This happened because they refused to obey the Lord their God and disregarded the conditions of the promise he made to them. They refused to obey everything that Moses, the Lord’s servant, had commanded.
But if you and your descendants dare to turn away from me and do not keep my commands and laws that I gave to you, and follow and serve other gods and worship them,
I will never again make Israel’s feet wander from the land that I gave to their ancestors if they will obey all the commands and all the Teachings that my servant Moses gave them.”
They refused to listen. They forgot the miracles you performed for them. They became stubborn and appointed a leader to take them back to slavery ⌞in Egypt⌟. But you are a forgiving God, one who is compassionate, merciful, patient, and always ready to forgive. You never abandoned them,
Judah saw that I sent unfaithful Israel away because of her adultery and that I gave Israel her divorce papers. But treacherous Judah, her sister, wasn’t afraid. She also acted like a prostitute.
But I did tell them this, ‘Obey me, and I will be your God, and you will be my people. Live the way I told you to live so that things will go well for you.’
Then you will know that I am the Lord. You haven’t lived by my laws, and you haven’t obeyed my rules. You have followed the standards set by the nations around you.”
This is what the Lord says: Because Israel has committed three crimes, and now a fourth crime, I will not change my plans. The people of Israel sell the righteous for money and the needy for a pair of sandals.
You’ll be cursed if you disobey the commands of the Lord your God, if you turn from the way I’m commanding you to live today, and if you worship other gods you never knew.
The Lord said to Moses, “Soon you are going to lie down in death with your ancestors. When these people enter the land and are living among the foreigners there, they will chase after foreign gods as though they were prostitutes. They will abandon me and reject the promise I made to them.
On that day I will become angry with them. I will abandon them and turn away from them. They will be destroyed, and many terrible disasters will happen to them. On that day they will ask, ‘Haven’t these disasters happened to us because our God isn’t with us?’
a stone that people trip over, a large rock that people find offensive.” The people tripped over the word because they refused to believe it. Therefore, this is how they ended up.
The time has come for the judgment to begin, and it will begin with God’s family. If it starts with us, what will be the end for those who refuse to obey the Good News of God?