these arrogant ones, so smug and secure! In their delusion the wicked boast, saying, “God doesn’t care about what we do. There’s nothing to worry about!”
Only the withering soul would say to himself, “There’s no God for me!” Anyone who thinks like that is corrupt and callous; depraved and detestable, they are devoid of what is good.
Such amazing mysteries are found within every miracle that nearly everyone seems to miss. Those with no discernment can never really discover the deep and glorious secrets hidden in your ways.
But you who are known as the Pharisees are rotten to the core like venomous snakes. How can your words be good if you are rotten within? For what has been stored up in your hearts will be heard in the overflow of your words!
“God said to him, ‘What a fool you are to trust in your riches and not in me! This very night the messengers of death will demand to take your life. Then who will get all the wealth you have stored up for yourself?’
We cross the threshold of true knowledge when we live in obedient devotion to God. Stubborn know-it-alls will never stop to do this, for they scorn true wisdom and knowledge.
For it wasn’t that long ago that we behaved foolishly in our stubborn disobedience. We were easily led astray as slaves to worldly passions and pleasures. We wasted our lives in doing evil, and with hateful jealousy we hated others.
But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the despicable, the murderers, the perverts, the sorcerers, the idolaters, and all deceivers, they will find their place in the lake of fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
Oh, how this nation keeps sinning! See them dragging the heavy burden of their guilt! They are corrupt children, descendants of evildoers. They have turned their backs on the Lord God and despised the Holy One of Israel! They have cut themselves off from the help of God!
I was stumbling over what I saw the wicked doing. For when I saw the boasters with such wealth and prosperity, I became jealous over their smug security.