After a few days the younger son sold his part of the property and left home with the money. He went to a country far away, where he wasted his money in reckless living.

So Moses and Aaron went to the king and said to him, "The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says, 'How much longer will you refuse to submit to me? Let my people go, so that they may worship me.

When his troubles were at their worst, that man Ahaz sinned against the LORD more than ever.

Why do you keep on rebelling? Do you want to be punished even more? Israel, your head is already covered with wounds, and your heart and mind are sick.

If the LORD Almighty had not let some of the people survive, Jerusalem would have been totally destroyed, just as Sodom and Gomorrah were.

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 was angry with them because of their sin and greed, and so I punished them and abandoned them. But they were stubborn and kept on going their own way.

Surely the LORD looks for faithfulness. He struck you, but you paid no attention; he crushed you, but you refused to learn. You were stubborn and would not turn from your sins.

The LORD told me to say to his people, "When someone falls down, doesn't he get back up? If someone misses the road, doesn't he turn back?

I listened carefully, but you did not speak the truth. Not one of you has been sorry for your wickedness; not one of you has asked, 'What have I done wrong?' Each of you keep on going your own way, like a horse rushing into battle.

"I hear the people of Israel say in grief, ' LORD, we were like an untamed animal, but you taught us to obey. Bring us back; we are ready to return to you, the LORD our God.

We turned away from you, but soon we wanted to return. After you had punished us, we hung our heads in grief. We were ashamed and disgraced because we sinned when we were young.'

who is gentle as you correct your opponents, for it may be that God will give them the opportunity to repent and come to know the truth.

And then they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the Devil, who had caught them and made them obey his will.

I have given her time to repent of her sins, but she does not want to turn from her immorality.

And so I will throw her on a bed where she and those who committed adultery with her will suffer terribly. I will do this now unless they repent of the wicked things they did with her.

There was a large herd of pigs near by, feeding on a hillside. So the demons begged Jesus to let them go into the pigs, and he let them.

The men who had been taking care of the pigs saw what happened, so they ran off and spread the news in the town and among the farms.

And now you will have to endure your disgrace. Your sins are so much worse than those of your sisters that they look innocent beside you. Now blush and bear your shame, because you make your sisters look pure."

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.

I will treat you with contempt and cover you with filth. People will stare at you in horror.

So I, in turn, will make the people of Israel despise you because you do not obey my will, and when you teach my people, you do not treat everyone alike."

And so God has given those people over to do the filthy things their hearts desire, and they do shameful things with each other.

Because they do this, God has given them over to shameful passions. Even the women pervert the natural use of their sex by unnatural acts.

But now you have been set free from sin and are the slaves of God. Your gain is a life fully dedicated to him, and the result is eternal life.

Surely you know that the wicked will not possess God's Kingdom. Do not fool yourselves; people who are immoral or who worship idols or are adulterers or homosexual perverts

Some of you were like that. But you have been purified from sin; you have been dedicated to God; you have been put right with God by the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

At that time you followed the world's evil way; you obeyed the ruler of the spiritual powers in space, the spirit who now controls the people who disobey God.

Actually all of us were like them and lived according to our natural desires, doing whatever suited the wishes of our own bodies and minds. In our natural condition we, like everyone else, were destined to suffer God's anger.

In the Lord's name, then, I warn you: do not continue to live like the heathen, whose thoughts are worthless

They have lost all feeling of shame; they give themselves over to vice and do all sorts of indecent things without restraint.

Have nothing to do with the worthless things that people do, things that belong to the darkness. Instead, bring them out to the light.

(It is really too shameful even to talk about the things they do in secret.)

You must put to death, then, the earthly desires at work in you, such as sexual immorality, indecency, lust, evil passions, and greed (for greed is a form of idolatry).

At one time you yourselves used to live according to such desires, when your life was dominated by them.

For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, and wrong. We were slaves to passions and pleasures of all kinds. We spent our lives in malice and envy; others hated us and we hated them.