Hezekiah is misleading you when he says, &#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> will rescue us.&#8221; Has any of the gods of the nations rescued his land from the power of the king of Assyria?<n id="1" />

<p class="poetry">I announced them to you beforehand;p> <p class="poetry">before they happened, I predicted them for you,p> <p class="poetry">so you could never say,p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;My image did these things,p> <p class="poetry">my idol, my cast image, decreed them.&#8217;p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;But you, Jeremiah,<n id="1" /> get yourself ready!<n id="2" /> Go and tell these people everything I instruct you to say. Do not be terrified of them, or I will give you good reason to be terrified of them.<n id="3" />

<p class="poetry">Do not lose your courage or become afraidp> <p class="poetry">because of the reports that are heard in the land.p> <p class="poetry">For a report will come in one year.p> <p class="poetry">Another report will follow it in the next.p> <p class="poetry">There will be violence in the landp> <p class="poetry">with ruler fighting against ruler.&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">Otherwise, I will strip her naked,p> <p class="poetry">and expose her like she was when she was born.p> <p class="poetry">I will turn her land into a wildernessp> <p class="poetry">and make her country a parched land,p> <p class="poetry">so that I might kill<n id="1" /> her with thirst.p>

<p class="poetry">Seek the <sc>Lordsc> so you can live!p> <p class="poetry">Otherwise he will break out<n id="1" /> like fire against Joseph&#8217;s<n id="2" /> family;<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">the fire<n id="4" /> will consumep> <p class="poetry">and no one will be able to quench it and save Bethel.<n id="5" />p>

He will encourage fathers and their children to return to me,<n id="1" /> so that I will not come and strike the earth with judgment.&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

Beware that the heart of no man, woman, clan, or tribe among you turns away from the <sc>Lordsc> our God today to pursue and serve the gods of those nations; beware that there is among you no root producing poisonous and bitter fruit.<n id="1" />

And the <sc>Lordsc> God said, &#8220;Now<n id="1" /> that the man has become like one of us,<n id="2" /> knowing<n id="3" /> good and evil, he must not be allowed<n id="4" /> to stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">At dawn<n id="1" /> the angels hurried Lot along, saying, &#8220;Get going! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here,<n id="2" /> or else you will be destroyed when the city is judged!&#8221;<n id="3" />

When they had brought them outside, they<n id="1" /> said, &#8220;Run<n id="2" /> for your lives! Don&#8217;t look<n id="3" /> behind you or stop anywhere in the valley!<n id="4" /> Escape to the mountains or you will be destroyed!&#8221;p>

Your<n id="1" /> servant has found favor with you,<n id="2" /> and you have shown me great<n id="3" /> kindness<n id="4" /> by sparing<n id="5" /> my life. But I am not able to escape to the mountains because<n id="6" /> this disaster will overtake<n id="7" /> me and I&#8217;ll die.<n id="8" />

<p class="bodytext">When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he replied, &#8220;She is my sister.&#8221;<n id="1" /> He was afraid to say, &#8220;She is my wife,&#8221; for he thought to himself,<n id="2" /> &#8220;The men of this place will kill me to get<n id="3" /> Rebekah because she is very beautiful.&#8221;p>

So Abimelech summoned Isaac and said, &#8220;She is really<n id="1" /> your wife! Why did you say, &#8216;She is my sister&#8217;?&#8221; Isaac replied, &#8220;Because I thought someone might kill me to get her.&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

<p class="bodytext">Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, &#8220;Live as a widow in your father&#8217;s house until Shelah my son grows up.&#8221; For he thought,<n id="1" /> &#8220;I don&#8217;t want him to die like his brothers.&#8221;<n id="2" /> So Tamar went and lived in her father&#8217;s house.p>

Come, let&#8217;s deal wisely<n id="1" /> with them. Otherwise<n id="2" /> they will continue to multiply,<n id="3" /> and if<n id="4" /> a war breaks out, they will ally themselves with<n id="5" /> our enemies and fight against us and leave<n id="6" /> the country.&#8221;p>

And they said, &#8220;The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Let us go a three-day journey<n id="1" /> into the desert so that we may sacrifice<n id="2" /> to the <sc>Lordsc> our God, so that he does not strike us with plague or the sword.&#8221;<n id="3" />

<t /><n id="1" /><p class="bodytext">When Pharaoh released<n id="2" /> the people, God did not lead them<n id="3" /> by the way to the land<n id="4" /> of the Philistines,<n id="5" /> although<n id="6" /> that was nearby, for God said,<n id="7" /> &#8220;Lest<n id="8" /> the people change their minds<n id="9" /> and return to Egypt when they experience<n id="10" /> war.&#8221;

The <sc>Lordsc> said to him, &#8220;Go, get down, and come up, and Aaron with you, but do not let the priests and the people force their way through to come up to the <sc>Lordsc>, lest he break through against them.&#8221;

And he said to the community, &#8220;Move away from the tents of these wicked<n id="1" /> men, and do not touch anything they have, lest you be destroyed because<n id="2" /> of all their sins.&#8221;<n id="3" />