¹⁵ They rejected his decrees and the covenant^(A) he had made with their ancestors and the statutes he had warned them to keep. They followed worthless idols^(B) and themselves became worthless.^(C) They imitated the nations^(D) around them although the Lord had ordered them, “Do not do as they do.”

⁵ This is what the Lord says:

Instructions for Christian Living

¹⁷ So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer^(A) live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.^{(B) 18} They are darkened in their understanding^(C) and separated from the life of God^(D) because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.^{(E) 19} Having lost all sensitivity,^(F) they have given themselves over^(G) to sensuality^(H) so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.

²⁰ That, however, is not the way of life you learned