¹⁹ and so it may not happen, when he hears the words of this curse, that he blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall have peace, even though I ^[a]follow the ^(A)dictates of my heart’—^(B)as though the drunkard could be included with the sober.

^24 (A)Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but ^(B)followed^[a] the counsels and the ^[b]dictates of their evil hearts, and ^(C)went^[c] backward and not forward.

³⁹ And you shall have the tassel, that you may look upon it and ^(A)remember all the commandments of the Lord and do them, and that you ^(B)may not ^(C)follow the harlotry to which your own heart and your own eyes are inclined,

Law Concerning Presumptuous Sin

^30 (A)‘But the person who does anything ^[a]presumptuously, whether he is native-born or a stranger, that one ^[b]brings reproach on the Lord, and he shall be ^[c]cut off from among his people.

The New Man

¹⁷ This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should ^(A)no longer walk as ^[a]the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind,

¹⁶ “As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, ^(A)we will not listen to you! ¹⁷ But we will certainly do ^(B)whatever has gone out of our own mouth, to burn incense to the ^(C)queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of ^[a]food, were well-off, and saw no trouble.

³ Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(A)“Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. ^4 (B)Do not trust in these lying words, saying, ‘The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these.’

⁵ “For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly ^(C)execute ^[a]judgment between a man and his neighbor, ⁶ if you do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, ^(D)or walk after other gods to your hurt, ^7 (E)then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in ^(F)the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.

⁸ “Behold, you trust in ^(G)lying words that cannot profit. ^9 (H)Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and ^(I)walk after other gods whom you do not know, ^10 (J)and then come and stand before Me in this house ^(K)which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered to do all these abominations’? ¹¹ Has ^(L)this house, which is called by My name, become a ^(M)den of thieves in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,” says the Lord.

¹² that you may enter into covenant with the Lord your God, and ^(A)into His oath, which the Lord your God makes with you today,