The earth suffers for the sins of its people, for they have twisted God’s instructions, violated his laws, and broken his everlasting covenant.

地被其上的居民污秽；因为他们犯了律法，废了律例，背了永约。

地被其上的居民所污秽，因为他们犯了律法，废了律例，背了永约。

地被其上的居民所污秽，因为他们犯了律法，废了律例，背了永约。

大地被世人玷污，他们违犯律法，不守律例，背弃永远的约。

大地被其上的居民玷污，因为他们犯了律法，违了律例，背了永远的约。

大地被其上的居民玷污，因为他们违背律法，违犯律例，破坏永远的约。

地被其上的居民污穢；因為他們犯了律法，廢了律例，背了永約。

地被其上的居民所污穢，因為他們犯了律法，廢了律例，背了永約。

地被其上的居民所污穢，因為他們犯了律法，廢了律例，背了永約。

大地被世人玷污，他們違犯律法，不守律例，背棄永遠的約。

大地被其上的居民玷污，因為他們犯了律法，違了律例，背了永遠的約。

大地在它居民之下被沾污，因為他們越犯了律法，違背了律例，違犯了永遠的約。

大地被其上的居民玷汙，因為他們違背律法，違犯律例，破壞永遠的約。

地為居民污衊、以其犯法律、違典章、背厥永約、

民既犯法違例、爽其永約、故斯土咸染污衊、

斯地為居民所污、蓋其違例犯法、廢棄永約、

The earth is defiled by its people; they have disobeyed the laws, violated the statutes and broken the everlasting covenant.

The earth is polluted by its people. They haven’t obeyed the laws of the Lord. They haven’t done what he told them to do. They’ve broken the covenant that will last forever.

The earth lies defiled under its inhabitants; for they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant.

The earth is polluted by its inhabitants, for they have transgressed teachings, overstepped decrees, and broken the permanent covenant.

The earth is also defiled by its inhabitants, for they violated laws, altered statutes, and broke the everlasting covenant.

The earth is also defiled under its inhabitants, Because they have transgressed the laws, Changed the ordinance, Broken the everlasting covenant.

The earth also is polluted under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant.

The earth is polluted by its inhabitants, for they have transgressed teachings, overstepped decrees, and broken the everlasting covenant.

The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.

The earth is defiled by its inhabitants, for they have violated laws, disregarded the regulation, and broken the permanent treaty.

The earth also is polluted under its inhabitants, because they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, and broken the everlasting covenant.

Now may the God of peace— who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, and ratified an eternal covenant with his blood—

He will defy the Most High and oppress the holy people of the Most High. He will try to change their sacred festivals and laws, and they will be placed under his control for a time, times, and half a time.

Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope,the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay.

That first covenant between God and Israel had regulations for worship and a place of worship here on earth.

This will ensure that the land where you live will not be polluted, for murder pollutes the land. And no sacrifice except the execution of the murderer can purify the land from murder.You must not defile the land where you live, for I live there myself. I am the Lord, who lives among the people of Israel.”

Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous in God’s eyes, careful to obey all of the Lord’s commandments and regulations.

But Manasseh led the people of Judah and Jerusalem to do even more evil than the pagan nations that the Lord had destroyed when the people of Israel entered the land.

“ Son of man, give the people of Israel this message: In the day of my indignation, you will be like a polluted land, a land without rain.Your princes plot conspiracies just as lions stalk their prey. They devour innocent people, seizing treasures and extorting wealth. They make many widows in the land.Your priests have violated my instructions and defiled my holy things. They make no distinction between what is holy and what is not. And they do not teach my people the difference between what is ceremonially clean and unclean. They disregard my Sabbath days so that I am dishonored among them.Your leaders are like wolves who tear apart their victims. They actually destroy people’s lives for money!And your prophets cover up for them by announcing false visions and making lying predictions. They say,‘ My message is from the Sovereign Lord,’ when the Lord hasn’t spoken a single word to them.Even common people oppress the poor, rob the needy, and deprive foreigners of justice.“ I looked for someone who might rebuild the wall of righteousness that guards the land. I searched for someone to stand in the gap in the wall so I wouldn’t have to destroy the land, but I found no one.So now I will pour out my fury on them, consuming them with the fire of my anger. I will heap on their heads the full penalty for all their sins. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!”

“ You must keep all my decrees and regulations by putting them into practice; otherwise the land to which I am bringing you as your new home will vomit you out.

