Rebellion

Then God spoke all these words:

"I am the LORD your God, who has brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

"You shall have no other gods before Me.

"You shall not make for yourself any idol, or any likeness (form, manifestation) of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth [as an object to worship].

You shall not worship them nor serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous (impassioned) God [ demanding what is rightfully and uniquely mine], visiting (avenging) the iniquity (sin, guilt) of the fathers on the children [that is, calling the children to account for the sins of their fathers], to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,

but showing graciousness and steadfast lovingkindness to thousands [of generations] of those who love Me and keep My commandments.

"You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain [that is, irreverently, in false affirmations or in ways that impugn the character of God]; for the LORD will not hold guiltless nor leave unpunished the one who takes His name in vain [disregarding its reverence and its power].

"Remember the Sabbath (seventh) day to keep it holy (set apart, dedicated to God).

Six days you shall labor and do all your work,

but the seventh day is a Sabbath [a day of rest dedicated] to the LORD your God; on that day you shall not do any work, you or your son, or your daughter, or your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock or the temporary resident (foreigner) who stays within your [city] gates.

For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and everything that is in them, and He rested (ceased) on the seventh day. That is why the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy [that is, set it apart for His purposes].

"Honor (respect, obey, care for) your father and your mother, so that your days may be prolonged in the land the LORD your God gives you.

"You shall not commit murder (unjustified, deliberate homicide).

"You shall not commit adultery.

"You shall not steal [secretly, openly, fraudulently, or through carelessness].

"You shall not testify falsely [that is, lie, withhold, or manipulate the truth] against your neighbor (any person).

"You shall not covet [that is, selfishly desire and attempt to acquire] your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor."

Now all the people witnessed the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the smoking mountain; and as they looked, the people were afraid, and they trembled [and moved backward] and stood at a [safe] distance.

Then they said to Moses, "You speak to us and we will listen, but do not let God speak to us or we will die."

Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid; for God has come in order to test you, and in order that the fear of Him [that is, a profound reverence for Him] will remain with you, so that you do not sin."

So the people stood at a [safe] distance, but Moses approached the thick cloud where God was.

Then the LORD said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the Israelites, 'You have seen for yourselves that I have spoken to you from heaven.

You shall not make other gods [to worship] besides Me; gods of silver or gods of gold, you shall not make [these lifeless idols] for yourselves.

You shall make an altar of earth for Me, and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I cause My Name to be recorded and remembered [through revelation of My divine nature] I will come to you and bless you.

If you make an altar of stone for Me, you shall not build it of cut stones, for if you use a chisel on it, you will profane it.

Nor shall you go up to My altar on steps, so that your nakedness will not be exposed on it.'

"Now it shall be, if you diligently listen to and obey the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all of His commandments which I am commanding you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.

All these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you pay attention to the voice of the LORD your God.

"You will be blessed in the city, and you will be blessed in the field.

"The offspring of your body and the produce of your ground and the offspring of your animals, the offspring of your herd and the young of your flock will be blessed.

"Your basket and your kneading bowl will be blessed.

"You will be blessed when you come in and you will be blessed when you go out.

"The LORD will cause the enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you; they will come out against you one way, but flee before you seven ways.

The LORD will command the blessing upon you in your storehouses and in all that you undertake, and He will bless you in the land which the LORD your God gives you.

The LORD will establish you as a people holy [and set apart] to Himself, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the LORD your God and walk [that is, live your life each and every day] in His ways.

So all the peoples of the earth will see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they will be afraid of you.

The LORD will give you great prosperity, in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your livestock and the produce of your ground, in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers to give you.

The LORD will open for you His good treasure house, the heavens, to give rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hand; and you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow.

The LORD will make you the head (leader) and not the tail (follower); and you will be above only, and you will not be beneath, if you listen and pay attention to the commandments of the LORD your God, which I am commanding you today, to observe them carefully.

Do not turn aside from any of the words which I am commanding you today, to the right or to the left, to follow and serve other gods.

"But it shall come about, if you do not listen to and obey the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all His commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today, then all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:

"You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the field.

"Your basket and your kneading bowl will be cursed.

