“Don’t ever forget the Lord your God. Don’t ever follow other gods or worship and serve them. If you do that, I warn you today: You will surely be destroyed!
So I am warning you now. Heaven and earth are my witnesses! If you do such an evil thing, you will quickly be destroyed! You are crossing the Jordan River now to take that land. But if you make any idols, you will not live there very long. No, you will be destroyed completely!
The Lord says, “I have destroyed whole nations and their defense towers. I destroyed their streets and now no one goes there anymore. Their cities are empty—no one lives there anymore.
Their gold and silver will not help them! At that time the Lord will become very upset and angry. The Lord will destroy the whole world! He will completely destroy everyone on earth!”
“There are many families on earth, but you are the only family I chose to know in a special way. And you turned against me, so I will punish you for all your sins.”
During his first year as king, I was studying the Scriptures and noticed in the Lord’s message to Jeremiah that 70 years would pass before Jerusalem would be rebuilt.
the Lord your God will not help you defeat your enemies. They will become like a trap for you. They will cause you pain—like smoke and dust in your eyes. And you will be forced to leave this good land. The Lord your God gave you this land. But you can lose it if you don’t obey this command.
I will take them into the land that I promised to give to their ancestors—a land filled with many good things. And they will have all they want to eat. They will have a rich life. But then they will turn to other gods and serve them. They will turn away from me and break my agreement.
You must be fair to strangers. You must help widows and orphans. Don’t kill innocent people in this place! And don’t follow other gods, because they will only ruin your lives.
Don’t follow other gods. Don’t serve or worship them. Don’t worship idols that someone has made. That only makes me angry with you. By doing this you only hurt yourselves.”