I sent word back to him, “We are not engaged in these activities you are describing. All of this is a figment of your imagination.”

You have taken notice, for you always see one who inflicts pain and suffering. The unfortunate victim entrusts his cause to you; you deliver the fatherless.

Remember these things, O Jacob, O Israel, for you are my servant. I formed you to be my servant; O Israel, I will not forget you!

For you are our father, though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not recognize us. You, Lord, are our father; you have been called our protector from ancient times.

They say to a wooden idol, ‘You are my father.’ They say to a stone image, ‘You gave birth to me.’ Yes, they have turned away from me instead of turning to me. Yet when they are in trouble, they say, ‘Come and save us!’

Then the officials said to Baruch, “You and Jeremiah must go and hide. You must not let anyone know where you are.”

But as for you, if you warn the wicked and he does not turn from his wicked deed and from his wicked lifestyle, he will die for his iniquity but you will have saved your own life.

However, if you warn the righteous person not to sin, and he does not sin, he will certainly live because he was warned, and you will have saved your own life.”

You are the daughter of your mother, who detested her husband and her sons, and you are the sister of your sisters who detested their husbands and their sons. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite.

“Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Will you defile yourselves like your fathers and engage in prostitution with detestable idols?

But if you warn the wicked man to change his behavior, and he refuses to change, he will die for his iniquity, but you have saved your own life.

You will plant crops, but will not harvest them; you will squeeze oil from the olives, but you will have no oil to rub on your bodies; you will squeeze juice from the grapes, but you will have no wine to drink.

But as for you, be fruitful and multiply; increase abundantly on the earth and multiply on it.”

But as for you, you will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age.

Then he asked, “Are you really my son Esau?” “I am,” Jacob replied.

You know that I’ve worked for your father as hard as I could,

For if you refuse to release them and continue holding them,

Now be sure to make them according to the pattern you were shown on the mountain.

But as for you, turn back and head for the desert by the way to the Red Sea.”

“Today you are going to cross the border of Moab, that is, of Ar.