Neh 9:16-37, Psa 106:6-48, Isa 48:8, Eze 20:8, 13, 21, 28, 23:3-39 | ESV | STEP | But they and our fathers acted presumptuously and stiffened their neck and did not obey your commandments .

16 “But they and our fathers ^aacted presumptuously and stiffened their neck and did not obey your commandments. 17 They refused to obey ^band were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, ^cgracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them. 18 Even ^dwhen they had made for themselves a golden ^{▼▼Hebrew metal} calf and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’ ^fand had committed great blasphemies, 19 you ^gin your great mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness. ^hThe pillar of cloud to lead them in the way did not depart from them by day, ⁱnor the pillar of fire by night to light for them the way by which they should go. 20 ^jYou gave your good Spirit to instruct them ^kand did not withhold your manna from their mouth and gave them water for their thirst. 21 ^lForty years you sustained them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.

22 “And you gave them kingdoms and peoples and allotted to them every corner. ^mSo they took possession of the land of Sihon king of Heshbon ⁿand the land of Og king of Bashan. 23 You multiplied their children ^oas the stars of heaven, and you brought them into the land that you had told their fathers to enter and possess. 24 ^pSo the descendants went in and possessed the land, ^qand you subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gave them into their hand, with their kings and the peoples of the land, that they might do with them as they would. 25 And they captured ^rfortified cities and ^sa rich land, and took possession of ^thouses full of all good things, cisterns already hewn, vineyards, olive orchards and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate and were filled ^uand became fat and delighted themselves in ^vyour great goodness.

26 ^w“Nevertheless, they were disobedient and rebelled against you ^xand cast your law behind their back ^yand killed your prophets, who ^zhad warned them in order to turn them back to you, ^aaand they committed great blasphemies. 27 ^abTherefore you gave them into the hand of their enemies, who made them suffer. ^acAnd in the time of their suffering they cried out to you and you heard them from heaven, and according to your great mercies you gave them ^adsaviors who saved them from the hand of their enemies. 28 ^aeBut after they had rest they did evil again before you, and you abandoned them to the hand of their enemies, so that they had dominion over them. Yet when they turned and cried to you, you heard from heaven, ^afand many times you delivered them according to your mercies. 29 ^agAnd you warned them in order to turn them back to your law. Yet ^ahthey acted presumptuously and did not obey your commandments, but sinned against your rules, ^aiwhich if a person does them, he shall live by them, ^ajand they turned a stubborn shoulder ^akand stiffened their neck and would not obey. 30 Many years ^alyou bore with them ^amand warned them ^anby your Spirit through your prophets. ^aoYet they would not give ear. ^apTherefore you gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands. 31 Nevertheless, ^aqin your great mercies ^aryou did not make an end of them or forsake them, ^asfor you are a gracious and merciful God.

32 “Now, therefore, our God, ^atthe great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love, let not all the hardship seem little to you that has come upon us, upon our kings, our princes, our priests, our prophets, our fathers, and all your people, ^ausince the time of the kings of Assyria until this day. 33 ^avYet you have been righteous in all that has come upon us, for you have dealt faithfully ^awand we have acted wickedly. 34 Our kings, our princes, our priests, and our fathers have not kept your law or paid attention to your commandments and your warnings that you gave them. 35 Even in their own kingdom, ^axand amid your great goodness that you gave them, and in the large and ^ayrich land that you set before them, ^azthey did not serve you or turn from their wicked works. 36 Behold, ^bawe are slaves this day; in the land that you gave to our fathers to enjoy its fruit and its good gifts, behold, we are slaves. 37 ^bbAnd its rich yield goes to the kings whom you have set over us because of our sins. They rule over our bodies and over our livestock as they please, and we are in great distress.

