Make sure that there is no one here today who hears these solemn demands and yet convinces himself that all will be well with him, even if he stubbornly goes his own way. That would destroy all of you, good and evil alike.

After the Danites had taken the priest and the things that Micah had made, they went and attacked Laish, that town of peaceful, quiet people which was in the same valley as Bethrehob. They killed the inhabitants and burned the town. There was no one to save them, because Laish was a long way from Sidon, and they had no dealings with any other people. The Danites rebuilt the town and settled down there.

(SEE 18:27)

The wicked say to themselves, "God doesn't care! He has closed his eyes and will never see me!"

How can the wicked despise God and say to themselves, "He will not punish me"?

My head is spinning, and I am trembling with fear. I had been longing for evening to come, but it has brought me nothing but terror.

'Let's get some wine,' these drunkards say, 'and drink all we can hold! Tomorrow will be even better than today!' "

At once the gold cups and bowls were brought in, and they all drank wine out of them

Suddenly a human hand appeared and began writing on the plaster wall of the palace, where the light from the lamps was shining most brightly. And the king saw the hand as it was writing.

Like tangled thorns and dry straw you drunkards will be burned up!

The coming of the Son of Man will be like what happened in the time of Noah.

yet they did not realize what was happening until the flood came and swept them all away. That is how it will be when the Son of Man comes.

As it was in the time of Noah so shall it be in the days of the Son of Man.

It will be as it was in the time of Lot. Everybody kept on eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building.

That is how it will be on the day the Son of Man is revealed.

"Be careful not to let yourselves become occupied with too much feasting and drinking and with the worries of this life, or that Day may suddenly catch you

like a trap. For it will come upon all people everywhere on earth.

The enemy said, 'I will pursue them and catch them; I will divide their wealth and take all I want; I will draw my sword and take all they have.'

But one breath from you, LORD, and the Egyptians were drowned; they sank like lead in the terrible water.

When the men of Ai looked back, they saw the smoke rising to the sky. There was no way for them to escape, because the Israelites who had run toward the barren country now turned around to attack them.

The Israelites in the city now came down to join the battle. So the men of Ai found themselves completely surrounded by Israelites, and they were all killed. No one got away, and no one lived through it

Then the Israelites turned around, and the Benjaminites were thrown into panic because they realized that they were about to be destroyed.

They retreated from the Israelites and ran toward the open country, but they could not escape. They were caught between the main army and the men who were now coming out of the city, and they were destroyed.

They talked about the God of Jerusalem in the same way that they talked about the gods of the other peoples, idols made by human hands.

The LORD sent an angel that killed the soldiers and officers of the Assyrian army. So the emperor went back to Assyria disgraced. One day when he was in the temple of his god, some of his sons killed him with their swords.

You will put them in slippery places and make them fall to destruction!

They are like a dream that goes away in the morning; when you rouse yourself, O Lord, they disappear.

If you get more stubborn every time you are corrected, one day you will be crushed and never recover.

You are guilty. You are like a high wall with a crack running down it; suddenly you will collapse.

Everybody kept on eating and drinking, and men and women married, up to the very day Noah went into the boat and the flood came and killed them all.

On the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and killed them all.

"Be careful not to let yourselves become occupied with too much feasting and drinking and with the worries of this life, or that Day may suddenly catch you

like a trap. For it will come upon all people everywhere on earth.

"It isn't a man speaking, but a god!" they shouted.

At once the angel of the Lord struck Herod down, because he did not give honor to God. He was eaten by worms and died.

'Look, you scoffers! Be astonished and die! For what I am doing today is something that you will not believe, even when someone explains it to you!' "

They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, separated from the presence of the Lord and from his glorious might,

God did not spare the angels who sinned, but threw them into hell, where they are kept chained in darkness, waiting for the Day of Judgment.

Give her as much suffering and grief as the glory and luxury she gave herself. For she keeps telling herself: 'Here I sit, a queen! I am no widow, I will never know grief !'

Because of this, in one day she will be struck with plagues--- disease, grief, and famine. And she will be burned with fire, because the Lord God, who judges her, is mighty."

There they were seized with fear and anguish, like a woman about to bear a child,

I will tell the north to let them go and the south not to hold them back. Let my people return from distant lands, from every part of the world.

God says, "Summon my people to court. They have eyes, but they are blind; they have ears, but they are deaf !

What I saw and heard in the vision has filled me with terror and pain, pain like that of a woman in labor.

I heard a cry, like a woman in labor, a scream like a woman bearing her first child. It was the cry of Jerusalem gasping for breath, stretching out her hand and saying, "I am doomed! They are coming to kill me!"

"We have heard the news," say the people of Jerusalem, "and our hands hang limp; we are seized by anguish and pain like a woman in labor.

What will you say when people you thought were your friends conquer you and rule over you? You will be in pain like a woman giving birth.

You rest secure among the cedars brought from Lebanon; but how pitiful you'll be when pains strike you, pains like those of a woman in labor.

Israel has a chance to live, but is too foolish to take it---like a child about to be born, who refuses to come out of the womb.

Why do you cry out so loudly? Why are you suffering like a woman in labor? Is it because you have no king, and your counselors are dead?

Twist and groan, people of Jerusalem, like a woman giving birth, for now you will have to leave the city and live in the open country. You will have to go to Babylon, but there the LORD will save you from your enemies.

You snakes and children of snakes! How do you expect to escape from being condemned to hell?

How, then, shall we escape if we pay no attention to such a great salvation? The Lord himself first announced this salvation, and those who heard him proved to us that it is true.

You have come to the joyful gathering of God's first-born, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, who is the judge of all people, and to the spirits of good people made perfect.