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Good people die, and no one understands or even cares. But when they die, no calamity can hurt them.
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Those who live good lives find peace and rest in death.
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Come here to be judged, you sinners! You are no better than sorcerers, adulterers, and prostitutes.
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Who are you making fun of ? Who are you liars jeering at?
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You worship the fertility gods by having sex under those sacred trees of yours. You offer your children as sacrifices in the rocky caves near stream beds.
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You take smooth stones from there and worship them as gods. You pour out wine as offerings to them and bring them grain offerings. Do you think I am pleased with all this?
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You go to the high mountains to offer sacrifices and have sex.
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You set up your obscene idols just inside your front doors. You forsake me; you take off your clothes and climb in your large beds with your lovers, whom you pay to sleep with you. And there you satisfy your lust.
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You put on your perfumes and ointments and go to worship the god Molech. To find gods to worship, you send messengers far and wide, even to the world of the dead.
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You wear yourselves out looking for other gods, but you never give up. You think your obscene idols give you strength, and so you never grow weak.
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The LORD says, "Who are these gods that make you afraid, so that you tell me lies and forget me completely? Have you stopped honoring me because I have kept silent for so long?
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You think that what you do is right, but I will expose your conduct, and your idols will not be able to help you.
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When you cry for help, let those idols of yours save you! A puff of wind will carry them off ! But those who trust in me will live in the land and will worship me in my Temple."
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The LORD says, "Let my people return to me. Remove every obstacle from their path! Build the road and make it ready!
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"I am the high and holy God, who lives forever. I live in a high and holy place, but I also live with people who are humble and repentant, so that I can restore their confidence and hope.
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I gave my people life, and I will not continue to accuse them or be angry with them forever.
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I was angry with them because of their sin and greed, and so I punished them and abandoned them. But they were stubborn and kept on going their own way.
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"I have seen how they acted, but I will heal them. I will lead them and help them, and I will comfort those who mourn.
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I offer peace to all, both near and far! I will heal my people.
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But evil people are like the restless sea, whose waves never stop rolling in, bringing filth and muck.
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There is no safety for sinners," says the LORD.
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The LORD says, "Shout as loud as you can! Tell my people Israel about their sins!
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They worship me every day, claiming that they are eager to know my ways and obey my laws. They say they want me to give them just laws and that they take pleasure in worshiping me."
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The people ask, "Why should we fast if the LORD never notices? Why should we go without food if he pays no attention?" The LORD says to them, "The truth is that at the same time you fast, you pursue your own interests and oppress your workers.
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Your fasting makes you violent, and you quarrel and fight. Do you think this kind of fasting will make me listen to your prayers?
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When you fast, you make yourselves suffer; you bow your heads low like a blade of grass and spread out sackcloth and ashes to lie on. Is that what you call fasting? Do you think I will be pleased with that?
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"The kind of fasting I want is this: Remove the chains of oppression and the yoke of injustice, and let the oppressed go free.
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Share your food with the hungry and open your homes to the homeless poor. Give clothes to those who have nothing to wear, and do not refuse to help your own relatives.
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"Then my favor will shine on you like the morning sun, and your wounds will be quickly healed. I will always be with you to save you; my presence will protect you on every side.
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When you pray, I will answer you. When you call to me, I will respond. "If you put an end to oppression, to every gesture of contempt, and to every evil word;
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if you give food to the hungry and satisfy those who are in need, then the darkness around you will turn to the brightness of noon.
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And I will always guide you and satisfy you with good things. I will keep you strong and well. You will be like a garden that has plenty of water, like a spring of water that never goes dry.
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Your people will rebuild what has long been in ruins, building again on the old foundations. You will be known as the people who rebuilt the walls, who restored the ruined houses."
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The LORD says, "If you treat the Sabbath as sacred and do not pursue your own interests on that day; if you value my holy day and honor it by not traveling, working, or talking idly on that day,
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then you will find the joy that comes from serving me. I will make you honored all over the world, and you will enjoy the land I gave to your ancestor, Jacob. I, the LORD, have spoken."
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Don't think that the LORD is too weak to save you or too deaf to hear your call for help!
