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772. Bible Study: Jeremiah 11 (Obedience to God, Idolatry and Consequences) · Faith by annm2705

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  Chapter 11 of Jeremiah, the Covenant is Broken is the title
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  of this one. This is the word that came to
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  Jeremiah from the Lord. Listen to the terms of this
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  covenant and tell them to the people of Judah and to those who
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  live in Jerusalem. Tell them that this is what the
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  Lord the God of Israel says. Cursed is the one who does not
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  obey the terms of this covenant, the terms I commanded your
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  ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt, out of this
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  smelting furnace. I said obey me and do everything
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  I command you, and you will be my people and I will be your
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  God. Then I will fulfil the oath I
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  swore to your ancestors, to give them a land flowing with milk
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  and honey, the land you possess today.
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  I answered. Amen, Lord, the Lord said to me,
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  Proclaim all these words in the towns of Judah and in the
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  streets of Jerusalem. Listen to the terms of this
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  covenant and follow them. From the time I brought your
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  ancestors up from Egypt until to day, I warned them again and
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  again, saying obey me, but they did not listen or pay attention.
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  Instead, they followed the stubbornness of their evil
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  hearts. So I brought on them all the
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  curses of the covenant I had commanded them to follow, but
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  that they did not keep. So when I read this, I thought,
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  what are all of those curses that are talked about?
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  And if we go to Deuteronomy chapter 28, we will find those
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  to see what this was. So there was there were
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  blessings for obedience at the beginning, and then there were
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  curses for disobedience. So these are the ones that Moses
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  gave to the people. And it's pretty long, actually.
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  A lot. Oh my gosh, there's yeah, it's
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  like 68 verses long. So I will I will read some of
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  this but curses for disobedience says However, if you do not obey
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  the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all his
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  commands and decrees I am giving you to day, all these curses
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  will come on you and overtake you.
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  Maybe we should read like the blessings 1st and then we'll
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  read the curses after that. So starting in Deuteronomy
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  chapter 28 verse one, if you fully obey the Lord your God and
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  carefully follow all His commands I give to you today,
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  the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on
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  earth. All these blessings will come on
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  you and accompany you. If you obey the Lord your God,
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  you will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country.
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  The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your
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  land and the young of your livestock, the calves of your
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  herd, and the lambs of your flocks, your basket and your
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  kneading dough will be blessed. You'll be blessed when you come
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  in and blessed when you go out. The Lord will grant that the
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  enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you.
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  They will come at you from One Direction and flee from you in
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  seven. The Lord will send a blessing on
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  your barns and on everything you put your hand to.
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  The Lord your God will bless you in the land He is giving you.
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  The Lord will establish you as His holy people, as He promised
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  you on oath. If you keep the commands of the
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  Lord your God and walk in obedience to Him, then all the
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  people on earth will see that you are called by the name of
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  the Lord, and they will fear you.
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  The Lord will grant you abundant prosperity in the fruit of your
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  womb, the young of your livestock, and the crops of your
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  ground in the land He swore to your ancestors to give you.
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  The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse of His bounty, to
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  send rain on your land in season and to bless the work of your
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  hands. You will lend to many nations,
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  but will borrow from none. The Lord will make you the head,
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  not the tail. If you pay attention to the
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  commands of the Lord your God that I give you this day and
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  carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at
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  the bottom. Do not turn aside from any of
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  the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left,
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  following other gods and serving them.
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  So I wonder if this is like on Mount Ebal they were, let's see
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  on the chapter 27 of Deuteronomy, the commands, I
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  think right on all the this is what Deuteronomy 27 three says
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  right on them all the words of this law.
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  When you have crossed over and enter the land, your God has
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  given you a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord
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  your God, your ancestors promised.
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  So the laws are in Deuteronomy and it has.
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  I was looking to see like a listing of all of the laws.
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  If we look at chapters first fruits and tithes and there's a
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  lot of laws that go back to Deuteronomy 25, Deuteronomy 24
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  and Deuteronomy 23. There's there's a lot of there
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  are so many different laws. So anyway, God gave all these
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  laws to Moses and then he said if you follow them, there will
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  be blessings. If you don't follow them, there
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  are consequences. So here's what the consequences
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  are. However, if you do not obey the
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  Lord your God and do not carefully follow all His
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  commands and degrees I'm giving you today, all these curses will
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  come on you and overtake you. You'll be cursed in the city and
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  cursed in the country. Your basket and your kneading
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  dough will be cursed. The fruit of your room womb will
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  be cursed, and the crops of your land, and the calves of your
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  herds, and the lambs of your flocks.
