Don’t trust the power to take things by force.\par Don’t think you will gain anything by stealing.\par And if you become rich,\par don’t trust your riches to help you.\par
That man does not know what he is doing. He is confused, so his heart leads him the wrong way. That man can’t save himself. And he can’t see that he is doing wrong. That man will not say, “This statue I am holding is a false god.”
No person tells the truth about other people. People sue each other in court, and they depend on false arguments to win their cases. They tell lies about each other. They are full of trouble, and they give birth to evil.
This is what the Lord says: ‘People of Jerusalem, don’t fool yourselves. Don’t say to yourselves, “The army of Babylon will surely leave us alone.” They will not.
The Israelites \{did a foolish thing\}—it was like trying to plant the wind. But \{they will get only troubles\}—they will harvest a whirlwind. The grain in the fields will grow. It will give no food. Even if it grew something, strangers would eat it.