The Lord said to me, “Announce all these things in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: Listen to the terms of this promise, and keep them.
“Go and announce to Jerusalem, ‘This is what the Lord says: I remember the unfailing loyalty of your youth, the love you had for me as a bride. I remember how you followed me into the desert, into a land that couldn’t be farmed.
Go and proclaim these things to the north: “ ‘Come back, unfaithful Israel. It is the Lord speaking. I will no longer frown on you because I’m merciful,’ declares the Lord. ‘I will no longer be angry with you.
“Stand at the gate of the Lord’s house, and announce from there this message: ‘Listen to the Lord’s word, all you people of Judah who go through these gates to worship the Lord.
Aren’t these the same words that the Lord announced through the earlier prophets, when Jerusalem and its surrounding cities were inhabited and undisturbed and the Negev and the foothills were still inhabited?’ ”
People who merely listen to the laws in Moses’ Teachings don’t have God’s approval. Rather, people who do what those laws demand will have God’s approval.
Israel, listen to the laws and rules I am about to teach you. Obey them so that you will live and be able to enter and take possession of the land that the Lord God of your ancestors is giving you.