2 Chronicles 24:2

He said, “Go, and tell this people, ‘You hear indeed, but don’t understand. You see indeed, but don’t perceive.’

He answered them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

They profess that they know God, but by their deeds they deny him, being abominable, disobedient, and unfit for any good work.

‘These people draw near to me with their mouth, and honor me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.

For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.

When I tell the wicked, ‘You will surely die;’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; that wicked man will die in his iniquity; but I will require his blood at your hand.

He set himself to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the vision of God; and as long as he sought Yahweh, God made him prosper.

You have planted them. Yes, they have taken root. They grow. Yes, they produce fruit. You are near in their mouth, and far from their heart.

They come to you as the people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear your words, but don’t do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goes after their gain.

and he went out to meet Asa, and said to him, “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin! Yahweh is with you, while you are with him; and if you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.

Now after Amaziah had come from the slaughter of the Edomites, he brought the gods of the children of Seir, and set them up to be his gods, and bowed down himself before them, and burned incense to them.

Yet for all this her treacherous sister, Judah, has not returned to me with her whole heart, but only in pretense,” says Yahweh.

When I tell the righteous that he will surely live; if he trusts in his righteousness, and commits iniquity, none of his righteous deeds will be remembered; but he will die in his iniquity that he has committed.

When the righteous turns from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, he will even die therein.

Behold, you are to them as a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument; for they hear your words, but they don’t do them.

Now as for these four youths, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom; and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.

But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the multitude, for all hold John as a prophet.”

I marvel that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different “good news”,

holding a form of godliness, but having denied its power. Turn away from these, also.

Yet they didn’t listen to their judges; for they prostituted themselves to other gods, and bowed themselves down to them. They quickly turned away from the way in which their fathers walked, obeying Yahweh’s commandments. They didn’t do so.

“It grieves me that I have set up Saul to be king; for he has turned back from following me, and has not performed my commandments.” Samuel was angry; and he cried to Yahweh all night.

Then he said, “I have sinned; yet please honor me now before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and come back with me, that I may worship Yahweh your God.”

So Jotham became mighty, because he ordered his ways before Yahweh his God.

But as for those who turn away to their crooked ways, Yahweh will lead them away with the workers of iniquity. Peace be on Israel.

Don’t you add to his words, lest he reprove you, and you be found a liar.

Therefore Yahweh says, “Behold, I will lay stumbling blocks before this people. The fathers and the sons together will stumble against them. The neighbor and his friend will perish.”

if they do that which is evil in my sight, that they not obey my voice, then I will repent of the good with which I said I would benefit them.

but you turned and profaned my name, and every man caused his servant, and every man his handmaid, whom you had let go free at their pleasure, to return. You brought them into subjection, to be to you for servants and for handmaids.’ ”

When the righteous man turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and dies therein; in his iniquity that he has done he shall die.

And in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrine rules made by men.’ ”

But the righteous will live by faith. If he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”

“If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will happen to the ungodly and the sinner?”

His master saw that Yahweh was with him, and that Yahweh made all that he did prosper in his hand.

God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night, and said, “Jacob, Jacob!” He said, “Here I am.”

Know this day—for I don’t speak with your children who have not known, and who have not seen the chastisement of Yahweh your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, his outstretched arm,

and that their children, who have not known, may hear and learn to fear Yahweh your God, as long as you live in the land where you go over the Jordan to possess it.”

“Therefore Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, ‘I said indeed that your house and the house of your father should walk before me forever.’ But now Yahweh says, ‘Far be it from me; for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me will be cursed.

Then you will prosper, if you observe to do the statutes and the ordinances which Yahweh gave Moses concerning Israel. Be strong and courageous. Don’t be afraid, and don’t be dismayed.

He did that which was right in Yahweh’s eyes, but not with a perfect heart.

Hezekiah began to reign when he was twenty-five years old, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah.

But they flattered him with their mouth, and lied to him with their tongue.

The man who wanders out of the way of understanding shall rest in the assembly of the departed spirits.

He will be a sanctuary, but for both houses of Israel, he will be a stumbling stone and a rock that makes them fall. For the people of Jerusalem, he will be a trap and a snare.

Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways. As a nation that did righteousness, and didn’t forsake the ordinance of their God, they ask of me righteous judgments. They delight to draw near to God.

Then some of the elders of Israel came to me, and sat before me.

“Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their heart, and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face. Should I be inquired of at all by them?

None of his transgressions that he has committed will be remembered against him. In his righteousness that he has done, he shall live.

“But when the righteous turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, should he live? None of his righteous deeds that he has done will be remembered. In his trespass that he has trespassed, and in his sin that he has sinned, in them he shall die.

But if the watchman sees the sword come, and doesn’t blow the trumpet, and the people aren’t warned, and the sword comes, and takes any person from among them; he is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.’

“As for you, son of man, the children of your people talk about you by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak to one another, everyone to his brother, saying, ‘Please come and hear what the word is that comes out from Yahweh.’

In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a thing was revealed to Daniel, whose name was called Belteshazzar; and the thing was true, even a great warfare. He understood the thing, and had understanding of the vision.

those who have turned back from following Yahweh, and those who haven’t sought Yahweh nor inquired after him.

When he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet.

These in the same way are those who are sown on the rocky places, who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with joy.

Those on the rock are they who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; but these have no root, who believe for a while, then fall away in time of temptation.

He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.

I said therefore to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.”

Did you suffer so many things in vain, if it is indeed in vain?

(all of which perish with use), according to the precepts and doctrines of men?

let’s draw near with a true heart in fullness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and having our body washed with pure water,

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Watch yourselves, that we don’t lose the things which we have accomplished, but that we receive a full reward.

Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the Spirit of God?”

Israel served Yahweh all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, and had known all the work of Yahweh, that he had worked for Israel.

The people served Yahweh all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of Yahweh that he had worked for Israel.

Jehoash did that which was right in Yahweh’s eyes all his days in which Jehoiada the priest instructed him.

He did that which was right in Yahweh’s eyes, yet not like David his father. He did according to all that Joash his father had done.

He did that which was right in Yahweh’s eyes, according to all that his father Amaziah had done.

For their heart was not right with him, neither were they faithful in his covenant.

Let my heart be blameless toward your decrees, that I may not be disappointed.

The Lord said, “Because this people draws near with their mouth and honors me with their lips, but they have removed their heart far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment of men which has been taught;

“Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he will die. Because you have not given him warning, he will die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done will not be remembered; but I will require his blood at your hand.

Their heart is divided. Now they will be found guilty. He will demolish their altars. He will destroy their sacred stones.

What was sown on the rocky places, this is he who hears the word, and immediately with joy receives it;

for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and kept him safe. When he heard him, he did many things, and he heard him gladly.

You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart isn’t right before God.

So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.