“‘This is because they have led my people astray saying, “All is well,” when things are not well. When anyone builds a wall without mortar, they coat it with whitewash.

However, because I called but you refused to listen, because I stretched out my hand but no one paid attention,

Syria has plotted with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah to bring about your demise.

“Therefore, the Lord who rules over all says, ‘You have not listened to what I said.

I will make the land desolate because they have acted unfaithfully, declares the sovereign Lord.”

“‘Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: Because you think you are godlike,

The land will be abandoned by them in order that it may make up for its Sabbaths while it is made desolate without them, and they will make up for their iniquity because they have rejected my regulations and have abhorred my statutes.

“Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: ‘Because you have brought up your own guilt by uncovering your transgressions and revealing your sins through all your actions, for this reason you will be taken by force.

So prophesy and say: ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Surely because they have made you desolate and crushed you from all directions, so that you have become the property of the rest of the nations, and have become the subject of gossip and slander among the people,

‘You expected a large harvest, but instead there was little, and when you brought it home it disappeared right away. Why?’ asks the Lord who rules over all. ‘Because my temple remains in ruins, thanks to each of you favoring his own house!

and said, “‘I solemnly swear by my own name,’ decrees the Lord, ‘that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son,

For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and presumption is like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.”

The Lord told my father David, ‘It is right for you to have a strong desire to build a temple to honor me.

Go, tell Jeroboam, ‘This is what the Lord God of Israel says: “I raised you up from among the people and made you ruler over my people Israel.

So the prophet said to him, “Because you have disobeyed the Lord, as soon as you leave me a lion will kill you.” When he left him, a lion attacked and killed him.

The prophet then said to him, “This is what the Lord says, ‘Because you released a man I had determined should die, you will pay with your life and your people will suffer instead of his people.’”

When Elijah arrived, Ahab said to him, “So, you have found me, my enemy!” Elijah replied, “I have found you, because you are committed to doing evil in the sight of the Lord.

Because you rage against me, and the uproar you create has reached my ears; I will put my hook in your nose, and my bridle between your lips, and I will lead you back the way you came.”

because they have done evil in my sight and have angered me from the time their ancestors left Egypt right up to this very day!’”

The Lord told my father David, ‘It is right for you to have a strong desire to build a temple to honor me.