One Year Chronological Bible Sampler - Flipbook - Page 181
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They don’t understand God’s laws.
So I will go and speak to their leaders.
Surely they know the ways of the LORD
and understand God’s laws.”
But the leaders, too, as one man,
had thrown off God’s yoke
and broken his chains.
So now a lion from the forest will attack them;
a wolf from the desert will pounce on them.
A leopard will lurk near their towns,
tearing apart any who dare to venture out.
For their rebellion is great,
and their sins are many.
“How can I pardon you?
For even your children have turned from me.
They have sworn by gods that are not gods at all!
I fed my people until they were full.
But they thanked me by committing adultery
and lining up at the brothels.
They are well-fed, lusty stallions,
each neighing for his neighbor’s wife.
Should I not punish them for this?” says the LORD.
“Should I not avenge myself against such a nation?
“Go down the rows of the vineyards and destroy the grapevines,
leaving a scattered few alive.
Strip the branches from the vines,
for these people do not belong to the LORD.
The people of Israel and Judah
are full of treachery against me,”
says the LORD.
“ They have lied about the LORD
and said, ‘He won’t bother us!
No disasters will come upon us.
There will be no war or famine.
God’s prophets are all windbags
who don’t really speak for him.
Let their predictions of disaster fall on themselves!’”
Therefore, this is what the LORD God of Heaven’s Armies says:
“Because the people are talking like this,
my messages will flame out of your mouth
and burn the people like kindling wood.
O Israel, I will bring a distant nation against you,”
says the LORD.
“It is a mighty nation,
an ancient nation,
a people whose language you do not know,
JULY 30
