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Zechariah 1:4

Holy Bible: Easy-to-Read Version

“Don’t be like your ancestors. In the past the prophets spoke to them and said, ‘The Lord All-Powerful wants you to change your evil way of living. Stop doing evil things!’ But your ancestors did not listen to me.” This is what the Lord said.

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They would not be like their ancestors, who were stubborn and refused to obey. Their hearts were not devoted to God, and they were not faithful to him.

“You must say to them, ‘The Lord GOD says: By my life, I swear that I don’t enjoy seeing people die—not even evil people! I don’t want them to die. I want them to come back to me. I want them to change their lives so that they can really live. So come back to me! Stop doing bad things! Why must you die, family of Israel?’

Time after time I have sent my servants the prophets to you. They said, “You must each stop doing evil things and do what is right. Don’t follow other gods. Don’t worship or serve them. If you obey me, you will live in the land I have given to you and your ancestors.” But you have not paid attention to my message.

So you must tell the people what the Lord All-Powerful says, “Come back to me, says the Lord All-Powerful, and I will come back to you.” This is what the Lord All-Powerful said.

You know that in the past the way you were living was useless. It was a way of life you learned from those who lived before you. But you were saved from that way of living. You were bought, but not with things that ruin like gold or silver.

I began telling people to change their hearts and lives and turn back to God. And I told them to do what would show that they had really changed. I went first to people in Damascus. Then I went to Jerusalem and to every part of Judea and told the people there. I also went to the non-Jewish people.

So you must change your hearts and lives. Come back to God, and he will forgive your sins.

The people say, “Don’t prophesy to us. Don’t say those bad things about us. Nothing bad will happen to us.”

But let justice flow like a river, and let goodness flow like a stream that never becomes dry.

Israel, you fell and sinned against God. So come back to the Lord your God.

“We will not listen to the message from the Lord that you spoke to us.

You must listen to what my servants say to you. The prophets are my servants. I have sent my prophets to you again and again, but you did not listen to them.

“So, Jeremiah, say to the people of Judah and those who live in Jerusalem, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am the potter preparing troubles for you and making plans against you. So stop doing the evil things you are doing. Each person must change and start doing good.’

Jeremiah, look toward the north and speak this message: “‘Come back, you faithless people of Israel.’ This message is from the Lord. ‘I will stop frowning at you. I am full of mercy.’ The Lord says, ‘I will not be angry with you forever.

People of Israel, you should come back to the God you turned away from.

“You were very patient with our ancestors. You let them mistreat you for many years. You warned them with your Spirit. You sent the prophets to warn them. But our ancestors didn’t listen. So you gave them to people in other countries.

And then they turned against you. They threw away your teachings. They killed your prophets. Those prophets warned the people. They tried to bring them back to you. But our ancestors said terrible things against you.

But our ancestors became proud and stubborn. They refused to obey your commands.

We have been guilty of many sins from the days of our ancestors until now. We sinned so our kings and priests were punished. Foreign kings attacked us and took our people away. They took away our wealth and made us ashamed. It is the same even today.

The king said, “Go, ask the Lord for me and for the people who are left in Israel and in Judah. Ask about the words in the book that was found. The Lord is very angry with us because our ancestors did not obey the Lord’s word. They did not do everything this book says to do.”

Don’t be like your fathers or your brothers. The Lord was their God, but they turned against him. So he made people hate them and speak evil about them. You can see with your own eyes that this is true.

This message is from the Lord. “Israel, if you want to come back, then come back to me. Throw away your idols. Don’t wander farther away from me.

If they had stood in my heavenly council, then they would have told my messages to the people of Judah. They would have stopped the people from doing bad things. They would have stopped them from doing evil.”

I spoke to their children and told them, “Don’t be like your parents. Don’t make yourselves filthy with their filthy idols. Don’t follow their laws or obey their commands.

If people hear the warning but ignore it, the enemy will capture them and take them away as prisoners. They will be responsible for their own death.

The Lord used the earlier prophets to say the same thing long ago. That was when Jerusalem was still a rich city filled with people and there were still people living in the surrounding towns, in the Negev, and in the western foothills.’”

So the messengers took the king’s letters all through Israel and Judah. This is what the letters said: “Children of Israel, turn back to the Lord, the God who Abraham, Isaac, and Israel obeyed. Then God will come back to you who are still alive and have escaped from the kings of Assyria.

The Lord says, “You people are unfaithful, but come back to me because I am your master. I will take one person from every city and two people from every family and bring you to Zion.

So this is what the Lord All-Powerful says, “You have not listened to my messages.

“So tell the family of Israel, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: Come back to me and leave your filthy idols. Turn away from those terrible, false gods.

The prophets were your servants. They spoke for you to our kings, to our leaders, to our fathers, and to the common people in our country. But we did not listen to them.




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