whose people were wicked and sinned against the LORD.

Then the LORD said to Abraham, "There are terrible accusations against Sodom and Gomorrah, and their sin is very great.

I must go down to find out whether or not the accusations which I have heard are true."

Fools say to themselves, "There is no God!" They are all corrupt, and they have done terrible things; there is no one who does what is right.

But they have all gone wrong; they are all equally bad. Not one of them does what is right, not a single one.

God looks down from heaven at people to see if there are any who are wise, any who worship him.

Because those people refuse to keep in mind the true knowledge about God, he has given them over to corrupted minds, so that they do the things that they should not do.

and speak evil of one another; they are hateful to God, insolent, proud, and boastful; they think of more ways to do evil; they disobey their parents;

Well then, are we Jews in any better condition than the Gentiles? Not at all! I have already shown that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin.

no one who is wise or who worships God.

Their words are full of deadly deceit; wicked lies roll off their tongues, and dangerous threats, like snake's poison, from their lips;

They are quick to hurt and kill;

They have not known the path of peace,

Now we know that everything in the Law applies to those who live under the Law, in order to stop all human excuses and bring the whole world under God's judgment.

The odor of the sacrifice pleased the LORD, and he said to himself, "Never again will I put the earth under a curse because of what people do; I know that from the time they are young their thoughts are evil. Never again will I destroy all living beings, as I have done this time.

Make sure that there is no one here today who hears these solemn demands and yet convinces himself that all will be well with him, even if he stubbornly goes his own way. That would destroy all of you, good and evil alike.

And we drink evil as if it were water; yes, we are corrupt; we are worthless.

(SEE 6:16)

This is all that I have learned: God made us plain and simple, but we have made ourselves very complicated.

One fate comes to all alike, and this is as wrong as anything that happens in this world. As long as people live, their minds are full of evil and madness, and suddenly they die.

"Who can understand the human heart? There is nothing else so deceitful; it is too sick to be healed.

He told me, "Go in and look at the evil, disgusting things they are doing there."

God asked me, "Mortal man, do you see what the Israelite leaders are doing in secret? They are all worshiping in a room full of images. Their excuse is: 'The LORD doesn't see us! He has abandoned the country.' "

For from your heart come the evil ideas which lead you to kill, commit adultery, and do other immoral things; to rob, lie, and slander others.

For from the inside, from your heart, come the evil ideas which lead you to do immoral things, to rob, kill,

all these evil things come from inside you and make you unclean."

In the past you were spiritually dead because of your disobedience and sins.

Actually all of us were like them and lived according to our natural desires, doing whatever suited the wishes of our own bodies and minds. In our natural condition we, like everyone else, were destined to suffer God's anger.

For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, and wrong. We were slaves to passions and pleasures of all kinds. We spent our lives in malice and envy; others hated us and we hated them.

Jerusalem, wash the evil from your heart, so that you may be saved. How long will you go on thinking sinful thoughts?