“‘Do not defile yourselves with any of these things, for the nations which I am about to drive out before you ¹  have been defiled with all these things.

You must not walk in the statutes of the nation ¹  which I am about to drive out before you, because they have done all these things and I am filled with disgust against them.

Yet he persisted in ¹  the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who encouraged Israel to sin; he did not turn from them. ² 

Judah also failed to keep the commandments of the Lord their God; they followed Israel’s example. ¹ 

They were worshiping ¹  the Lord and at the same time serving their own gods in accordance with the practices of the nations from which they had been deported.

O Lord our God, you answered them. They found you to be a forgiving God, but also one who punished their sinful deeds. ¹ 

I look, but there is no one, among them there is no one who serves as an adviser, that I might ask questions and receive answers.

I will do to you what I have never done before and will never do again because of all your abominable practices. ¹ 

oppresses the poor and the needy, ¹  commits robbery, does not give back what was given in pledge, prays to ²  idols, performs abominable acts,

When a righteous person turns back from his righteousness and practices wrongdoing, he will die for it; ¹  because of the wrongdoing he has done, he will die.

When a wicked person turns from the wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he will preserve his life.

“As for you, son of man, are you willing to pronounce judgment, ¹  are you willing to pronounce judgment on the bloody city? ²  Then confront her with all her abominable deeds!

The Lord said to me: “Son of man, are you willing to pronounce judgment ¹  on Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominable deeds!

Suppose I say to the wicked, ‘You must certainly die,’ but he turns from his sin and does what is just and right.

When the wicked turns from his sin and does what is just and right, he will live because of it.

“Because ¹  you have acted like a wanton prostitute ²  – a seductive mistress who practices sorcery, ³  who ⁴  enslaves ⁵  nations by her harlotry, ⁶  and entices peoples by her sorcery ⁷  –

On that day I will punish all who leap over the threshold, ¹  who fill the house of their master ²  with wealth taken by violence and deceit. ³ 

(For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they perform a ritual washing, ¹  holding fast to the tradition of the elders.

For Moses writes about the righteousness that is by the law: “The one who does these things will live by them.” ¹ 

Owe no one anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.