They also lived in all the settlements that surrounded these towns as far as Baal. ¹  These were their settlements; they kept genealogical records.

But Rehoboam rejected their advice and consulted the young advisers who served him, with whom he had grown up. ¹ 

Do not hold us accountable for the sins of earlier generations! ¹  Quickly send your compassion our way, ²  for we are in serious trouble! ³ 

Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” Before our very eyes may the shed blood of your servants be avenged among the nations! ¹ 

The time is coming when Jacob will take root; ¹  Israel will blossom and grow branches. The produce ²  will fill the surface of the world. ³ 

Now go, write it ¹  down on a tablet in their presence, ²  inscribe it on a scroll, so that it might be preserved for a future time as an enduring witness. ³ 

The living person, the living person, he gives you thanks, as I do today. A father tells his sons about your faithfulness.

Yet the children born during your time of bereavement will say within your hearing, ‘This place is too cramped for us, ¹  make room for us so we can live here.’ ² 

At whom are you laughing? At whom are you opening your mouth and sticking out your tongue? You are the children of rebels, the offspring of liars, ¹ 

However, I will leave some of these wicked people alive and banish them to other places. But wherever these people who survive may go, they will wish they had died rather than lived,” ¹  says the Lord who rules over all. ² 

You show unfailing love to thousands. ¹  But you also punish children for the sins of their parents. ²  You are the great and powerful God who is known as the Lord who rules over all. ³ 

“You have heard that it was said to an older generation, ¹  ‘Do not murder,’ ²  and ‘whoever murders will be subjected to judgment.’

“Again, you have heard that it was said to an older generation, ¹  ‘Do not break an oath, but fulfill your vows to the Lord.’ ² 

Offspring of vipers! How are you able to say anything good, since you are evil? For the mouth speaks from what fills the heart.

So John ¹  said to the crowds ²  that came out to be baptized by him, “You offspring of vipers! ³  Who warned you to flee ⁴  from the coming wrath?

nor to occupy themselves with myths and interminable genealogies. ¹  Such things promote useless speculations rather than God’s redemptive plan ²  that operates by faith.

and if he turned to ashes the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah when he condemned them to destruction, ¹  having appointed ²  them to serve as an example ³  to future generations of the ungodly, ⁴ 

Then he will not exalt himself above his fellow citizens or turn from the commandments to the right or left, and he and his descendants will enjoy many years ruling over his kingdom ¹  in Israel.

You must not encroach on your neighbor’s property, ¹  which will have been defined ²  in the inheritance you will obtain in the land the Lord your God is giving you. ³ 

When a leader died, the next generation ¹  would again ²  act more wickedly than the previous one. ³  They would follow after other gods, worshiping them ⁴  and bowing down to them. They did not give up ⁵  their practices or their stubborn ways.