¹ The sinful nation is as good as dead, ²  the people weighed down by evil deeds. They are offspring who do wrong, children ³  who do wicked things. They have abandoned the Lord, and rejected the Holy One of Israel. ⁴  They are alienated from him. ⁵ 

I will tell of the faithful acts of the Lord, of the Lord’s praiseworthy deeds. I will tell about all ¹  the Lord did for us, the many good things he did for the family of Israel, ²  because of ³  his compassion and great faithfulness.

Fields will again be bought with silver, and deeds of purchase signed, sealed, and witnessed. This will happen in the territory of Benjamin, the villages surrounding Jerusalem, the towns in Judah, the southern hill country, the western foothills, and southern Judah. ¹  For I will restore them to their land. ²  I, the Lord, affirm it!’” ³ 

Finally the Lord could no longer endure your wicked deeds and the disgusting things you did. That is why your land has become the desolate, uninhabited ruin that it is today. That is why it has become a proverbial example used in curses. ¹ 

“When a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I set an obstacle ¹  before him, he will die. If you have not warned him, he will die for his sin. The righteous deeds he performed will not be considered, but I will hold you accountable for his death.

Yet some survivors will be left in it, sons and daughters who will be brought out. They will come out to you, and when you see their behavior and their deeds, you will be consoled about the catastrophe I have brought on Jerusalem – for everything I brought on it.

“‘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?

Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but prefer that the wicked change his behavior ¹  and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil deeds! ²  Why should you die, O house of Israel?’

They will not defile themselves with their idols, their detestable things, and all their rebellious deeds. I will save them from all their unfaithfulness ¹  by which they sinned. I will purify them; they will become my people and I will become their God.

Listen attentively, ¹  my God, and hear! Open your eyes and look on our desolated ruins ²  and the city called by your name. ³  For it is not because of our own righteous deeds that we are praying to you, ⁴  but because your compassion is abundant.

Make this announcement in ¹  the fortresses of Ashdod and in the fortresses in the land of Egypt. Say this: “Gather on the hills around Samaria! ²  Observe the many acts of violence ³  taking place within the city, ⁴  the oppressive deeds ⁵  occurring in it.” ⁶ 

Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me? ¹  The words that I say to you, I do not speak on my own initiative, ²  but the Father residing in me performs ³  his miraculous deeds. ⁴ 

Therefore, if I come, ¹  I will call attention to the deeds he is doing ²  – the bringing of unjustified charges against us with evil words! And not being content with that, he not only refuses to welcome the brothers himself, but hinders the people who want to do so and throws them out of the church!

“To ¹  the angel of the church in Sardis write the following: ²  “This is the solemn pronouncement of ³  the one who holds ⁴  the seven spirits of God and the seven stars: ‘I know your deeds, that you have a reputation ⁵  that you are alive, but ⁶  in reality ⁷  you are dead.

Then ¹  I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: ‘Blessed are the dead, those who die in the Lord from this moment on!’” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “so they can rest from their hard work, ²  because their deeds will follow them.” ³ 

And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne. Then ¹  books were opened, and another book was opened – the book of life. ²  So ³  the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to their deeds. ⁴