The Lord Reigns

Exile Because of Idolatry

⁷ And this occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, ^(A)who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods ^8 (B)and walked in the customs of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel, ^(C)and in the customs that the kings of Israel had practiced. ⁹ And the people of Israel did secretly against the Lord their God things that were not right. They built for themselves high places in all their towns, ^(D)from watchtower to fortified city. ¹⁰ They set up for themselves ^(E)pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree, ¹¹ and there they made offerings on all the high places, as the nations did whom the Lord carried away before them. And they did wicked things, provoking the Lord to anger, ¹² and they served idols, ^(F)of which the Lord had said to them, “You shall not do this.” ¹³ Yet the Lord ^(G)warned Israel and Judah ^(H)by every prophet ^(I)and every seer, saying, ^(J)“Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets.”

¹⁴ But they would not listen, ^(K)but were stubborn, as their fathers had been, who did not believe in the Lord their God. ¹⁵ They despised his statutes ^(L)and his covenant that he made with their fathers and the warnings that he gave them. They went after ^(M)false idols ^(N)and became false, and they followed the nations that were around them, concerning whom the ^(O)Lord had commanded them that they should not do like them. ¹⁶ And they abandoned all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made for themselves metal images of ^(P)two calves; and they ^(Q)made an Asherah and ^(R)worshiped all the host of heaven and served ^(S)Baal. ^17 (T)And they burned their sons and their daughters as offerings^[a] and used ^(U)divination and ^(V)omens and ^(W)sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. ¹⁸ Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them out of his sight. None was left but ^(X)the tribe of Judah only.

^19 (Y)Judah also did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the customs that Israel had introduced. ²⁰ And the Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel and afflicted them ^(Z)and gave them into the hand of plunderers, until he had cast them out of his sight.

²⁵ When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, ^(A)“Rabbi, when did you come here?” ²⁶ Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, ^(B)you are seeking me, not because you saw ^(C)signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. ^27 (D)Do not work for the food that perishes, but for ^(E)the food that endures to eternal life, which ^(F)the Son of Man will give to you. For on ^(G)him God the Father has ^(H)set his seal.” ²⁸ Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing ^(I)the works of God?” ²⁹ Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, ^(J)that you believe in him whom ^(K)he has sent.” ³⁰ So they said to him, ^(L)“Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? ^31 (M)Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ^(N)‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” ³² Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. ³³ For the bread of God is ^(O)he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” ³⁴ They said to him, ^(P)“Sir, give us this bread always.”

³⁵ Jesus said to them, ^(Q)“I am the bread of life; ^(R)whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.