You told yourself, “I will go up to heaven. I will put my throne above God’s stars. I will sit on the mountain of the gods, on the slopes of the sacred mountain.
“Now, listen, you lover of pleasure. You think you are safe. You tell yourself, ‘I am the only important person. I will never be a widow or lose my children.’
Then you will say to yourself, ‘Who gave me all these children? I was sad and lonely, defeated and separated from my people. So who reared these children? I was left all alone. Where did all these children come from?’ ”
You might ask yourself, “Why has this happened to me?” It happened because of your many sins. Because of your sins, your skirt was torn off and your body has been treated badly.
And those men gave the Israelites a bad report about the land they explored, saying, “The land that we explored is too large to conquer. All the people we saw are very tall.
The Lord said to Moses, “Don’t be afraid of him. I will hand him, his whole army, and his land over to you. Do to him what you did to Sihon, the Amorite king who lived in Heshbon.”
Where can we go now? The spies we sent have made us afraid, because they said, ‘The people there are stronger and taller than we are. The cities are big, with walls up to the sky. And we saw the Anakites there!’ ”
Beware of evil thoughts. Don’t think, “The seventh year is near, the year to cancel what people owe.” You might be mean to the needy and not give them anything. Then they will complain to the Lord about you, and he will find you guilty of sin.