Don’t be impossible to deal with like your ancestors. Reach out for the Lord. Come to his holy place that he made holy forever. Serve the Lord your God, and he will turn his burning anger away from you.
They said to the army, “Don’t bring the prisoners here. You’ll make us responsible for this sin against the Lord. Do you intend to add to all our sins? The Lord is very angry with Israel because we have already sinned.”
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.
‘Ever since I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I didn’t choose any city from the tribes of Israel as a place to build a temple for my name. And I didn’t choose any man to be prince over my people Israel.
Let our leaders represent the whole community. At a set time, everyone who has married a foreign woman must meet with the leaders and judges of each city until our God’s burning anger has turned away from us in this matter.”
They shook hands as a pledge that they would get rid of their wives. They sacrificed a ram from their flock as an offering for guilt because they were guilty.
Shout a war cry against them on every side. They’ll surrender. Their towers will fall and their walls will be torn down. Since this is the Lord’s vengeance, take revenge against them. Do to them what they did to others.
But if you don’t want to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Even if you choose the gods your ancestors served on the other side of the Euphrates or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live, my family and I will still serve the Lord.”
That is why they are in front of the throne of God. They serve him day and night in his temple. The one who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them.