If any person secretly says bad things\par about his neighbor,\par I will stop that person.\par I will not allow people to be proud\par and think they are better than other people.\par
But Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord? Why should I obey him? Why should I let Israel go? I don’t even know who this Lord is, so I refuse to let Israel go.”
Sometimes people are not immediately punished for the bad things they do. Their punishment is slow to come. And that makes other people want to do bad things too.
The faces of the people show that they are guilty of doing wrong. And they are proud of their sin. They are like the people of Sodom {\cf2\super [31]} —they don’t care who sees their sin. It will be very bad for them. They have brought much trouble to themselves.
Those people use their feet to run to evil. They hurry to kill people that have done nothing wrong. They think evil thoughts. Rioting and stealing is their way of living.
“I stood ready to accept people that turned against me. I was waiting for those people to come to me. But they continued living a way that is not good. They did anything their hearts wanted to do.
“At that time, I will take a lamp and search through Jerusalem. I will find all the people that are satisfied to live their own way. Those people say, ‘The Lord does nothing. He does not help and he does not hurt!’ I will find those people and I will punish them!
All you humble people, come to the Lord! Obey his laws. Learn to do good things. Learn to be humble. Maybe then you will be safe when the Lord shows his anger.
People knew God. But they did not give glory to God, and they did not thank him. Their ideas were all useless. There was not one good thought left in their foolish minds.
People did not think it was important to have a true knowledge of God. So God left them and allowed those people to have their own worthless thinking. And so those people do the things that they should not do.
Remember that in the past you were without Christ. You were not citizens of Israel. {\cf2\super [11]} And you did not have the agreements {\cf2\super [12]} with the promise \{that God made to his people\}. You had no hope, and you did not know God.
When that happens, you must be careful not to become proud. You must not forget the Lord your God. You were slaves in Egypt. But the Lord made you free and brought you out of that land.