God Must be #1

¹ “The sin of Judah is engraved with an iron chisel on their stone-hard hearts. It is inscribed with a diamond point on the horns of their altars.

² Their children are always thinking about their altars and their sacred poles dedicated to the goddess Asherah, set up beside the green trees on the high hills

³ and on the mountains and in the fields. I will give your wealth and all your treasures away as plunder. I will give it away as the price for the sins you have committed throughout your land.

⁴ You will lose your hold on the land that I gave to you as a permanent possession. I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you know nothing about. For you have made my anger burn like a fire that will never be put out.”

⁵ The Lord says, “I will put a curse on people who trust in mere human beings, who depend on mere flesh and blood for their strength, and whose hearts have turned away from the Lord.

⁶ They will be like a shrub in the arid rift valley. They will not experience good things even when they happen. It will be as though they were growing in the stony wastes in the wilderness, in a salt land where no one can live.

⁷ My blessing is on those people who trust in me, who put their confidence in me.

⁸ They will be like a tree planted near a stream whose roots spread out toward the water. It has nothing to fear when the heat comes. Its leaves are always green. It has no need to be concerned in a year of drought. It does not stop bearing fruit.

⁹ The human mind is more deceitful than anything else. It is incurably bad. Who can understand it?

¹⁰ I, the Lord, probe into people’s minds. I examine people’s hearts. I deal with each person according to how he has behaved. I give them what they deserve based on what they have done.

¹¹ The person who gathers wealth by unjust means is like the partridge that broods over eggs but does not hatch them. Before his life is half over he will lose his ill-gotten gains. At the end of his life it will be clear he was a fool.”

¹² Then I said, “Lord, from the very beginning you have been seated on your glorious throne on high. You are the place where we can find refuge.

¹³ You are the one in whom Israel may find hope. All who leave you will suffer shame. Those who turn away from you will be consigned to the netherworld. For they have rejected you, the Lord, the fountain of life.

¹⁴ Lord, grant me relief from my suffering so that I may have some relief; rescue me from those who persecute me so that I may be rescued, for you give me reason to praise!

¹⁵ Listen to what they are saying to me, ‘Where are the things the Lord threatens us with? May it please happen!’

¹⁶ But I have not pestered you to bring disaster. I have not desired the time of irreparable devastation. You know that. You are fully aware of every word that I have spoken.

¹⁷ Do not cause me dismay! You are my source of safety in times of trouble.

¹⁸ May those who persecute me be disgraced. Do not let me be disgraced. May they be dismayed. Do not let me be dismayed. Bring days of disaster on them. Bring on them the destruction they deserve.”

¹⁹ The Lord told me, “Go and stand in the People’s Gate through which the kings of Judah enter and leave the city. Then go and stand in all the other gates of the city of Jerusalem. ²⁰ And then announce to them, ‘Listen to the Lord’s message, you kings of Judah, and everyone from Judah, and all you citizens of Jerusalem, those who pass through these gates. ²¹ The Lord says, Be very careful if you value your lives! Do not carry any loads in through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. ²² Do not carry any loads out of your houses or do any work on the Sabbath day. But observe the Sabbath day as a day set apart to the Lord, as I commanded your ancestors. ²³ Your ancestors, however, did not listen to me or pay any attention to me. They stubbornly refused to pay attention or to respond to any discipline.’ ²⁴ The Lord says, ‘You must make sure to obey me. You must not bring any loads through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day. You must set the Sabbath day apart to me. You must not do any work on that day. ²⁵ If you do this, then the kings and princes who follow in David’s succession and ride in chariots or on horses will continue to enter through these gates, as well as their officials and the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem. This city will always be filled with people. ²⁶ Then people will come here from the towns in Judah, from the villages surrounding Jerusalem, from the territory of Benjamin, from the foothills, from the southern hill country, and from the southern part of Judah. They will come bringing offerings to the temple of the Lord: burnt offerings, sacrifices, grain offerings, and incense along with their thank offerings. ²⁷ But you must obey me and set the Sabbath day apart to me. You must not carry any loads in through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. If you disobey, I will set the gates of Jerusalem on fire. It will burn down all the fortified dwellings in Jerusalem and no one will be able to put it out.’”