have done.

The LORD said, "If you will not obey my commands, you will be punished.

If you refuse to obey my laws and commands and break the covenant I have made with you,

But the Israelites paid no attention to their leaders. Israel was unfaithful to the LORD and worshiped other gods. Their fathers had obeyed the LORD's commands, but this new generation soon stopped doing so.

But when the leader died, the people would return to the old ways and behave worse than the previous generation. They would serve and worship other gods, and stubbornly continue their own evil ways.

Why, then, have you disobeyed my commands? Why did you do this evil thing? You had Uriah killed in battle; you let the Ammonites kill him, and then you took his wife!

Now, in every generation some of your descendants will die a violent death because you have disobeyed me and have taken Uriah's wife.

When the king heard the book being read, he tore his clothes in dismay,

"Go and consult the LORD for me and for all the people of Judah about the teachings of this book. The LORD is angry with us because our ancestors have not done what this book says must be done."

and she told them to go back to the king and give him

They have rejected me and have offered sacrifices to other gods, and so have stirred up my anger by all they have done. My anger is aroused against Jerusalem, and it will not die down.

In addition, the leaders of Judah, the priests, and the people followed the sinful example of the nations around them in worshiping idols, and so they defiled the Temple, which the LORD himself had made holy.

But they made fun of God's messengers, ignoring his words and laughing at his prophets, until at last the LORD's anger against his people was so great that there was no escape.

We have acted wickedly against you and have not done what you commanded. We have not kept the laws which you gave us through Moses, your servant.

"But your people rebelled and disobeyed you; they turned their backs on your Law. They killed the prophets who warned them, who told them to turn back to you. They insulted you time after time,

You warned them to obey your teachings, but in pride they rejected your laws, although keeping your Law is the way to life. Hard-headed and stubborn, they refused to obey.

Year after year you patiently warned them. You inspired your prophets to speak, but your people were deaf, so you let them be conquered by other nations.

So now, just as straw and dry grass shrivel and burn in the fire, your roots will rot and your blossoms will dry up and blow away, because you have rejected what the LORD Almighty, Israel's holy God, has taught us.

The LORD is angry with his people and has stretched out his hand to punish them. The mountains will shake, and the bodies of those who die will be left in the streets like rubbish. Yet even then the LORD's anger will not be ended, but his hand will still be stretched out to punish.

Your wise men are put to shame; they are confused and trapped. They have rejected my words; what wisdom do they have now?

The LORD spoke to me again.

Tell Jerusalem what the Sovereign LORD is saying to her: "You were born in the land of Canaan. Your father was an Amorite, and your mother was a Hittite.

No one took enough pity on you to do any of these things for you. When you were born, no one loved you. You were thrown out in an open field.

I made you grow like a healthy plant. You grew strong and tall and became a young woman. Your breasts were well-formed, and your hair had grown, but you were naked.

"Then I took water and washed the blood off you. I rubbed olive oil on your skin.

I put jewels on you---bracelets and necklaces.

You had ornaments of gold and silver, and you always wore clothes of embroidered linen and silk. You ate bread made from the best flour, and had honey and olive oil to eat. Your beauty was dazzling, and you became a queen.

"But you took advantage of your beauty and fame to sleep with everyone who came along.

You took the silver and gold jewelry that I had given you, used it to make male images, and committed adultery with them.

I gave you food---the best flour, olive oil, and honey---but you offered it as a sacrifice to win the favor of idols." This is what the Sovereign LORD says.

without taking my children and sacrificing them to idols?

The Sovereign LORD said, "You are doomed! Doomed! You did all that evil, and then

You dragged your beauty through the mud. You offered yourself to everyone who came by, and you were more of a prostitute every day.

"Now I have raised my hand to punish you and to take away your share of my blessing. I have handed you over to the Philistines, who hate you and are disgusted with your immoral actions.

You were also a prostitute for the Babylonians, that nation of merchants, but they didn't satisfy you either."

On every street you built places to worship idols and practice prostitution. But you are not out for money like a common prostitute.