Psalms 106:6-48

6 ^bcBoth we and ^bdour fathers have sinned;
we have committed iniquity; we have done wickedness.
7 Our fathers, when they were in Egypt,
did not consider your wondrous works;
they ^bedid not remember the abundance of your steadfast love,
but ^bfrebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea.
8 Yet he saved them ^bgfor his name’s sake,
^bhthat he might make known his mighty power.
9 He ^birebuked the Red Sea, and it ^bjbecame dry,
and he ^bkled them through the deep as through a desert.
10 So he ^blsaved them from the hand of the foe
and ^bmredeemed them from the power of the enemy.
11 And ^bnthe waters covered their adversaries;
not one of them was left.
12 Then ^bothey believed his words;
they ^bpsang his praise.
13 But they soon ^bqforgot his works;
they did not wait for ^brhis counsel.
14 But they had ^bsa wanton craving in the wilderness,
and ^btput God to the test in the desert;
15 he ^bugave them what they asked,
but sent ^bva wasting disease among them.
16 When men in the camp ^bwwere jealous of Moses
and Aaron, ^bxthe holy one of the Lord,
17 ^bythe earth opened and swallowed up Dathan,
and covered the company of Abiram.
18 ^bzFire also broke out in their company;
the flame burned up the wicked.
19 They ^camade a calf in Horeb
and worshiped a metal image.
20 They ^cbexchanged the glory of God ^{▼▼Hebrew exchanged their glory}
for the image of an ox that eats grass.
21 They ^cdforgot God, their Savior,
who had done great things in Egypt,
22 wondrous works in ^cethe land of Ham,
and awesome deeds by the Red Sea.
23 Therefore ^cfhe said he would destroy them—
had not Moses, his ^cgchosen one,
^chstood in the breach before him,
to turn away his wrath from destroying them.
24 Then they ^cidespised ^cjthe pleasant land,
having ^ckno faith in his promise.
25 They ^clmurmured in their tents,
and did not obey the voice of the Lord.
26 Therefore he ^cmraised his hand and swore to them
that he would make them fall in the wilderness,
27 and would make their offspring fall among the nations,
^cnscattering them among the lands.
28 Then they ^coyoked themselves to the ^cpBaal of Peor,
and ate sacrifices offered to ^cqthe dead;
29 they provoked the Lord to anger with their deeds,
and a plague broke out among them.
30 Then ^crPhinehas stood up and intervened,
and the plague was stayed.
31 And that was ^cscounted to him as righteousness
from generation to generation forever.
32 They ^ctangered him at the waters of Meribah,
and it went ill with Moses on their account,
33 for they ^cumade his spirit bitter, ^{▼▼Or they rebelled against God’s Spirit}
and he ^cwspoke rashly with his lips.
34 They did not ^cxdestroy the peoples,
^cyas the Lord commanded them,
35 but they ^czmixed with the nations
and learned to do as they did.
36 They served their idols,
which became ^daa snare to them.
37 They ^dbsacrificed their sons
and their daughters to ^dcthe demons;
38 they poured out innocent blood,
the blood of their sons and daughters,
whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan,
and the land was ^ddpolluted with blood.
39 Thus they ^debecame unclean by their acts,
and ^dfplayed the whore in their deeds.
40 Then ^dgthe anger of the Lord was kindled against ^dhhis people,
and he abhorred his ^diheritage;
41 he ^djgave them into the hand of the nations,
so that those who hated them ruled over them.
42 Their enemies ^dkoppressed them,
and they were brought into subjection under their power.
43 ^dlMany times he delivered them,
but they were rebellious in their ^dmpurposes
and were ^dnbrought low through their iniquity.
44 Nevertheless, he looked upon their distress,
when he ^doheard their cry.
45 For their sake he ^dpremembered his covenant,
and ^dqrelented according to ^drthe abundance of his steadfast love.
46 He caused them to be ^dspitied
by all those who held them captive.
47 ^dtSave us, O Lord our God,
and ^dugather us from among the nations,
that we may give thanks to your holy name
and glory in your praise.
48 ^dvBlessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting!
^dwAnd let all the people say, “Amen!”
^dxPraise the Lord!

Book Five

Isaiah 48:8

8 You have never heard, you have never known,
from of old your ear has not been opened.
For I knew that you would surely deal treacherously,
and that ^dyfrom before birth you were called a rebel.

Ezekiel 20:8

8 ^dzBut they rebelled against me and were not willing to listen to me. ^eaNone of them cast away the detestable things their eyes feasted on, nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt.

“Then I said I would pour out my wrath upon them ^eband spend my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.

Ezekiel 20:13

13 ^ecBut the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness. ^edThey did not walk in my statutes but rejected my rules, by which, if a person does them, he shall live; ^eeand my Sabbaths they greatly profaned.

^ef“Then I said I would pour out my wrath upon them in the wilderness, to make a full end of them.

Ezekiel 20:21

21 ^egBut the children ^ehrebelled against me. ^eiThey did not walk in my statutes and were not careful to obey my rules, by which, if a person does them, he shall live; they profaned my Sabbaths.

^ej“Then I said I would pour out my wrath upon them and spend my anger against them in the wilderness.

Ezekiel 20:28

28 For when I had brought them into the land that ^ekI swore to give them, then wherever they saw ^elany high hill or any leafy tree, there they offered their sacrifices and there they presented ^emthe provocation of their offering; there they sent up their pleasing aromas, and there they poured out their drink offerings.

Ezekiel 23:3-39

3 ^enThey played the whore in Egypt; ^eothey played the whore ^epin their youth; there their breasts were pressed and their virgin bosoms ^{▼▼Hebrew nipples; also verses 8, 21} handled. 4 Oholah was the name of the elder and Oholibah the name of her sister. ^erThey became mine, and they ^esbore sons and daughters. As for their names, Oholah is ^etSamaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.

