Study Desk

"Because you were not satisfied by the others, you went running after the Assyrians. You were their prostitute, but they didn't satisfy you either.

Because of this I will bring all your former lovers together—the ones you liked and the ones you hated. I will bring them around you in a circle, and then I will strip off your clothes and let them see you naked.

She and her daughters were proud because they had plenty to eat and lived in peace and quiet, but they did not take care of the poor and the underprivileged.

And now you will have to endure your disgrace. Your sins are so much worse than those of your sisters that they look innocent beside you. Now blush and bear your shame, because you make your sisters look pure."

The Sovereign Lord says, "I will treat you the way you deserve, because you ignored your promises and broke the covenant.

"As surely as I am the living God," says the Sovereign Lord , "this king will die in Babylonia because he broke his oath and the treaty he had made with the king of Babylonia, who put him on the throne.

I will spread out a hunter's net and catch him in it. I will take him to Babylonia and punish him there, because he was unfaithful to me.

He refuses to do evil and doesn't lend money for profit. He keeps my laws and obeys my commands. He will not die because of his father's sins, but he will certainly live.

His father, on the other hand, cheated and robbed and always did evil to everyone. And so he died because of the sins he himself had committed.

"But you ask, ‘Why shouldn't the son suffer because of his father's sins?' The answer is that the son did what was right and good. He kept my laws and followed them carefully, and so he will certainly live.

It is the one who sins who will die. A son is not to suffer because of his father's sins, nor a father because of the sins of his son. Good people will be rewarded for doing good, and evil people will suffer for the evil they do.

All his sins will be forgiven, and he will live, because he did what is right.

"But if a righteous person stops doing good and starts doing all the evil, disgusting things that evil people do, will he go on living? No! None of the good he did will be remembered. He will die because of his unfaithfulness and his sins.

When a righteous person stops doing good and starts doing evil and then dies, he dies because of the evil he has done.

Your mother was like a grapevine planted near a stream. Because there was plenty of water, the vine was covered with leaves and fruit.

I told them to throw away the disgusting idols they loved and not to make themselves unclean with the false gods of Egypt, because I am the Lord their God.

I made the vow because they had rejected my commands, broken my laws, and profaned the Sabbath—they preferred to worship their idols.

I did this because they had rejected my commands, broken my laws, profaned the Sabbath, and worshiped the same idols their ancestors had served.

Then you will remember all the disgraceful things you did and how you defiled yourselves. You will be disgusted with yourselves because of all the evil things you did.

When I act to protect my honor, you Israelites will know that I am the Lord , because I do not deal with you as your wicked, evil actions deserve." The Sovereign Lord has spoken.