A prostitute is paid, but you gave presents to all your lovers and bribed them to come from everywhere to sleep with you.

Now then, Jerusalem, you whore! Hear what the LORD is saying.

Because of this I will bring all your former lovers together---the ones you liked and the ones you hated. I will bring them around you in a circle, and then I will strip off your clothes and let them see you naked.

I will put you in their power, and they will tear down the places where you engage in prostitution and worship idols. They will take away your clothes and jewels and leave you completely naked.

They will burn your houses down and let crowds of women see your punishment. I will make you stop being a prostitute and make you stop giving gifts to your lovers.

You have forgotten how I treated you when you were young, and you have made me angry by all the things you did. That is why I have made you pay for them all. Why did you add sexual immorality to all the other disgusting things you did?" The Sovereign LORD has spoken.

You really are your mother's daughter. She detested her husband and her children. You are like your sisters, who hated their husbands and their children. You and your sister cities had a Hittite mother and an Amorite father.

Were you satisfied to follow in their footsteps and copy their disgusting actions? No, in only a little while you were acting worse than they were in everything you did.

She and her daughters were proud because they had plenty to eat and lived in peace and quiet, but they did not take care of the poor and the underprivileged.

"Samaria did not sin half as much as you have. You have acted more disgustingly than she ever did. Your corruption makes your sisters look innocent by comparison.

The LORD said to Jerusalem, "I will make them prosperous again---Sodom and her villages and Samaria and her villages. Yes, I will make you prosperous too.

They will become prosperous again, and you and your villages will also be restored.

and before the evil you did had been exposed? Now you are just like her---a joke to the Edomites, the Philistines, and your other neighbors who hate you.

The Sovereign LORD says, "I will treat you the way you deserve, because you ignored your promises and broke the covenant.

You will remember how you have acted, and be ashamed of it when you get your older sister and your younger sister back. I will let them be like daughters to you, even though this was not part of my covenant with you.

I will forgive all the wrongs you have done, but you will remember them and be too ashamed to open your mouth." The Sovereign LORD has spoken.

But even in the desert they defied me. They broke my laws and rejected my commands, which bring life to anyone who obeys them. They completely profaned the Sabbath. I was ready to let them feel the force of my anger there in the desert and to destroy them.

I made the vow because they had rejected my commands, broken my laws, and profaned the Sabbath---they preferred to worship their idols.

I did this because they had rejected my commands, broken my laws, profaned the Sabbath, and worshiped the same idols their ancestors had served.

You have no respect for the holy places, and you don't keep the Sabbath.

"Even though her sister Oholibah saw this, she was wilder and more of a prostitute than Oholah had ever been.

I saw that she was completely immoral, that the second sister was as bad as the first.

(SEE 23:14)

The Babylonians came to have sex with her. They used her and defiled her so much that finally she became disgusted with them.

She became more of a prostitute than ever, acting the way she did as a young woman, when she was a prostitute in Egypt.

(Oholibah, you wanted to repeat the immorality you were guilty of as a young woman in Egypt, where men played with your breasts and you lost your virginity.)

"We have sinned, we have been evil, we have done wrong. We have rejected what you commanded us to do and have turned away from what you showed us was right.

You, Lord, always do what is right, but we have always brought disgrace on ourselves. This is true of all of us who live in Judea and in Jerusalem and of all the Israelites whom you scattered in countries near and far because they were unfaithful to you.

You are merciful and forgiving, although we have rebelled against you.

All Israel broke your laws and refused to listen to what you said. We sinned against you, and so you brought on us the curses that are written in the Law of Moses, your servant.

So then, whoever rejects this teaching is not rejecting a human being, but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.

The old and honorable men are the head---and the tail is the prophets whose teachings are lies!

Those who lead these people have misled them and totally confused them.

You boast that you have made a treaty with death and reached an agreement with the world of the dead. You are certain that disaster will spare you when it comes, because you depend on lies and deceit to keep you safe.

It makes as much sense as eating ashes. His foolish ideas have so misled him that he is beyond help. He won't admit to himself that the idol he holds in his hand is not a god at all.

