This is your last chance, my final warning. Your time is up! Turn away from all this evil, or the next time you hear from me will be when I am coming to pass judgment upon you. I will snatch you away, and no one will be there to help you escape my judgment.
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.”
But my people have forgotten me and burn incense to gods who are nothing, who make my people stumble in their ways. They no longer follow the ways of blessing they knew before but have followed paths that lead them nowhere.
The shadowy realm of death grows thirsty for souls and opens its mouth even wider to drink in the people! It gulps down the leaders of Jerusalem, along with their noisy, boasting crowds!
A shepherd called “Death” herds them, leading them straight to hell like mindless sheep. Yet at daybreak you will find the righteous ruling in their place. Every trace of them will be gone forever, with all their “glory” lost in the darkness of their doom.
If we had forsaken your holy name, wouldn’t you know it? You’d be right in leaving us. If we had worshiped before other gods, no one would blame you for punishing us. God, you know our every heart-secret. You know we still want you!
I hear the sound of voices echoing from the barren hills, the bitter weeping of the sons of Israel pleading for mercy because they lost their moral way and have forgotten Yahweh their God.