For when we lived according to our human nature, the sinful desires stirred up by the Law were at work in our bodies, and all we did ended in death.

So then, you will get what you deserve, and your own actions will make you sick.

Yes, strangers will take all your wealth, and what you have worked for will belong to someone else.

and you will say, "Why would I never learn? Why would I never let anyone correct me?

"Stolen water is sweeter. Stolen bread tastes better."

Her victims do not know that the people die who go to her house, that those who have already entered are now deep in the world of the dead.

The righteous will be happy, and things will go well for them. They will get to enjoy what they have worked for.

I, the LORD, search the minds and test the hearts of people. I treat each of them according to the way they live, according to what they do."

Then I said to all the men and the women who had answered me in this way,

This very day your land lies in ruins and no one lives in it. It has become a horrifying sight, and people use its name as a curse because the LORD could no longer endure your wicked and evil practices.

I told all the people, especially the women, what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, was saying to the people of Judah living in Egypt: "Both you and your wives have made solemn promises to the Queen of Heaven. You promised that you would offer sacrifices to her and pour out wine offerings to her, and you have kept your promises. Very well, then! Keep your promises! Carry out your vows!

Do not deceive yourselves; no one makes a fool of God. You will reap exactly what you plant.

If you plant in the field of your natural desires, from it you will gather the harvest of death; if you plant in the field of the Spirit, from the Spirit you will gather the harvest of eternal life.

I said, "O God, I am too ashamed to raise my head in your presence. Our sins pile up higher than our heads; they reach as high as the heavens.

(SEE 40:3)

So I am ashamed of all I have said and repent in dust and ashes.

That is why the rains were held back, and the spring showers did not come. You even look like a prostitute; you have no shame.

My people, were you ashamed because you did these disgusting things? No, you were not ashamed at all; you don't even know how to blush! And so you will fall as others have fallen; when I punish you, that will be the end of you. I, the LORD, have spoken.

We turned away from you, but soon we wanted to return. After you had punished us, we hung our heads in grief. We were ashamed and disgraced because we sinned when we were young.'

You will remember how you have acted, and be ashamed of it when you get your older sister and your younger sister back. I will let them be like daughters to you, even though this was not part of my covenant with you.

I will forgive all the wrongs you have done, but you will remember them and be too ashamed to open your mouth." The Sovereign LORD has spoken.

You will remember your evil conduct and the wrongs that you committed, and you will be disgusted with yourselves because of your sins and your iniquities.

Israel, I want you to know that I am not doing all this for your sake. I want you to feel the shame and disgrace of what you are doing. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken."

Then if they are ashamed of what they have done, explain the plan of the Temple to them: its design, its entrances and exits, its shape, the arrangement of everything, and all its rules and regulations. Write all this down for them so that they can see how everything is arranged and can carry out all the rules.

You, Lord, always do what is right, but we have always brought disgrace on ourselves. This is true of all of us who live in Judea and in Jerusalem and of all the Israelites whom you scattered in countries near and far because they were unfaithful to you.

Our kings, our rulers, and our ancestors have acted shamefully and sinned against you, Lord.

Many of those who have already died will live again: some will enjoy eternal life, and some will suffer eternal disgrace.

At last he came to his senses and said, 'All my father's hired workers have more than they can eat, and here I am about to starve!

I am no longer fit to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired workers." '

'Father,' the son said, 'I have sinned against God and against you. I am no longer fit to be called your son.'

See what God did with this sadness of yours: how earnest it has made you, how eager to prove your innocence! Such indignation, such alarm, such feelings, such devotion, such readiness to punish wrongdoing! You have shown yourselves to be without fault in the whole matter.

Yes, my children, remain in union with him, so that when he appears we may be full of courage and need not hide in shame from him on the Day he comes.

For sin pays its wage---death; but God's free gift is eternal life in union with Christ Jesus our Lord.

They know that God's law says that people who live in this way deserve death. Yet, not only do they continue to do these very things, but they even approve of others who do them.

However, they may be put to death only if two or more witnesses testify against them; they are not to be put to death if there is only one witness.

"If someone has been put to death for a crime and the body is hung on a post,

David became very angry at the rich man and said, "I swear by the living LORD that the man who did this ought to die!

"You are that man," Nathan said to David. "And this is what the LORD God of Israel says: 'I made you king of Israel and rescued you from Saul.

Then King Solomon said to Abiathar the priest, "Go to your country home in Anathoth. You deserve to die, but I will not have you put to death now, for you were in charge of the LORD's Covenant Box while you were with my father David, and you shared in all his troubles."

until I went into your Temple. Then I understood what will happen to the wicked.

What you think is the right road may lead to death.

What you think is the right road may lead to death.

They are going to end up in hell, because their god is their bodily desires. They are proud of what they should be ashamed of, and they think only of things that belong to this world.

But if it grows thorns and weeds, it is worth nothing; it is in danger of being cursed by God and will be destroyed by fire.

What, then, of those who despise the Son of God? who treat as a cheap thing the blood of God's covenant which purified them from sin? who insult the Spirit of grace? Just think how much worse is the punishment they will deserve!

Then our evil desires conceive and give birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

remember this: whoever turns a sinner back from the wrong way will save that sinner's soul from death and bring about the forgiveness of many sins.

The time has come for judgment to begin, and God's own people are the first to be judged. If it starts with us, how will it end with those who do not believe the Good News from God?

They poured out the blood of God's people and of the prophets, and so you have given them blood to drink. They are getting what they deserve!"

Then death and the world of the dead were thrown into the lake of fire. (This lake of fire is the second death.)