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  You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out.
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  The Lord will send on you curses, confusion, and rebuke in
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  everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come
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  to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking
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  Him. The Lord will plague you with
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  diseases until He has destroyed you from the land you are
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  entering. The Lord will strike you with
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  yeast disease, with fever and inflammation and scorching heat
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  and drought, with blight and mildew, which will plague you
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  until you perish. The sky over your head will be
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  bronze, the ground beneath you iron.
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  The Lord will turn the reign of your country into dust and
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  powder. It will come down from the skies
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  until you are destroyed. The Lord will cause you to be
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  defeated before your enemies. You will come at them from One
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  Direction, but flee from them in seven, and you will become a
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  thing of horror to all the nations of the earth.
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  Your carcasses will be food for all the birds and the wild
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  animals, and there will be no one to frighten them away.
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  The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt, with tumors,
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  festering sores, and the itch from which you cannot be cured.
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  The Lord will affect you with madness, blindness, and
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  confusion of mind. At midday you will grope around
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  like a blind person in the dark. You will be unsuccessful in
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  everything you do day after day. You will be robbed and no one to
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  rescue you. You will be pledged to be
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  married to a woman, but another will take her and rape her.
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  You will build a house, but you will not live in it.
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  You will plant a vineyard, but you will not even begin to enjoy
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  its fruit. Your ox will be slaughtered
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  before your eyes, but you will eat none of it.
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  Your donkey will be forcibly taking from you, taken from you,
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  and will not be returned. Your sheep will be given to your
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  enemies, and no one will rescue them.
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  Your sons and daughters will be given to another nation, and you
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  will wear out your eyes, watching for them day after day,
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  powerless to lift a hand. A people that you do not know
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  will eat what your land and labor produce, and you will have
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  nothing but cruel in all your days.
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  The sights you see will drive you mad.
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  The Lord will afflict your knees and legs with painful boils that
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  cannot be cured, spreading from the soles of your feet to the
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  top of your head. The Lord will drive you and the
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  king set over you to a nation unknown to you or your
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  ancestors. There you will worship other
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  gods, gods of wood and stone. You will become a thing of
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  horror, a byword, and an object of ridicule among the peoples
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  where the Lord will drive you. You will so much seed in the
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  field, but you will harvest little, because locusts will
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  devour it. You will vineyards and cultivate
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  them, but you will not drink the wine or gather the grapes
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  because worms will eat them. You will have olive trees
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  throughout your country, but you will not use the oil because the
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  olives will drop off. You will have sons and
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  daughters, but you will not keep them because they will go into
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  captivity. Swarms of locusts will take over
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  all your trees and your crops of your land.
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  The foreigners who reside among you will rise above you, higher
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  and higher, but you will sink lower and lower.
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  They will lend to you, but you will not lend to them.
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  They will be the head, but you will be the tail.
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  All these curses will come on you.
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  They will pursue you and overtake you until you are
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  destroyed because you did not obey the Lord your God and
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  observe the commands and decrees He gave you.
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  They will be a sign and a wonder and your descendant to you and
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  your descendants forever, because you did not serve the
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  Lord your God joyfully and gladfully and gladly.
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  In the time of prosperity. Therefore, in hunger and thirst,
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  in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies the
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  Lord sends against you. He will put an iron yoke on your
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  neck until He has destroyed you. The Lord will bring a nation
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  against you from far away, from the ends of the earth, like an
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  eagle swooping down. A nation whose language you will
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  not understand. A fierce looking nation with
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  respect with without respect for the old are be for the young.
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  They will devour the young of your livestock and the crops of
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  your land until you are destroyed.
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  They will leave you no grain, new wine or olive oil, nor any
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  calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks, until you are
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  ruined. They will lay siege to all the
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  cities throughout your land until the high fortified walls
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  in which you trust fall down. They will besiege all the cities
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  throughout the land the Lord your God is giving you.
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  Because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during
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  the siege. You will eat the fruit of the
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  room, the flesh of the sons and daughters the Lord has given
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  you. Even the most gentle and
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  sensitive man among you will have no compassion on his own
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  brother or the wife he loves, or his surviving children, and he
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  will not give to one of them any of the flesh of his children
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  that he is eating. It will be all he has left.
