13 The Lord used every prophet and every seer [205] to warn Israel and Judah. The Lord said, “Turn away from the evil things you do! Obey my commands and laws. Follow all the Law that I gave to your ancestors. [206] I used my servants the prophets to give this law to you.”
13 Yet the LORD testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets.
13 Yet the Lord warned Israel and Judah through all the prophets and all the seers, saying, Turn from your evil ways and keep My commandments and My statutes, according to all the Law which I commanded your fathers and which I sent to you by My servants the prophets.
13 Yet Jehovah testified unto Israel, and unto Judah, by every prophet, and every seer, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets.
13 The LORD warned Israel and Judah through all the prophets and seers, telling them, Turn from your evil ways. Keep my commandments and my regulations in agreement with the entire Instruction that I commanded your ancestors and sent through my servants the prophets.
13 And the Lord testified to them, in Israel and in Judah, through the hand of all the prophets and seers, saying: "Return from your wicked ways, and keep my precepts and ceremonies, in accord with the entire law, which I instructed to your fathers, and just as I sent to you by the hand of my servants, the prophets."
I sent my servants the prophets to you people of Israel and Judah. I sent them to you again and again. Those prophets said to you, ‘Each of you people of Israel and Judah must stop doing evil things. You must be good. Don’t follow other gods. Don’t worship or serve them. If you obey me, then you will live in the land I have given to you and your ancestors.’ But you people have not paid attention to my message.
“So, Jeremiah, say to the people of Judah and the people that live in Jerusalem, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am preparing troubles for you right now. I am making plans against you. So stop doing the evil things that you are doing. Each person must change and start doing good things!’
Then many terrible things will happen to them. They will have many troubles. At that time, their people will still know this song, and it will show them how wrong they are. I have not yet taken them into the land I promised to give them. But I already know what they are planning to do there.”
The Lord is not being slow in doing what he promised—the way some people understand slowness. But God is being patient with you. God doesn’t want any person to be lost. God wants every person to change his heart and stop sinning.
“Israel, you act like a prostitute. {\cf2\super [44]} But don’t let Judah be guilty. Don’t go to Gilgal {\cf2\super [45]} or go up to Beth-aven. {\cf2\super [46]} Don’t use the Lord’s name to make promises. Don’t say, ‘As the Lord lives …!’
The things that King David did, from beginning to end, are in the books written by Samuel the seer, {\cf2\super [330]} Nathan the prophet {\cf2\super [331]} , and Gad the seer.
until the Lord took Israel away from his sight. And the Lord said this would happen! He sent his prophets to tell the people this would happen. So the Israelites were taken out of their country into Assyria. And they have been there to this day.
This will happen if you refuse to keep your agreement with the Lord your God. You will lose this land if you go and serve other gods. You must not worship those other gods. If you do, the Lord will become very angry at you. Then you will quickly be forced to leave this good land that he gave you.”
“Don’t ever forget the Lord your God. Don’t ever follow other gods! Don’t worship and serve them. If you do that, then I warn you today: You will surely be destroyed!
So, I am warning you now. Heaven and earth are my witnesses! If you do that evil thing, then you will quickly be destroyed! You are crossing the Jordan River now to take that land. But if you make any idols, then you will not live there very long. No, you will be completely destroyed!
Then I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God. You will live in the land of the Amorite people, but you must not worship their false gods.’ But you did not obey me.”
I said to myself, ‘Israel will come back to me after she has finished doing these evil things.’ But she did not come back to me. And Israel’s unfaithful sister, Judah, saw what she did.
I said to your ancestors: ‘At the end of every seven years, each person must set his Hebrew slaves free. If you have a fellow Hebrew that has sold himself to you, you must let him go free after he has served you for six years.’ But your ancestors didn’t listen to me or pay attention to me.
“Maybe you will warn a person and tell him to change his life and stop doing bad things. If that person refuses to listen to you, then that person will die. He will die because he sinned. But you warned him, so you saved your own life.
But the more I {\cf2\super [114]} called the Israelites,\par the more the Israelites left me.\par The Israelites gave sacrifices to the Baals. {\cf2\super [115]} \par They burned incense {\cf2\super [116]} to the idols. {\cf2\super [117]} \par
So the Lord sent a prophet to them. The prophet said to the people of Israel, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘You were slaves in the land of Egypt. I made you free and brought you out of that land.
So the Lord gave a message to Jehu the prophet. This message was against Baasha and his family. Baasha had done much evil against the Lord. This made the Lord very angry. Baasha did the same things that Jeroboam’s family had done before him. The Lord was also angry because Baasha killed all of Jeroboam’s family.
I gave a warning to your ancestors {\cf2\super [92]} at the time I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I warned them again and again to this very day. I told them to obey me.
I have given you messages from the Lord again and again for these past 23 years. I have been a prophet since the 13th year that Josiah son of Amon was the king of Judah. I have spoken messages from the Lord to you from that time until today. But you have not listened.
But the people in Gilead {\cf2\super [138]} have sinned. There are many terrible idols in that place. The people offer sacrifices to bulls at Gilgal. Those people have many altars. {\cf2\super [139]} There are rows and rows of altars—like the rows of dirt in a plowed field.