Abraham approached the LORD and asked, "Are you really going to destroy the innocent with the guilty?

And to Solomon he said, "My son, I charge you to acknowledge your father's God and to serve him with an undivided heart and a willing mind. He knows all our thoughts and desires. If you go to him, he will accept you; but if you turn away from him, he will abandon you forever.

and he went to meet King Asa. He called out, "Listen to me, King Asa, and all you people of Judah and Benjamin! The LORD is with you as long as you are with him. If you look for him, he will let you find him, but if you turn away, he will abandon you.

But as for me, how wonderful to be near God, to find protection with the Sovereign LORD and to proclaim all that he has done!

He is near to those who call to him, who call to him with sincerity.

The Lord said, "These people claim to worship me, but their words are meaningless, and their hearts are somewhere else. Their religion is nothing but human rules and traditions, which they have simply memorized.

Turn to the LORD and pray to him, now that he is near.

Let the wicked leave their way of life and change their way of thinking. Let them turn to the LORD, our God; he is merciful and quick to forgive.

The people say, "Let's return to the LORD! He has hurt us, but he will be sure to heal us; he has wounded us, but he will bandage our wounds, won't he?

In two or three days he will revive us, and we will live in his presence.

but now I say to you, 'Return to me, and I will return to you.

You, like your ancestors before you, have turned away from my laws and have not kept them. Turn back to me, and I will turn to you. But you ask, 'What must we do to turn back to you?'

For the Law of Moses could not make anything perfect. And now a better hope has been provided through which we come near to God.

So let us come near to God with a sincere heart and a sure faith, with hearts that have been purified from a guilty conscience and with bodies washed with clean water.

No soap can wash away my sins.

but I am not guilty of any violence, and my prayer to God is sincere.

Those who claim to be respectable are more and more convinced they are right.

The LORD rewards me because I do what is right; he blesses me because I am innocent.

Those who are pure in act and in thought, who do not worship idols or make false promises.

LORD, I wash my hands to show that I am innocent and march in worship around your altar.

Is it for nothing, then, that I have kept myself pure and have not committed sin?

"When you lift your hands in prayer, I will not look at you. No matter how much you pray, I will not listen, for your hands are covered with blood.

Wash yourselves clean. Stop all this evil that I see you doing. Yes, stop doing evil

Anyone who is caught will be stabbed to death.

"Why is it that your disciples disobey the teaching handed down by our ancestors? They don't wash their hands in the proper way before they eat!"

When Pilate saw that it was no use to go on, but that a riot might break out, he took some water, washed his hands in front of the crowd, and said, "I am not responsible for the death of this man! This is your doing!"

In every church service I want the men to pray, men who are dedicated to God and can lift up their hands in prayer without anger or argument.

which was a symbol pointing to baptism, which now saves you. It is not the washing off of bodily dirt, but the promise made to God from a good conscience. It saves you through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

Sincerity and truth are what you require; fill my mind with your wisdom.

Remove my sin, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

Create a pure heart in me, O God, and put a new and loyal spirit in me.

The time is coming when the people of Jerusalem will be told that a scorching wind is blowing in from the desert toward them. It will not be a gentle wind that only blows away the chaff---

Give up all the evil you have been doing, and get yourselves new minds and hearts. Why do you Israelites want to die?

I will sprinkle clean water on you and make you clean from all your idols and everything else that has defiled you.

I will put my spirit in you and will see to it that you follow my laws and keep all the commands I have given you.

"To have good fruit you must have a healthy tree; if you have a poor tree, you will have bad fruit. A tree is known by the kind of fruit it bears.

"How terrible for you, teachers of the Law and Pharisees! You hypocrites! You clean the outside of your cup and plate, while the inside is full of what you have gotten by violence and selfishness.

Blind Pharisee! Clean what is inside the cup first, and then the outside will be clean too!

So the Lord said to him, "Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of your cup and plate, but inside you are full of violence and evil.

Fools! Did not God, who made the outside, also make the inside?

He made no difference between us and them; he forgave their sins because they believed.

All these promises are made to us, my dear friends. So then, let us purify ourselves from everything that makes body or soul unclean, and let us be completely holy by living in awe of God.

Now that by your obedience to the truth you have purified yourselves and have come to have a sincere love for other believers, love one another earnestly with all your heart.

Everyone who has this hope in Christ keeps himself pure, just as Christ is pure.

(SEE 1:7)