"The offspring of your body and the produce of your land, the offspring of your herd and the young of your flock will be cursed.

"You will be cursed when you come in and you will be cursed when you go out.

"The LORD will send upon you curses, confusion, and rebuke in everything that you undertake to do, until you are destroyed, perishing quickly because of the evil of your deeds, because you have turned away from Me.

The LORD will make the pestilence and plague cling to you until He has consumed and eliminated you from the land which you are entering to possess.

The LORD will strike you with consumption [causing you to waste away] and with fever and with inflammation and with fiery heat and with the sword and with blight and with mildew [on your crops]; and they will pursue you until you perish.

The heaven which is over your head shall be bronze [giving no rain and blocking all prayers], and the earth which is under you, iron [hard to plow and yielding no produce].

The LORD will make the rain of your land powder and dust; from heaven it will come down on you until you are destroyed.

"The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you will go out against them one way, but flee before them seven ways, and you will be an example of terror to all the kingdoms of the earth [when they see your destruction].

Your carcasses will be food for all the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth, and there will be no one to frighten them away.

"The LORD will strike you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors and with the scab and the itch that you cannot heal.

The LORD will strike you with madness and with blindness and with bewilderment of heart and mind;

and you will be groping at noon [in broad daylight], just as the blind grope in the darkness, and nothing you do will prosper; but you will only be oppressed and exploited and robbed continually, with no one to save you.

You will be pledged to marry a wife, but another man will be intimate with her [before you]; you will build a house, but you will not live in it; you will plant a vineyard, but you will not use its fruit.

Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will not eat any of it; your donkey will be torn away from you, and it will not be returned to you; your sheep will be given to your enemies, and you will have no one to save you.

Your sons and daughters will be given to another people, while your eyes look on and long for them continually; but there will be nothing you can do.

A people whom you do not know will eat the produce of your land and all the products of your labors, and you will never be anything but oppressed and exploited and crushed continually.

You shall be driven mad by the sight of the things you see.

The LORD will strike you on the knees and on the legs with sore boils that you cannot heal, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head.

The LORD will bring you and your king, whom you appoint over you, to a nation which you and your fathers have never known; there you will [be forced to] serve other gods, [lifeless gods of] wood and stone.

And you will become a horror, a proverb [a mere object lesson], and a taunt [a derisive joke] among all the people to which the LORD drives you.

"You will bring out a great quantity of seed to the field, but you will gather in little, because the locusts will consume it.

You will plant vineyards and cultivate them, but you will not drink the wine or gather the grapes, because the worm will eat them.

You will have olive trees throughout your territory but you will not anoint yourselves with the oil, because your olives will drop off.

You will have sons and daughters, but they will not be yours [for long], because they will go into captivity.

The cricket will take possession of all your trees and the produce of your ground.

The stranger who lives among you will rise above you higher and higher, and you will go down lower and lower.

He will lend to you [out of his affluence], but you will not lend to him [because of your poverty]; he will be the head, and you the tail.

"So all these curses will come on you and pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you would not obey the voice of the LORD your God by keeping His commandments and His statutes which He has commanded you.

They will be a sign and a wonder to you and your descendants forever.

"Because you did not serve the LORD your God with a heart full of joy and gladness for the abundance of all things [with which He blessed you],

you will therefore serve your enemies whom the LORD sends against you, in hunger and in thirst, in nakedness and in lack of all things; and He will put an iron yoke [of slavery] on your neck until He has destroyed you.

"The LORD will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, [as swift] as the eagle swoops down [to attack], a nation whose language you will not understand,

a defiant nation who will have no respect for the old, nor show favor to the young,

and it will eat the offspring of your herd and the produce of your ground until you are destroyed, who will leave you no grain, new wine, or oil, nor the offspring of your herd or the young of your flock until they have caused you to perish.

They will besiege you in all your cities until your high and fortified walls in which you trusted come down throughout your land; and they will besiege you in all your cities throughout your land which the LORD your God has given you.

Then you will eat the offspring of your own body [to avoid starvation], the flesh of your sons and daughters whom the LORD your God has given you, during the siege and the misery by which your enemy will oppress you.

