Luxury is not appropriate ¹  for a fool; ²  how much less for a servant to rule over princes! ³ 

The wicked person’s sacrifice ¹  is an abomination; how much more ²  when he brings it with evil intent! ³ 

Indeed, she lies in wait like a robber, ¹  and increases the unfaithful ²  among men. ³ 

lest the Lord see it, and be displeased, ¹  and turn his wrath away from him. ² 

so is a person ¹  who deceives his neighbor, and says, “Was I not only joking?” ² 

He said to me, “You will see them practicing even greater abominations!”

They have sunk deep into corruption ¹  as in the days of Gibeah. He will remember their wrongdoing. He will repay them for their sins.

Whoever is not with me is against me, ¹  and whoever does not gather with me scatters. ² 

Then many will be led into sin, ¹  and they will betray one another and hate one another.

They ¹  devour widows’ property, ²  and as a show make long prayers. These men will receive a more severe punishment.”

Whoever is not with me is against me, ¹  and whoever does not gather with me scatters. ² 

Let us not become conceited, ¹  provoking ²  one another, being jealous ³  of one another.

You have not yet resisted to the point of bloodshed ¹  in your struggle against sin.

For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and presumption is like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as ¹  king.”

Ben Hadad sent another message to him, “May the gods judge me severely ¹  if there is enough dirt left in Samaria for my soldiers to scoop up in their hands.” ² 

Indeed, they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race ¹  has become intermingled with the local residents. Worse still, the leaders and the officials have been at the forefront of all of this!”

“For this is what the sovereign Lord says: How much worse will it be when I send my four terrible judgments – sword, famine, wild animals, and plague – to Jerusalem ¹  to kill both people and animals!

Although they fully know ¹  God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, ²  they not only do them but also approve of those who practice them. ³ 

One of his advisers replied, “Pick some men and have them take five of the horses that are left in the city. (Even if they are killed, their fate will be no different than that of all the Israelite people – we’re all going to die!) ¹  Let’s send them out so we can know for sure what’s going on.” ² 

But I see the prophets of Jerusalem ¹  doing something just as shocking. They are unfaithful to me and continually prophesy lies. ²  So they give encouragement to people who are doing evil, with the result that they do not stop their evildoing. ³  I consider all of them as bad as the people of Sodom, and the citizens of Jerusalem as bad as the people of Gomorrah. ⁴