16 abecause they despised My judgments and did not walk in My statutes, but profaned My Sabbaths; for btheir heart went after their idols.
17 aNevertheless My eye spared them from destruction. I did not make an end of them in the wilderness.
18 “But I said to their children in the wilderness, ‘Do not walk in the statutes of your fathers, nor observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols.
19 I am the Lord your God: aWalk in My statutes, keep My judgments, and do them;
20 ahallow My Sabbaths, and they will be a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am the Lord your God.’
21 “Notwithstanding, athe children rebelled against Me; they did not walk in My statutes, and were not careful to observe My judgments, b‘which, if a man does, he shall live by them’; but they profaned My Sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out My fury on them and fulfill My anger against them in the wilderness.
22 Nevertheless I withdrew My hand and acted for My name’s sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the Gentiles, in whose sight I had brought them out.
23 Also I raised My hand in an oath to those in the wilderness, that aI would scatter them among the Gentiles and disperse them throughout the countries,
24 abecause they had not executed My judgments, but had despised My statutes, profaned My Sabbaths, and btheir eyes were fixed on their fathers’ idols.
25 “Therefore aI also gave them up to statutes that were not good, and judgments by which they could not live;
26 and I pronounced them unclean because of their ritual gifts, in that they caused all1 their firstborn to pass athrough the fire, that I might make them desolate and that they bmight know that I am the Lord.” ’
27 “Therefore, son of man, speak to the house of Israel, and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “In this too your fathers have ablasphemed Me, by being unfaithful to Me.
28 When I brought them into the land concerning which I had raised My hand in an oath to give them, and athey saw all the high hills and all the thick trees, there they offered their sacrifices and provoked Me with their offerings. There they also sent up their bsweet aroma and poured out their drink offerings.
29 Then I said to them, ‘What is this1 high place to which you go?’ So its name is called2 Bamah to this day.” ’
30 Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Are you defiling yourselves in the manner of your afathers, and committing harlotry according to their babominations?
31 For when you offer ayour gifts and make your sons pass through the fire, you defile yourselves with all your idols, even to this day. So shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live,” says the Lord God, “I will bnot be inquired of by you.
32 aWhat you have in your mind shall never be, when you say, ‘We will be like the Gentiles, like the families in other countries, serving wood and stone.’
New King James Version®, Copyright© 1982, Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Book Notes:
Robertson's Book Notes (NT)
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