Zedekiah also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar had made Zedekiah swear an oath of allegiance to him in God’s name. But Zedekiah became so stubborn and so impossible to deal with that he refused to turn back to the Lord God of Israel.
But they were defiant and rebelled against you. They threw your teachings over their shoulders and killed your prophets who warned them to turn back to you. They committed outrageous sins.
You were patient with them for many years. You warned them by your Spirit through your prophets. However, they wouldn’t listen. So you handed them over to the people in the surrounding nations.
“For 23 years, from the time that Josiah, son of Amon, was in his thirteenth year as king of Judah until today, the Lord continued to speak his word to me. So I have spoken to you again and again, but you have not listened.
But you haven’t listened to me, declares the Lord. You have made me furious about the idols your hands have shaped and ⌞have brought⌟ harm upon yourselves.’
Don’t be like your ancestors, who heard the earlier prophets preach to them, ‘This is what the Lord of Armies says: Turn from your evil ways and your evil deeds.’ But they didn’t listen or pay attention to me, declares the Lord.