Like sheep, they must die, and death will be their shepherd. Honest people will rule over them in the morning, and their bodies will rot in a grave far from home.
So the place of the dead wants more and more people, and it opens wide its mouth. Jerusalem’s important people and common people will go down into it, with their happy and noisy ones.
But my people have forgotten me. They burn incense to worthless idols and have stumbled in what they do and in the old ways of their ancestors. They walk along back roads and on poor highways.
A young woman does not forget her jewelry, and a bride does not forget the decorations for her dress. But my people have forgotten me for more days than can be counted.
You can hear crying on the bare hilltops. It is the people of Israel crying and praying for mercy. They have become very evil and have forgotten the Lord their God.
I will punish her for all the times she burned incense to the Baals. She put on her rings and jewelry and went chasing after her lovers, but she forgot me!” says the Lord.
But cowards, those who refuse to believe, who do evil things, who kill, who sin sexually, who do evil magic, who worship idols, and who tell lies—all these will have a place in the lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”