¹⁹ All who hear the words of this oath and bless themselves, thinking in their hearts, ‘We are safe even though we go our own stubborn ways’ (thus sweeping away the moist with the dry)^[a]—

³⁰ But whoever acts high-handedly, whether native-born or an alien, affronts the Lord and shall be cut off from among the people.

The Old Life and the New

¹⁷ Now this I affirm and insist on in the Lord: you must no longer walk as the^[a] gentiles walk, in the futility of their minds;^(A)

¹⁶ “As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we are not going to listen to you.^{(A) 17} Instead, we will do everything that we have vowed, make offerings to the queen of heaven and pour out libations to her, just as we and our ancestors, our kings and our officials, used to do in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. We used to have plenty of food and prospered and saw no misfortune.^(B)

²⁴ Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but, in the stubbornness of their evil will, they walked in their own counsels and looked backward rather than forward.^(A)

³ Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your doings, and let me dwell with you^[a] in this place. ⁴ Do not trust in these deceptive words: “This is^[b] the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.”

⁵ For if you truly amend your ways and your doings, if you truly act justly one with another,^{(A) 6} if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own hurt,^{(B) 7} then I will dwell with you^[c] in this place, in the land that I gave to your ancestors forever and ever.

⁸ Here you are, trusting in deceptive words to no avail.^{(C) 9} Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known^{(D) 10} and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, “We are safe!”—only to go on doing all these abominations?^{(E) 11} Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your sight? I, too, am watching, says the Lord.^(F)

² “If there is found among you, in one of your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, a man or woman who does what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God and transgresses his covenant^(A)

³⁹ You have the fringe so that, when you see it, you will remember all the commandments of the Lord and do them and not follow the lust of your own heart and your own eyes.^(A)

⁶ Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes on those who are disobedient.^[a](A)

⁵ and every proud obstacle raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ.^(A)