And that’s not all. The people and all the leaders of the priests became more and more unfaithful. They followed all the practices of the nations. The Lord hated those practices. The people and leaders made the Lord’ s temple“ unclean.” The Lord had set the temple in Jerusalem apart in a special way for himself.

众祭司长和百姓也大大犯罪，效法外邦人一切可憎的事，污秽耶和华在耶路撒冷分别为圣的殿。

众祭司长和百姓也多多犯罪，效法列国一切可憎的事，玷污耶和华在耶路撒冷分别为圣的殿。

众祭司长和百姓也多多犯罪，效法列国一切可憎的事，玷污耶和华在耶路撒冷分别为圣的殿。

所有祭司长和民众也都仿效外族人的一切可憎行径，犯了大罪，玷污了耶和华在耶路撒冷使之圣洁的殿。

此外，所有的祭司长和人民也都大大地得罪神，随从列国所行一切可憎的事；他们污秽了耶和华在耶路撒冷分别为圣的殿。

眾祭司長和百姓也大大犯罪，效法外邦人一切可憎的事，污穢耶和華在耶路撒冷分別為聖的殿。

眾祭司長和百姓也多多犯罪，效法列國一切可憎的事，玷污耶和華在耶路撒冷分別為聖的殿。

眾祭司長和百姓也多多犯罪，效法列國一切可憎的事，玷污耶和華在耶路撒冷分別為聖的殿。

所有祭司長和民眾也都仿效外族人的一切可憎行徑，犯了大罪，玷污了耶和華在耶路撒冷使之聖潔的殿。

此外，所有的祭司長和人民也都大大地得罪神，隨從列國所行一切可憎的事；他們污穢了耶和華在耶路撒冷分別為聖的殿。

不但如此，眾祭司領袖和人民也大大地不忠實，像外國人所行一切可憎惡的事那樣；他們污瀆了永恆主的殿、就是永恆主在耶路撒冷所分別為聖的。

且諸祭司長與民眾、大干罪戾、從異邦可憎之事、污耶和華在耶路撒冷區別為聖之室、

眾祭司長與兆民、效尤異邦、多蹈罪愆、在耶路撒冷、耶和華之殿、業已肅清、復污衊之、

諸祭司長與民眾亦多犯罪、效異邦人可憎之事、在耶路撒冷主之殿、主所別為聖者、彼反污之、

Furthermore, all the leaders of the priests and the people became more and more unfaithful, following all the detestable practices of the nations and defiling the temple of the Lord, which he had consecrated in Jerusalem.

All the officers of the priests and the people likewise were exceedingly unfaithful, following all the abominations of the nations. And they polluted the house of the Lord that he had made holy in Jerusalem.

Likewise, all the leaders of the priests and the people became more and more unfaithful. They followed all the pagan practices of the surrounding nations, desecrating the Temple of the Lord that had been consecrated in Jerusalem.

All the leaders of the priests and the people multiplied their unfaithful deeds, imitating all the detestable practices of the nations, and they defiled the LORD’s temple that he had consecrated in Jerusalem.

Furthermore, all the officials of the priests and the people were very unfaithful, following all the abominations of the nations; and they defiled the house of the Lord which He had sanctified in Jerusalem.

Moreover all the leaders of the priests and the people transgressed more and more, according to all the abominations of the nations, and defiled the house of the Lord which He had consecrated in Jerusalem.

Moreover all the chiefs of the priests, and the people, trespassed very greatly after all the abominations of the nations; and they polluted the house of Jehovah which he had hallowed in Jerusalem.

All the leaders of the priests and the people multiplied their unfaithful deeds, imitating all the detestable practices of the nations, and they defiled the Lord’s temple that He had consecrated in Jerusalem.

Moreover all the chief of the priests, and the people, transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen; and polluted the house of the LORD which he had hallowed in Jerusalem.

All the leaders of the priests and people became more unfaithful and committed the same horrible sins practiced by the nations. They defiled the LORD’s temple which he had consecrated in Jerusalem.

Moreover all the chiefs of the priests, and the people, trespassed very greatly after all the abominations of the nations; and they polluted Yahweh’s house which he had made holy in Jerusalem.

Lord, we are covered with shame. So are our kings and princes, and our people of long ago. We have sinned against you.

He built altars in the Lord’ s temple. The Lord had said about his temple,“ My Name will remain in Jerusalem forever.”In the two courtyards of the Lord’ s temple Manasseh built altars to honor all the stars in the sky.He sacrificed his children in the fire to other gods. He did it in the Valley of Ben Hinnom. He practiced all kinds of evil magic. He took part in worshiping evil powers. He got messages from people who had died. He talked to the spirits of people who have died. He did many things that were evil in the eyes of the Lord. Manasseh made the Lord very angry.Manasseh had carved a statue of a god. He put it in God’s temple. God had spoken to David and his son Solomon about the temple. He had said,“ My Name will be in this temple and in Jerusalem forever. Out of all the cities in the tribes of Israel I have chosen Jerusalem.

Then I said,“ Listen, you leaders of Jacob’s people! Pay attention, you rulers of Israel! You should want to judge others fairly.But you hate what is good. And you love what is evil. You are like someone who tears the skin off my people. You pull the meat off their bones.You eat my people’s bodies. You strip off their skin. You break their bones in pieces. You chop them up like meat. You put them in a cooking pot.”The time will come when Israel will cry out to the Lord. But he won’t answer them. In fact, he’ll turn his face away from them. They have done what is evil.

Jerusalem’s officials are like roaring lions. Their rulers are like wolves that hunt in the evening. They don’t leave anything to eat in the morning.Their prophets care about nothing. They can’t be trusted. Their priests make the temple“ unclean.” They break the law they teach others to obey.