They will ask the way to Jerusalem and will start back home again. They will bind themselves to the Lord with an eternal covenant that will never be forgotten.

“ Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, for the people I am driving out before you have defiled themselves in all these ways.Because the entire land has become defiled, I am punishing the people who live there. I will cause the land to vomit them out.You must obey all my decrees and regulations. You must not commit any of these detestable sins. This applies both to native born Israelites and to the foreigners living among you.“ All these detestable activities are practiced by the people of the land where I am taking you, and this is how the land has become defiled.So do not defile the land and give it a reason to vomit you out, as it will vomit out the people who live there now.

We have not obeyed the Lord our God, for we have not followed the instructions he gave us through his servants the prophets.

And to the man he said,“ Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat, the ground is cursed because of you. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it.It will grow thorns and thistles for you, though you will eat of its grains.

They were proud of their beautiful jewelry and used it to make detestable idols and vile images. Therefore, I will make all their wealth disgusting to them.I will give it as plunder to foreigners, to the most wicked of nations, and they will defile it.I will turn my eyes from them as these robbers invade and defile my treasured land.“ Prepare chains for my people, for the land is bloodied by terrible crimes. Jerusalem is filled with violence.I will bring the most ruthless of nations to occupy their homes. I will break down their proud fortresses and defile their sanctuaries.

They worshiped their idols, which led to their downfall.They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons.They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters. By sacrificing them to the idols of Canaan, they polluted the land with murder.They defiled themselves by their evil deeds, and their love of idols was adultery in the Lord’s sight.

Up! Begone! This is no longer your land and home, for you have filled it with sin and ruined it completely.

“ But Israel soon became fat and unruly; the people grew heavy, plump, and stuffed! Then they abandoned the God who had made them; they made light of the Rock of their salvation.

Fear and trembling overwhelm me, and I can’t stop shaking.

He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, and to the people of Israel as a never ending covenant:

Listen! The Lord’s arm is not too weak to save you, nor is his ear too deaf to hear you call.It’s your sins that have cut you off from God. Because of your sins, he has turned away and will not listen anymore.Your hands are the hands of murderers, and your fingers are filthy with sin. Your lips are full of lies, and your mouth spews corruption.

Now God saw that the earth had become corrupt and was filled with violence.God observed all this corruption in the world, for everyone on earth was corrupt.So God said to Noah,“ I have decided to destroy all living creatures, for they have filled the earth with violence. Yes, I will wipe them all out along with the earth!

I prayed,“ O my God, I am utterly ashamed; I blush to lift up my face to you. For our sins are piled higher than our heads, and our guilt has reached to the heavens.From the days of our ancestors until now, we have been steeped in sin. That is why we and our kings and our priests have been at the mercy of the pagan kings of the land. We have been killed, captured, robbed, and disgraced, just as we are today.

So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day at Shechem, committing them to follow the decrees and regulations of the Lord.

because they did not obey my regulations. They scorned my decrees by violating my Sabbath days and longing for the idols of their ancestors.

“ If a man divorces a woman and she goes and marries someone else, he will not take her back again, for that would surely corrupt the land. But you have prostituted yourself with many lovers, so why are you trying to come back to me?” says the Lord.“ Look at the shrines on every hilltop. Is there any place you have not been defiled by your adultery with other gods? You sit like a prostitute beside the road waiting for a customer. You sit alone like a nomad in the desert. You have polluted the land with your prostitution and your wickedness.

He said,‘ I will abandon them; then see what becomes of them. For they are a twisted generation, children without integrity.

This is what the Lord says:“ Was your mother sent away because I divorced her? Did I sell you as slaves to my creditors? No, you were sold because of your sins. And your mother, too, was taken because of your sins.

