Then the Spirit of the Lord entered me and told me to say: “This is what the Lord says: You have said these things, people of Israel, and I know what you are thinking.
“And you, my son Solomon, accept the God of your father. Serve him completely and willingly, because the Lord knows what is in everyone’s mind. He understands everything you think. If you go to him for help, you will get an answer. But if you turn away from him, he will leave you forever.
You say, “We have made an agreement with death; we have a contract with death. When terrible punishment passes by, it won’t hurt us. Our lies will keep us safe, and our tricks will hide us.”
The Lord says, “Shout out loud. Don’t hold back. Shout out loud like a trumpet. Tell my people what they have done against their God; tell the family of Jacob about their sins.
But, Lord All-Powerful, you are a fair judge. You know how to test peoples’ hearts and minds. I have told you what I have against them. So let me see you give them the punishment they deserve.
But I, the Lord, look into a person’s heart and test the mind. So I can decide what each one deserves; I can give each one the right payment for what he does.”
“ ‘What you want will not come true. You say, “We want to be like the other nations, like the people in other lands. We want to worship idols made of wood and stone.”
“Human, say to the ruler of Tyre: ‘This is what the Lord God says: Because you are proud, you say, “I am a god. I sit on the throne of a god in the middle of the seas.” You think you are as wise as a god, but you are a human, not a god.
Say: ‘This is what the Lord God says: I am against you, king of Egypt. You are like a great crocodile that lies in the Nile River. You say, “The Nile is mine; I made it for myself.”
But when I speak to you, I will open your mouth, and you will say to them, ‘The Lord God says this.’ Those who will listen, let them listen. Those who refuse, let them refuse, because they are a people who turn against me.
It was the sixth year, on the fifth day of the sixth month of our captivity. I was sitting in my house with the elders of Judah in front of me. There I felt the power of the Lord God.
A third time he said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” Peter said, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you!” He said to him, “Feed my sheep.
And the tongue is like a fire. It is a whole world of evil among the parts of our bodies. The tongue spreads its evil through the whole body. The tongue is set on fire by hell, and it starts a fire that influences all of life.
I will also kill her followers. Then all the churches will know I am the One who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you for what you have done.