The man who is most refined and well-bred among you will be cruel and hostile toward his brother and toward the wife he cherishes and toward the rest of his children who remain,

so that he will not give even one of them any of the flesh of his children which he will eat, because he has nothing else left, during the siege and the misery by which your enemy will oppress you in all your cities.

The most refined and well-bred woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because she is so delicate and pampered, will be cruel and hostile toward the husband she cherishes and toward her son and daughter,

and toward her afterbirth that comes from between her legs and toward the children whom she bears; for she will eat them secretly for lack of anything else, during the siege and the misery by which your enemy will oppress you in your cities.

"If you are not careful to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, to fear and honor with reverence this glorious and awesome name, the LORD your God,

then the LORD will bring extraordinary plagues on you and your descendants, even severe and lasting plagues, and miserable and chronic sicknesses.

Moreover, He will bring on you all the diseases of Egypt of which you were afraid, and they will cling to you.

Also the LORD will bring on you every sickness and every plague which is not written in this book of this law, until you are destroyed.

Because you did not obey the voice of the LORD your God, you who were as numerous as the stars of heaven shall be left few in number.

It shall come about that just as the LORD delighted over you to make you prosper and multiply, so the LORD will delight over you to bring you to ruin and destruction; and you will be uprooted [violently] from the land which you are entering to possess.

And the LORD will scatter you among all the nations, from one end of the earth to the other; and there you will [be forced to] serve other gods, [lifeless gods of] wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known.

Among those nations you will find no peace (rest), and there will be no resting place for the sole of your foot; but there the LORD will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and a despairing soul.

Your life will hang in doubt before you; night and day you will be filled with anxiety and have no assurance of living.

In the morning you will say, 'I wish it were evening!' and in the evening you will say, 'I wish it were morning!'—because of the dread in your heart with which you tremble, and because of the sight of your eyes which you will see.

The LORD will bring you back to Egypt in ships, by the way about which I said to you, 'You will never see it again!' And there you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but there will be no one to buy you.

"For rebellion is as [serious as] the sin of divination (fortune-telling), And disobedience is as [serious as] false religion and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He also has rejected you as king."

God makes a home for the lonely; He leads the prisoners into prosperity, Only the stubborn and rebellious dwell in a parched land.

A rebellious man seeks only evil; Therefore a cruel messenger will be sent against him.

The vision of [the prophet] Isaiah the son of Amoz concerning [the kingdom of] Judah and [its capital] Jerusalem, which he saw [as revealed by God] during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

Hear, O heavens, and listen, O earth; For the LORD has spoken: "I have reared and brought up sons, But they have rebelled against Me and have broken away.

"The ox [instinctively] knows its owner, And the donkey its master's feeding trough, But Israel does not know [Me as LORD], My people do not understand."

Ah, sinful nation, A people loaded down with wickedness [with sin, with injustice, with wrongdoing], Offspring of evildoers, Sons who behave corruptly! They have abandoned (rejected) the LORD, They have despised the Holy One of Israel [provoking Him to anger], They have turned away from Him.

Why should you be stricken and punished again [since no change results from it]? You [only] continue to rebel. The whole head is sick And the whole heart is faint and sick.

From the sole of the foot even to the head There is nothing healthy in the nation's body, Only bruises, welts, and raw wounds, Not pressed out or bandaged, Nor softened with oil [as a remedy].

Your land lies desolate [because of your disobedience], Your cities are burned with fire, Your fields—strangers are devouring them in your very presence; It is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.

The Daughter of Zion (Jerusalem) is left like a [deserted] shelter in a vineyard, Like a watchman's hut in a cucumber field, like a besieged city [isolated, surrounded by devastation].

If the LORD of hosts Had not left us a few survivors, We would be like Sodom, We would be like Gomorrah.

Hear the word of the LORD [rulers of Jerusalem], You rulers of [another] Sodom, Listen to the law and instruction of our God, You people of [another] Gomorrah.

"What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me [without your repentance]?" Says the LORD. "I have had enough of [your] burnt offerings of rams And the fat of well-fed cattle [without your obedience]; And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls or lambs or goats [offered without repentance].

"When you come to appear before Me, Who requires this of you, this trampling of My [temple] courts [by your sinful feet]?