This disaster came upon the people of Israel because they worshiped other gods. They sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them safely out of Egypt and had rescued them from the power of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt.They had followed the practices of the pagan nations the Lord had driven from the land ahead of them, as well as the practices the kings of Israel had introduced.The people of Israel had also secretly done many things that were not pleasing to the Lord their God. They built pagan shrines for themselves in all their towns, from the smallest outpost to the largest walled city.They set up sacred pillars and Asherah poles at the top of every hill and under every green tree.They offered sacrifices on all the hilltops, just like the nations the Lord had driven from the land ahead of them. So the people of Israel had done many evil things, arousing the Lord’s anger.Yes, they worshiped idols, despite the Lord’s specific and repeated warnings.Again and again the Lord had sent his prophets and seers to warn both Israel and Judah:“ Turn from all your evil ways. Obey my commands and decrees— the entire law that I commanded your ancestors to obey, and that I gave you through my servants the prophets.”But the Israelites would not listen. They were as stubborn as their ancestors who had refused to believe in the Lord their God.They rejected his decrees and the covenant he had made with their ancestors, and they despised all his warnings. They worshiped worthless idols, so they became worthless themselves. They followed the example of the nations around them, disobeying the Lord’s command not to imitate them.They rejected all the commands of the Lord their God and made two calves from metal. They set up an Asherah pole and worshiped Baal and all the forces of heaven.They even sacrificed their own sons and daughters in the fire. They consulted fortune tellers and practiced sorcery and sold themselves to evil, arousing the Lord’s anger.Because the Lord was very angry with Israel, he swept them away from his presence. Only the tribe of Judah remained in the land.But even the people of Judah refused to obey the commands of the Lord their God, for they followed the evil practices that Israel had introduced.The Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel. He punished them by handing them over to their attackers until he had banished Israel from his presence.For when the Lord tore Israel away from the kingdom of David, they chose Jeroboam son of Nebat as their king. But Jeroboam drew Israel away from following the Lord and made them commit a great sin.And the people of Israel persisted in all the evil ways of Jeroboam. They did not turn from these sinsuntil the Lord finally swept them away from his presence, just as all his prophets had warned. So Israel was exiled from their land to Assyria, where they remain to this day.

“ Go to the Temple and speak to the Lord for me and for the people and for all Judah. Inquire about the words written in this scroll that has been found. For the Lord’s great anger is burning against us because our ancestors have not obeyed the words in this scroll. We have not been doing everything it says we must do.”So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Acbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to the New Quarter of Jerusalem to consult with the prophet Huldah. She was the wife of Shallum son of Tikvah, son of Harhas, the keeper of the Temple wardrobe.She said to them,“ The Lord, the God of Israel, has spoken! Go back and tell the man who sent you,‘ This is what the Lord says: I am going to bring disaster on this city and its people. All the words written in the scroll that the king of Judah has read will come true.For my people have abandoned me and offered sacrifices to pagan gods, and I am very angry with them for everything they have done. My anger will burn against this place, and it will not be quenched.’

For our sins are piled up before God and testify against us. Yes, we know what sinners we are.We know we have rebelled and have denied the Lord. We have turned our backs on our God. We know how unfair and oppressive we have been, carefully planning our deceitful lies.Our courts oppose the righteous, and justice is nowhere to be found. Truth stumbles in the streets, and honesty has been outlawed.Yes, truth is gone, and anyone who renounces evil is attacked. The Lord looked and was displeased to find there was no justice.

Listen, O heavens! Pay attention, earth! This is what the Lord says:“ The children I raised and cared for have rebelled against me.Even an ox knows its owner, and a donkey recognizes its master’s care— but Israel doesn’t know its master. My people don’t recognize my care for them.”Oh, what a sinful nation they are— loaded down with a burden of guilt. They are evil people, corrupt children who have rejected the Lord. They have despised the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him.Why do you continue to invite punishment? Must you rebel forever? Your head is injured, and your heart is sick.

Even so, the Lord was very angry with Judah because of all the wicked things Manasseh had done to provoke him.For the Lord said,“ I will also banish Judah from my presence just as I have banished Israel. And I will reject my chosen city of Jerusalem and the Temple where my name was to be honored.”

All must be circumcised. Your bodies will bear the mark of my everlasting covenant.Any male who fails to be circumcised will be cut off from the covenant family for breaking the covenant.”

I am sending Assyria against a godless nation, against a people with whom I am angry. Assyria will plunder them, trampling them like dirt beneath its feet.

“ Is it not my family God has chosen? Yes, he has made an everlasting covenant with me. His agreement is arranged and guaranteed in every detail. He will ensure my safety and success.

Their worship is a farce, for they teach man made ideas as commands from God.’For you ignore God’s law and substitute your own tradition.”Then he said,“ You skillfully sidestep God’s law in order to hold on to your own tradition.

“ But the people of Israel rebelled against me, and they refused to obey my decrees there in the wilderness. They wouldn’t obey my regulations even though obedience would have given them life. They also violated my Sabbath days. So I threatened to pour out my fury on them, and I made plans to utterly consume them in the wilderness.

And I will make a covenant of peace with them, an everlasting covenant. I will give them their land and increase their numbers, and I will put my Temple among them forever.

But we have sinned and done wrong. We have rebelled against you and scorned your commands and regulations.