1 The Lord says,\par “Family of Jacob, listen to me!\par You people call yourself ‘Israel.’\par You are from Judah’s family.\par You use the Lord’s name to make promises.\par You praise the God of Israel.\par But you are not honest and sincere\par when you do these things.”\par
1 Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah, which swear by the name of the LORD, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness.
1 HEAR THIS, O house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel and who come forth from the seed of Judah, you who swear allegiance by the name of the Lord and make mention of the God of Israel–but not in truth and sincerity, nor in righteousness (rightness and moral and spiritual rectitude in every area and relation)–
1 Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah; who swear by the name of Jehovah, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness
1 Listen to this, house of Jacob, who are known by the name of Israel, descendants of Judah, who swear by the LORD’s name and invoke Israel’s God dishonestly and unrighteously.
1 Listen to these things, O house of Jacob, you who are called by the name of Israel, and who went forth from the waters of Judah. You swear by the name of the Lord and you call to mind the God of Israel, but not in truth, and not in justice.
If you do those things,\par then you will be able to use my name\par to make a promise:\par You will be able to say,\par ‘As the Lord lives.’\par And you will be able to use those words\par in a truthful, honest, and right way.\par If you do these things, then the nations\par will be blessed by the Lord.\par They will brag about the things\par that the Lord has done.”\par
People now ask blessings from the earth.\par \{But in the future,\} they will ask blessings\par from the faithful God.\par People now trust in the power of the earth\par when they make a promise.\par \{But in the future,\} they will trust\par in the faithful God.\par Why? Because the troubles in the past\par will all be forgotten.\par My people will never again\par remember those troubles.\par
Then the man said, “Your name will not be Jacob. Your name will now be Israel. [191] I give you this name because you have fought with God and with men, and you have not been defeated.”
Listen! There is a synagogue (group) that belongs to Satan (the devil). Those people say they are Jews, but they are liars. Those people are not \{true\} Jews. I will make those people come before you and bow at your feet. They will know that you are the people I have loved.
I know your troubles, and I know that you are poor. But really you are rich! I know the bad things that some people say \{about you\}. Those people say they are Jews. But they are not true Jews. They are a synagogue (group) that belongs to Satan (the devil).
Those teachings come through people that tell lies and trick other people. Those bad people cannot see what is right and what is wrong. It is like their understanding was destroyed by a hot iron.
This means that not all of Abraham’s descendants are God’s true children. Abraham’s true children are those people that become God’s children because of the promise God made to Abraham.
\{Yes, I feel sorry for the Jewish people.\} I don’t mean that God failed to keep his promise to them. But only some of the people of Israel (the Jews) are truly God’s people. {\cf2\super [77]}
“It will be bad for you teachers of the law and Pharisees. {\cf2\super [333]} You are hypocrites. {\cf2\super [334]} You close the way for people to enter the kingdom of heaven. You yourselves don’t enter, and you stop the people that are trying to enter.
Then I will come to you—and I will do the right thing. I will be like a person that is ready to tell the judge about the bad things people did. Some people do evil magic. Some people do the sin of adultery. {\cf2\super [19]} Some people make false promises. Some people cheat their workers—they don’t pay them the money they promised. People don’t help widows and orphans. {\cf2\super [20]} People don’t help strangers. People don’t respect me!” The Lord All-Powerful said these things.
go on their roofs {\cf2\super [2]} to worship the stars. {\cf2\super [3]} People will forget about those false priests. Some people say they worship me. Those people promised to worship me, but now they worship the false god Milcom. {\cf2\super [4]} So I will remove those people from that place.
Then they will come every day\par to worship me.\par And they will want to learn my ways.\par They will become a nation that lives right.\par They will not quit following\par God’s good commands.\par They will ask me to judge them fairly.\par They will want to go to God\par \{for his fair decisions\}.\par
“I make this promise by my own power. And when I make a promise, that promise is true. The thing I promise will happen! And I promise that every person will bow before me (God). And every person will promise \{to follow me\}.
“One person will say, ‘I belong to the Lord.’ Another person will use the name ‘Jacob.’ Another person will sign his name ‘I am the Lord’s.’ And another person will use the name ‘Israel.’”
Lord, you are our God.\par But in the past, we followed other lords. {\cf2\super [242]} \par We belonged to other masters.\par But now we want people to remember only one name, your name!\par
But the king will be happy with his God.\par And the people who promised to obey him\par will praise God.\par Why? Because he defeated all those liars.\par
Even today those people live like they did in the past. They do not honor the Lord. They do not obey the rules and commands of the Israelites. They do not obey the Law or the commands that the Lord gave to the children of Jacob (Israel).
God said to Jacob, “Your name is Jacob. But I will change that name. You will not be called Jacob now. Your new name will be Israel. [207] ” So God named him Israel.
We are all dirty with sin.\par Even our good works \{are not pure\}.\par They are like blood-stained rags.\par We are all like dead leaves.\par Our sins have carried us away like wind.\par
But, listen to the message from the Lord, all you people of Judah that are living in Egypt: ‘I use my great name and make this promise: I promise none of the people of Judah that are now living in Egypt will ever again use my name to make promises. They will never again say, “As surely as the Lord lives,”
Then the angel told me, “There is a curse written on that scroll. On one side of the scroll, there is a curse about people that steal. On the other side of the scroll is a curse about people that lie when they make promises.
But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, [50] said, “Look, my master (Elisha) has let Naaman the Aramean go without accepting the gift that he brought! As the Lord lives, I will run after Naaman and get something from him!”
“Some of you people try hard to live good lives. You go to the Lord for help. Listen to me. You should look at Abraham your father. He is the rock you were cut from.
Abraham is your father, and you should look at him. You should look at Sarah—the woman that gave birth to you. Abraham was alone when I called him. Then I blessed him, and he began a great family. Many, many people came from him.”
But people of Jacob, {\cf2\super [31]} \par I must say these things.\par The Lord is losing his patience\par because of the bad things you did.\par If you people lived right,\par then I could say nice words to you.\par