"Do not bring worthless offerings again, [Your] incense is repulsive to Me; [Your] New Moon and Sabbath [observances], the calling of assemblies— I cannot endure wickedness [your sin, your injustice, your wrongdoing] and [the squalor of] the festive assembly.

"I hate [the hypocrisy of] your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts. They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them.

"So when you spread out your hands [in prayer, pleading for My help], I will hide My eyes from you; Yes, even though you offer many prayers, I will not be listening. Your hands are full of blood!

"Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Get your evil deeds out of My sight. Stop doing evil,

Learn to do good. Seek justice, Rebuke the ruthless, Defend the fatherless, Plead for the [rights of the] widow [in court].

"Come now, and let us reason together," Says the LORD. " Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be like wool.

"If you are willing and obedient, You shall eat the best of the land;

But if you refuse and rebel, You shall be devoured by the sword." For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

How the faithful city has become a prostitute [idolatrous, despicable], She who was full of justice! Right standing with God once lodged in her, But now murderers.

Your silver has turned to lead, Your wine is diluted with water.

Your rulers are rebels And companions of thieves; Everyone loves bribes And chases after gifts. They do not defend the fatherless, Nor does the widow's cause come before them [instead they delay or turn a deaf ear].

Therefore the Lord GOD of hosts, The Mighty One of Israel, declares: "Ah, I will be freed of My adversaries And avenge Myself on My enemies.

"And I will turn My hand against you, And will [thoroughly] purge away your dross as with lye And remove all your tin (impurity).

"Then I will restore your judges as at the first, And your counselors as at the beginning; Afterward you will be called the city of righteousness, The faithful city."

Zion will be redeemed with justice And her repentant ones with righteousness.

But rebels and sinners will be crushed and destroyed together, And those who abandon (turn away from) the LORD will be consumed (perish).

For you will be ashamed [of the degradation] of the oaks in which you took [idolatrous] pleasure, And you will be ashamed of the gardens [of passion] which you have chosen [for pagan worship].

For you will be like an oak whose leaf withers and dies And like a garden that has no water.

The strong man will become tinder, And his work a spark. So both will burn together And there will be none to quench them.

Jesus said to him, "On the other hand, it is written and forever remains written, 'You shall not test the Lord your God.'"

So whoever breaks one of the least [important] of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least [important] in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever practices and teaches them, he will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

You are of your father the devil, and it is your will to practice the desires [which are characteristic] of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks what it natural to him, for he is a liar and the father of lies and half-truths.

"If you [really] love Me, you will keep and obey My commandments.

Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave the way open for God's wrath [and His judicial righteousness]; for it is written [in Scripture], "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord.

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God [granted by His permission and sanction], and those which exist have been put in place by God.

Therefore whoever resists [governmental] authority resists the ordinance of God. And those who have resisted it will bring judgment (civil penalty) on themselves.

For [civil] authorities are not a source of fear for [people of] good behavior, but for [those who do] evil. Do you want to be unafraid of authority? Do what is good and you will receive approval and commendation.

For he is God's servant to you for good. But if you do wrong, [you should] be afraid; for he does not carry the [executioner's] sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an avenger who brings punishment on the wrongdoer.

Therefore one must be subject [to civil authorities], not only to escape the punishment [that comes with wrongdoing], but also as a matter of principle [knowing what is right before God].

For this same reason you pay taxes, for civil authorities are God's servants, devoting themselves to governance.

Pay to all what is due: tax to whom tax is due, customs to whom customs, respect to whom respect, honor to whom honor.

No temptation [regardless of its source] has overtaken or enticed you that is not common to human experience [nor is any temptation unusual or beyond human resistance]; but God is faithful [to His word—He is compassionate and trustworthy], and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability [to resist], but along with the temptation He [has in the past and is now and] will [always] provide the way out as well, so that you will be able to endure it [without yielding, and will overcome temptation with joy].

Children, obey your parents in the Lord [that is, accept their guidance and discipline as His representatives], for this is right [for obedience teaches wisdom and self-discipline].

Honor [esteem, value as precious] your father and your mother [and be respectful to them]—this is the first commandment with a promise—

so that it may be well with you, and that you may have a long life on the earth.