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It is because of your sins that he doesn't hear you. It is your sins that separate you from God when you try to worship him.
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You are guilty of lying, violence, and murder.
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You go to court, but you do not have justice on your side. You depend on lies to win your case. You carry out your plans to hurt others.
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The evil plots you make are as deadly as the eggs of a poisonous snake. Crush an egg, out comes a snake! But your plots will do you no good---they are as useless as clothing made of cobwebs!
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You are always planning something evil, and you can hardly wait to do it. You never hesitate to murder innocent people. You leave ruin and destruction wherever you go,
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and no one is safe when you are around. Everything you do is unjust. You follow a crooked path, and no one who walks that path will ever be safe.
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The people say, "Now we know why God does not save us from those who oppress us. We hope for light to walk by, but there is only darkness,
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and we grope about like blind people. We stumble at noon, as if it were night, as if we were in the dark world of the dead.
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We are frightened and distressed. We long for God to save us from oppression and wrong, but nothing happens.
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" LORD, our crimes against you are many. Our sins accuse us. We are well aware of them all.
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We have rebelled against you, rejected you, and refused to follow you. We have oppressed others and turned away from you. Our thoughts are false; our words are lies.
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Justice is driven away, and right cannot come near. Truth stumbles in the public square, and honesty finds no place there.
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There is so little honesty that those who stop doing evil find themselves the victims of crime." The LORD has seen this, and he is displeased that there is no justice.
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He is astonished to see that there is no one to help the oppressed. So he will use his own power to rescue them and to win the victory.
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He will wear justice like a coat of armor and saving power like a helmet. He will clothe himself with the strong desire to set things right and to punish and avenge the wrongs that people suffer.
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He will punish his enemies according to what they have done, even those who live in distant lands.
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From east to west everyone will fear him and his great power. He will come like a rushing river, like a strong wind.
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The LORD says to his people, "I will come to Jerusalem to defend you and to save all of you that turn from your sins.
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And I make a covenant with you: I have given you my power and my teachings to be yours forever, and from now on you are to obey me and teach your children and your descendants to obey me for all time to come."
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My dear friends, this is now the second letter I have written you. In both letters I have tried to arouse pure thoughts in your minds by reminding you of these things.
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I want you to remember the words that were spoken long ago by the holy prophets, and the command from the Lord and Savior which was given you by your apostles.
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First of all, you must understand that in the last days some people will appear whose lives are controlled by their own lusts. They will make fun of you
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and will ask, "He promised to come, didn't he? Where is he? Our ancestors have already died, but everything is still the same as it was since the creation of the world!"
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They purposely ignore the fact that long ago God gave a command, and the heavens and earth were created. The earth was formed out of water and by water,
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and it was also by water, the water of the flood, that the old world was destroyed.
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But the heavens and the earth that now exist are being preserved by the same command of God, in order to be destroyed by fire. They are being kept for the day when godless people will be judged and destroyed.
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But do not forget one thing, my dear friends! There is no difference in the Lord's sight between one day and a thousand years; to him the two are the same.
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The Lord is not slow to do what he has promised, as some think. Instead, he is patient with you, because he does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants all to turn away from their sins.
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But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief. On that Day the heavens will disappear with a shrill noise, the heavenly bodies will burn up and be destroyed, and the earth with everything in it will vanish.
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Since all these things will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people should you be? Your lives should be holy and dedicated to God,
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as you wait for the Day of God and do your best to make it come soon---the Day when the heavens will burn up and be destroyed, and the heavenly bodies will be melted by the heat.
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But we wait for what God has promised: new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness will be at home.
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And so, my friends, as you wait for that Day, do your best to be pure and faultless in God's sight and to be at peace with him.
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Look on our Lord's patience as the opportunity he is giving you to be saved, just as our dear friend Paul wrote to you, using the wisdom that God gave him.
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This is what he says in all his letters when he writes on the subject. There are some difficult things in his letters which ignorant and unstable people explain falsely, as they do with other passages of the Scriptures. So they bring on their own destruction.
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But you, my friends, already know this. Be on your guard, then, so that you will not be led away by the errors of lawless people and fall from your safe position.
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But continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory, now and forever! Amen.