We haven’t listened to your servants the prophets. They spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our people of long ago. They also brought your message to all our people in the land.

Then these officials said to the king,“ This man should be put to death. What he says is making the soldiers who are left in this city lose hope. It’s making all the people lose hope too. He isn’t interested in what is best for the people. In fact, he’s trying to destroy them.”

Faithful people have disappeared from the land. Those who are honest are gone. Everyone hides and waits to spill the blood of others. They use nets to try and trap one another.

Listen to me, you leaders of Jacob’s people! Pay attention, you rulers of Israel! You hate to do what is fair. You twist everything that is right.You build up Zion by spilling the blood of others. You build Jerusalem by doing what is evil.Your judges take money from people who want special favors. Your priests teach only if they get paid for it. Your prophets won’t tell fortunes unless they receive money. But you still look for the Lord’ s help. You say,“ The Lord is with us. No trouble will come on us.”

Its priests break my law. They treat things set apart to me as if they were not holy. They treat holy and common things as if they were the same. They teach that there is no difference between things that are‘ clean’ and things that are not. They refuse to keep my Sabbath days. So they treat me as if I were not holy.The officials in the land are like wolves that tear their food apart. They spill blood and kill people to get rich.The prophets cover up these acts for them. The visions of these prophets are false. They use magic to try to find out what is going to happen. But their magic tricks are lies. They say,‘ The Lord and King says.’ But I have not spoken to them.

We are filled with it. It has been like that ever since the days of our people who lived long ago. Kings of other countries have killed many of us and our kings and priests with their swords. They’ve forced others to leave their own land. They’ve taken them away as prisoners. They’ve robbed others. They’ve made still others feel ashamed and dishonored. All these things have happened to us because we’ve committed so many sins. And that’s how things still are to this day.

He got as far as the Benjamin Gate. But the captain of the guard arrested him. He said,“ You are going over to the side of the Babylonians!” The captain’s name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah. Shelemiah was the son of Hananiah.Jeremiah said to Irijah,“ That isn’t true! I’m not going to the side of the Babylonians.” But Irijah wouldn’t listen to him. Instead, he arrested Jeremiah. He brought Jeremiah to the officials.They were angry with him. So they had him beaten. Then they took him to the house of Jonathan the secretary. It had been made into a prison. That’s where they put Jeremiah.

“‘ “The princes of Israel are in your city. All of them use their power to spill blood.

Then the Lord said to me,“ Son of man, look toward the north.” So I did. I saw a statue that made God angry. It was in the entrance of the gate north of the altar.He said to me,“ Son of man, do you see what the Israelites are doing here? They are doing things I hate very much. Those things will cause me to go far away from my temple. But you will see things I hate even more.”Then he brought me to the entrance to the courtyard. I looked up and saw a hole in the wall.He said to me,“ Son of man, dig into the wall.” So I did. And I saw a door there.He continued,“ Go through it. Look at the evil things they are doing here. I hate those things.”So I went in and looked. All over the walls were pictures of all kinds of crawling things and“ unclean” animals. The Lord hates it when people worship those things. There were also carvings of the gods of the people of Israel.In front of them stood 70 elders of Israel. Jaazaniah was standing there among them. He is the son of Shaphan. Each elder was holding a shallow cup. A sweet- smelling cloud of incense was rising from the cups.The Lord spoke to me. He said,“ Son of man, do you see what the elders of Israel are doing in the dark? Each of them is in his own room worshiping his own god. They say,‘ The Lord doesn’t see us. He has deserted the land.’ ”He continued,“ You will see them doing things I hate even more.”Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the Lord’ s house. I saw women sitting there. They were mourning for the god named Tammuz.The Lord said to me,“ Son of man, do you see what they are doing? You will see things I hate even more.”Then he brought me into the inner courtyard of the Lord’ s house. About 25 men were there. They were at the entrance to the Lord’ s temple between the porch and the altar. Their backs were turned toward the temple. Their faces were turned toward the east. And they were bowing down to the sun.

He burned sacrifices in the Valley of Ben Hinnom. He sacrificed his children in the fire to other gods. He followed the practices of the nations. The Lord hates these practices. The Lord had driven out those nations to make room for the people of Israel.

So I will go to the leaders. I’ll speak to them. They should know how the Lord wants them to live. They must know what their God requires of them.” But all of them had broken off the yoke the Lord had put on them. They had torn off the ropes he had tied them up with.

Then King Ahaz went to Damascus. He went there to see Tiglath- Pileser, the king of Assyria. Ahaz saw an altar in Damascus. He sent a drawing of it to Uriah the priest. Ahaz also sent him plans for building it.So Uriah the priest built an altar. He followed all the plans King Ahaz had sent from Damascus. He finished it before Ahaz returned.The king came back from Damascus. When he saw the altar, he approached it. Then he offered sacrifices on it.He offered up his burnt offering and grain offering. He poured out his drink offering. And he splashed the blood from his friendship offerings against the altar.The bronze altar for burnt offerings stood in front of the Lord. It was between the new altar and the Lord’ s temple. Ahaz took the bronze altar away from the front of the temple. He put it on the north side of the new altar.Then King Ahaz gave orders to Uriah the priest. He said,“ Offer sacrifices on the large new altar. Offer the morning burnt offering and the evening grain offering. Offer my burnt offering and my grain offering. Offer the burnt offering of all the people of the land. Offer their grain offering and their drink offering. Splash against this altar the blood from all the burnt offerings and sacrifices. But I will use the bronze altar to look for advice and direction.”Uriah the priest did just as King Ahaz had ordered.

But Manasseh led Judah and the people of Jerusalem astray. They did more evil things than the nations the Lord had destroyed to make room for the Israelites.