¹ Be careful what you do ²  when you go to the temple ³  of God; draw near to listen ⁴  rather than to offer a sacrifice ⁵  like fools, ⁶  for they do not realize that they are doing wrong.

Therefore I will again do an amazing thing for these people – an absolutely extraordinary deed. ¹  Wise men will have nothing to say, the sages will have no explanations.” ² 

All who form idols are nothing; the things in which they delight are worthless. Their witnesses cannot see; they recognize nothing, so they are put to shame.

“But you, Jeremiah, ¹  get yourself ready! ²  Go and tell these people everything I instruct you to say. Do not be terrified of them, or I will give you good reason to be terrified of them. ³ 

The person who gathers wealth by unjust means is like the partridge that broods over eggs but does not hatch them. ¹  Before his life is half over he will lose his ill-gotten gains. ²  At the end of his life it will be clear he was a fool.” ³ 

Therefore you will no longer see false visions and practice divination. I will rescue my people from your power, and you ¹  will know that I am the Lord.’”

Her prophets coat their messages with whitewash. ¹  They see false visions and announce lying omens for them, saying, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says,’ when the Lord has not spoken.

“Her sister Oholibah watched this, ¹  but she became more corrupt in her lust than her sister had been, and her acts of prostitution were more numerous than those of her sister.

They consult their wooden idols, and their diviner’s staff answers with an oracle. The wind of prostitution blows them astray; they commit spiritual adultery ¹  against their God.

The labor pains of a woman will overtake him, but the baby will lack wisdom; when the time arrives, he will not come out of the womb!

What good ¹  is an idol? Why would a craftsman make it? ²  What good is a metal image that gives misleading oracles? ³  Why would its creator place his trust in it ⁴  and make ⁵  such mute, worthless things?

Jesus answered, ¹  “You ²  unbelieving ³  and perverse generation! How much longer ⁴  must I be with you? How much longer must I endure ⁵  you? ⁶  Bring him here to me.”

We are fools for Christ, but you are wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are distinguished, we are dishonored!

so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God without blemish though you live in a crooked and perverse society, in which you shine as lights in the world ¹ 

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into this or that town ¹  and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.”

Now the men of Israel were hard pressed that day, for Saul had made the army agree to this oath: “Cursed be the man who eats food before evening! I will get my vengeance on my enemies!” So no one in the army ate anything.

As the ark of the Lord entered the City of David, Saul’s daughter Michal looked out the window. When she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him. ¹ 

They rejected his rules, the covenant he had made with their ancestors, and the laws he had commanded them to obey. ¹  They paid allegiance to ²  worthless idols, and so became worthless to the Lord. ³  They copied the practices of the surrounding nations in blatant disregard of the Lord’s command. ⁴ 

As the ark of the Lord’s covenant entered the City of David, Michal, Saul’s daughter, looked out the window. When she saw King David jumping and celebrating, she despised him. ¹ 

I thought deeply ¹  about the effects of ²  indulging ³  myself ⁴  with wine (all the while ⁵  my mind was guiding me ⁶  with wisdom) ⁷  and the effects of ⁸  behaving foolishly, ⁹  so that I might discover what is profitable for people to do on earth during the few days of their lives.