Evil people brag about the things they want.\par And those greedy people curse God.\par In this way, the evil people show that\par they hate the Lord.\par
“Now you gather an army like the army that was destroyed. Gather horses and chariots like that army. Then let’s fight the Israelites on flat land. Then we will win.” Ben Hadad followed their advice. He did what they said.
A wealthy person might really congratulate himself\par on how well he has done in life.\par And yes, even other people might praise him for how well he had done for himself.\par
But who did you insult and make fun of?\par Who did you speak against?\par You were against the Holy One of Israel!\par You acted like you were better than him!\par
These people did evil things,\par and it made me angry.\par So, I punished Israel.\par I turned away from him\par because I was angry.\par And Israel left me.\par He went wherever he wanted.\par
“Jehoiakim, your eyes look\par only for what benefits yourself.\par You are always thinking about\par getting more for yourself.\par You are willing to kill innocent people.\par You are willing to steal things\par from other people.”\par
I will destroy your high places. [445] I will cut down your incense [446] altars. [447] I will put your dead bodies on the dead bodies of your idols. [448] You will be very disgusting to me.
Yes, it will be very bad for the person that becomes rich by doing wrong. That person does those things to live in a safe place. He thinks that he can stop other people from stealing from him. \{But bad things will happen to him.\}
Those people are filled with every kind of sin, evil, greed, and hatred. Those people are full of jealousy, murder, fighting, lying, and thinking the worst things about each other. Those people gossip
Those people know God’s law. They know God’s law says that people who live like that should die. But they continue to do those wrong things. And they say that people who do those things are doing right.
You can be sure of this: No person will have a place in the kingdom of Christ and of God if that person does sexual sins, or does evil things, or is a person who always wants more and more for himself. A greedy person like that is serving a false god.
“A person might hear these curses, but he might comfort himself and say, ‘I will continue doing what I want. Nothing bad will happen to me.’ That person might cause bad things to happen not only to himself but to everyone—even to the good people. [192]
So put all evil things out of your life: sexual sinning, doing evil, letting evil thoughts control you, wanting things that are evil, and selfishly wanting more and more. This wanting really means to live serving a false god.
Micah said to his mother, “Do you remember that someone stole 28 pounds [124] of silver from you. I heard you say a curse about that. Well, I have the silver. I took it.”