LORD, you are the one who protects me and gives me strength; you help me in times of trouble. Nations will come to you from the ends of the earth and say, "Our ancestors had nothing but false gods, nothing but useless idols.

Can people make their own gods? No, if they did, those would not really be gods."

I have seen the sin of Samaria's prophets: they have spoken in the name of Baal and have led my people astray.

"So then, this is what I, the LORD Almighty, say about the prophets of Jerusalem: I will give them bitter plants to eat and poison to drink, because they have spread ungodliness throughout the land."

I know what those prophets have said who speak lies in my name and claim that I have given them my messages in their dreams.

They think that the dreams they tell will make my people forget me, just as their ancestors forgot me and turned to Baal.

My message is like a fire and like a hammer that breaks rocks in pieces.

I am also against those prophets who speak their own words and claim they came from me.

Then I told Hananiah this, and added, "Listen, Hananiah! The LORD did not send you, and you are making these people believe a lie.

And so the LORD himself says that he is going to get rid of you. Before this year is over you will die because you have told the people to rebel against the LORD."

Their visions are false, and their predictions are lies. They claim that they are speaking my message, but I have not sent them. Yet they expect their words to come true!

So the Sovereign LORD says to them, "Your words are false, and your visions are lies. I am against you.

"The prophets mislead my people by saying that all is well. All is certainly not well! My people have put up a wall of loose stones, and then the prophets have come and covered it with whitewash.

The wall will collapse, and everyone will ask you what good the whitewash did."

I intend to break down the wall they whitewashed, to shatter it, and to leave the foundation stones bare. It will collapse and kill you all. Then everyone will know that I am the LORD.

those prophets who assured Jerusalem that all was well, when all was not well!" The Sovereign LORD has spoken.

The prophets have hidden these sins like workers covering a wall with whitewash. They see false visions and make false predictions. They claim to speak the word of the Sovereign LORD, but I, the LORD, have not spoken to them.

What's the use of an idol? It is only something that a human being has made, and it tells you nothing but lies. What good does it do for its maker to trust it---a god that can't even talk!

They exchange the truth about God for a lie; they worship and serve what God has created instead of the Creator himself, who is to be praised forever! Amen.

Then the people of Israel sinned against the LORD and began to serve the Baals.

They stopped worshiping the LORD and served the Baals and the Astartes.

Every time they would go into battle, the LORD was against them, just as he had said he would be. They were in great distress.

But the Israelites paid no attention to their leaders. Israel was unfaithful to the LORD and worshiped other gods. Their fathers had obeyed the LORD's commands, but this new generation soon stopped doing so.

Once again the Israelites sinned against the LORD by worshiping the Baals and the Astartes, as well as the gods of Syria, of Sidon, of Moab, of Ammon, and of Philistia. They abandoned the LORD and stopped worshiping him.

Do not be like your ancestors and your Israelite relatives who were unfaithful to the LORD their God. As you can see, he punished them severely.

Instead of being gathered and buried, their bones will be like manure lying on the ground. They will be spread out before the sun, the moon, and the stars, which these people have loved and served, and which they have consulted and worshiped.

Instead, they have been stubborn and have worshiped the idols of Baal as their ancestors taught them to do.

But even in the desert they defied me. They broke my laws and rejected my commands, which bring life to anyone who obeys them. They completely profaned the Sabbath. I was ready to let them feel the force of my anger there in the desert and to destroy them.

I made the vow because they had rejected my commands, broken my laws, and profaned the Sabbath---they preferred to worship their idols.

Instead, I warned the young people among them: Do not keep the laws your ancestors made; do not follow their customs or defile yourselves with their idols.

I did this because they had rejected my commands, broken my laws, profaned the Sabbath, and worshiped the same idols their ancestors had served.

Now tell the Israelites what I am saying: Why must you commit the same sins your ancestors did and go running after their idols?

For you know what was paid to set you free from the worthless manner of life handed down by your ancestors. It was not something that can be destroyed, such as silver or gold;