5 “Oholah played the whore ^euwhile she was mine, and ^evshe lusted after her lovers ^ewthe Assyrians, warriors 6 clothed in purple, ^exgovernors and commanders, ^eyall of them desirable young men, ^ezhorsemen riding on horses. 7 She bestowed her whoring upon them, the choicest men of Assyria all of them, and she defiled herself with all the idols of everyone after whom she lusted. 8 She did not give up her whoring ^fathat she had begun in Egypt; for in her youth men had lain with her and handled her virgin bosom and poured out their whoring lust upon her. 9 Therefore ^fbI delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the Assyrians, after whom she lusted. 10 ^fcThese uncovered her nakedness; ^fdthey seized her sons and her daughters; and as for her, they killed her with the sword; and she became ^fea byword among women, ^ffwhen judgment had been executed on her.

11 ^fg“Her sister Oholibah saw this, and she became ^fhmore corrupt than her sister ^{▼▼Hebrew than she} in her lust and in her whoring, which was worse than that of her sister. 12 She lusted after the Assyrians, governors and commanders, warriors clothed in full armor, horsemen riding on horses, ^fjall of them desirable young men. 13 And I saw that she was defiled; they both took the same way. 14 But she carried her whoring further. She saw men ^fkportrayed on the wall, the ^flimages of ^fmthe Chaldeans portrayed in vermilion, 15 wearing belts on their waists, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them having the appearance of officers, a likeness of Babylonians whose native land was Chaldea. 16 When she saw them, she lusted after them and ^fnsent messengers to them ^foin Chaldea. 17 And the Babylonians came to her ^fpinto the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoring lust. And after she was defiled by them, ^fqshe turned from them in disgust. 18 When she carried on her whoring so openly and flaunted her nakedness, I turned in disgust from her, as I had turned in disgust from her sister. 19 Yet she increased her whoring, ^frremembering the days of her youth, when she played the whore in the land of Egypt 20 and lusted after her lovers there, whose members were like those of donkeys, and whose issue was like that of horses. 21 Thus you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when the Egyptians handled your bosom and pressed ^{▼▼Vulgate, Syriac; Hebrew bosom for the sake of} your young breasts.”

22 Therefore, O Oholibah, thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I will stir up against you your lovers ^ftfrom whom you turned in disgust, ^fuand I will bring them against you from every side: 23 the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, ^fvPekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, ^fwdesirable young men, ^fxgovernors and commanders all of them, officers and men of renown, all of them riding on horses. 24 And they shall come against you from the north ^{▼▼Septuagint; the meaning of the Hebrew word is unknown} with chariots and wagons and a host of peoples. ^fzThey shall set themselves against you on every side with buckler, shield, and helmet; and ^gaI will commit the judgment to them, and ^gbthey shall judge you according to their judgments. 25 And I will direct my jealousy against you, ^gcthat they may deal with you in fury. They shall cut off your nose and your ears, and your survivors shall fall by the sword. ^gdThey shall seize your sons and your daughters, and your survivors shall be devoured by fire. 26 ^geThey shall also strip you of your clothes and take away your beautiful jewels. 27 ^gfThus I will put an end to your lewdness and ^ggyour whoring begun in the land of Egypt, so that you shall not lift up your eyes to them or remember Egypt anymore.

28 “For thus says the Lord God: ^ghBehold, I will deliver you into the hands of those whom you hate, ^giinto the hands of those from whom you turned in disgust, 29 and ^gjthey shall deal with you in hatred and take away all the fruit of your labor ^gkand leave you naked and bare, and ^glthe nakedness of your whoring shall be uncovered. Your lewdness and your whoring 30 have brought this upon you, because ^gmyou played the whore with the nations and defiled yourself with their idols. 31 You have gone the way of your sister; ^gntherefore I will give ^goher cup into your hand. 32 Thus says the Lord God:

“You shall drink your sister’s cup
that is deep and large;
you shall be laughed at and held in derision,
for it contains much;
33 you will be filled with ^gpdrunkenness and sorrow.
^gqA cup of horror and desolation,
the cup of ^gryour sister Samaria;
34 ^gsyou shall drink it and drain it out,
and gnaw its shards,
and tear your breasts;
for I have spoken, declares the Lord God. 35 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because ^gtyou have forgotten me and ^gucast me behind your back, you yourself ^gvmust bear the consequences of your lewdness and whoring.”

36 The Lord said to me: ^gw“Son of man, ^gxwill you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Declare to them their abominations. 37 For ^gythey have committed adultery, ^gzand blood is on their hands. With their idols they have committed adultery, and they have even ^haoffered up ^{▼▼Or have even made pass through the fire} to them for food the children whom they had borne to me. 38 Moreover, this they have done to me: ^hcthey have defiled my sanctuary on the same day and ^hdprofaned my Sabbaths. 39 For when ^hethey had slaughtered their children in sacrifice to their idols, on the same day ^hfthey came into my sanctuary to profane it. And behold, ^hgthis is what they did in my house.