But the law is not based on faith, ¹  but the one who does the works of the law ²  will live by them. ³ 

But ¹  among you there must not be either sexual immorality, impurity of any kind, ²  or greed, as these are not fitting for the saints. ³ 

So it was necessary for the sketches ¹  of the things in heaven to be purified with these sacrifices, ²  but the heavenly things themselves required ³  better sacrifices than these.

Everyone who resides ¹  in him does not sin; ²  everyone who sins has neither seen him nor known him.

Now when these things had been completed, the leaders approached me and said, “The people of Israel, the priests, and the Levites have not separated themselves from the local residents ¹  who practice detestable things similar to those of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.

which you commanded us through your servants the prophets with these words: ¹  ‘The land that you are entering to possess is a land defiled by the impurities of the local residents! ²  With their abominations they have filled it from one end to the other with their filthiness.

If people want to boast, they should boast about this: They should boast that they understand and know me. They should boast that they know and understand that I, the Lord, act out of faithfulness, fairness, and justice in the earth and that I desire people to do these things,” ¹  says the Lord.

Then your survivors will remember me among the nations where they are exiled. They will realize ¹  how I was crushed by their unfaithful ²  heart which turned from me and by their eyes which lusted after their idols. They will loathe themselves ³  because of the evil they have done and because of all their abominable practices.

But I will let a small number of them survive the sword, famine, and pestilence, so that they can confess all their abominable practices to the nations where they go. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

“‘Because you did not remember the days of your youth and have enraged me with all these deeds, I hereby repay you for what you have done, ¹  declares the sovereign Lord. Have you not engaged in prostitution on top of all your other abominable practices?

When you bring foreigners, those uncircumcised in heart and in flesh, into my sanctuary, you desecrate ¹  it – even my house – when you offer my food, the fat and the blood. You ²  have broken my covenant by all your abominable practices.

You implement the regulations of Omri, and all the practices of Ahab’s dynasty; ¹  you follow their policies. ²  Therefore I will make you an appalling sight, ³  the city’s ⁴  inhabitants will be taunted derisively, ⁵  and nations will mock all of you.” ⁶ 

for it is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be in fear, for it does not bear the sword in vain. It is God’s servant to administer retribution on the wrongdoer.

You must not do as they do in the land of Egypt where you have been living, ¹  and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan into which I am about to bring you; ²  you must not ³  walk in their statutes.

“‘The person who turns to the spirits of the dead and familiar spirits ²  to commit prostitution by going after them, I will set my face ³  against that person and cut him off from the midst of his people.

He followed all the sinful practices of his father before him. He was not wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord his God, as his ancestor David had been. ¹ 

When Jehoram saw Jehu, he asked, “Is everything all right, Jehu?” He replied, “How can everything be all right as long as your mother Jezebel promotes idolatry and pagan practices?” ¹ 

They burned incense on all the high places just like the nations whom the Lord had driven away from before them. Their evil practices made the Lord angry. ¹ 

But they did not obey, ¹  and Manasseh misled them so that they sinned more than the nations whom the Lord had destroyed from before the Israelites.

But Manasseh misled the people of ¹  Judah and the residents of Jerusalem so that they sinned more than the nations whom the Lord had destroyed ahead of the Israelites.