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  Because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during
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  the siege of all your cities. The most gentle and sensitive
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  woman among you, so sensitive and gentle that she would not
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  venture to touch the ground with the sole of her foot, will
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  begrudge the husband she loves and her own son or daughter, the
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  afterbirth from her womb and the children she bears for in her
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  dire need she intends to eat them secretly because of the
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  suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege
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  of your cities. If you do not carefully follow
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  all the words of this law which are written in the book, and do
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  not Revere this glorious and awesome name, the Lord your God.
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  The Lord will send fearful plagues on you and your
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  descendants, harsh and prolonged disasters, and severe and
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  lingering illnesses. He will bring on you all the
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  diseases of Egypt that you dreaded, and they will cling to
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  you. The Lord will also bring on you
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  every kind of sickness and disaster not recorded in the
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  book of the Law until you are destroyed.
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  You who were as numerous as the stars in the sky will be left
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  but a few in number because you did not obey the Lord your God.
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  Just as it pleased the Lord to make you prosper and increase
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  the number, so it will please him to ruin and destroy you.
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  You will be upright from the land you entered to possess.
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  Then the Lord will scatter you among the nations, from one end
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  of the earth to the other. There you will worship other
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  gods, gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your
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  ancestors have known. Among these nations.
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  There you will find no response, no resting place for the sole of
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  your foot. There the Lord will give you an
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  anxious mind, eyes weary with longing, and a despairing heart.
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  You will live in constant suspense, filled with dread both
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  day, both night and day, never sure of your life.
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  In the morning you will say, if it were only evening, and in the
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  evening if it were only morning. Because of the terror that will
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  fill your hearts and the sights that your eyes will see.
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  The Lord will send you back in ships to Egypt on a journey I
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  said you should never make again.
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  There you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male
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  and female slaves, but no one will buy you.
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  So that's pretty horrible like what God said about these.
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  You know, people may say that, you know, if they say like the
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  Jews are there a chosen one or Israel is the chosen 1 and God
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  did choose Israel, But look at the there's blessings and
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  there's also curses and it does tie to their obedience and, and
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  primarily it seems like they're worshipping of God and knowing
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  who God is and not having false gods.
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  It seems like that triggers most of it is when they turn to false
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  gods. There was also I remembered and
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  I had took me a while to find it, but I remembered that there
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  were also requirements for the kings of Israel, what they
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  should do. And many of the kings did not
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  obey what God laid out through Moses.
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  And this is what he said like in Deuteronomy 17 starting at verse
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  14. This is about the kings of them.
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  When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you and have
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  taken possession of it and settled in it.
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  And you say, let us set a king over us like all the nations
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  around us. Be sure to O you a king, the
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  Lord your God chooses. He must be from among your
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  fellow Israelites. Do not place a foreigner over
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  you, one that is not an Israelite.
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  When I read that I think about I wonder if that's going to come
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  into play in the future. Is there going to be a foreigner
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  placed over at any point or will they always obey this?
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  I'm not really sure, but it's just interesting that I don't
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  know that they've ever had a foreigner placed over them who
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  is not an Israelite. And it should be a king that God
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  chooses. And that was, I guess it was
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  first David and then, well, I guess first there was Saul, then
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  David, then Solomon. And then they didn't care about
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  what God was choosing. They just started appointing
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  kings and that's when they had the 10 tribes were separated
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  from 2 tribes. And I think the southern tribes
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  maybe did have God's influence over them, but the northern
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  tribes, the 10 tribes did not. They were just doing whatever
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  they deemed was right. So and Even so, like when you
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  think about how David lived and how Solomon lived, I don't even
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  think that they even complied with what God said the way the
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  king should be. Because in Deuteronomy 17 verse
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  16, it said the king moreover, must not acquire great numbers
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  of horses for himself. And that we know Solomon had a
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  lot of horses. Or make the people return to
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  Egypt to get more of them. For the Lord has told you, you
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  are not to go back that way again.
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  You must not take many wives again.
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  This is something that we know Solomon did and David had pretty
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  many as well or his heart will be LED astray.
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  We know that did happen to Solomon.
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  He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold.
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  That's another thing that seems like Solomon did.
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  He had what was it like 666 talents that were given to him
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  by the queen of Sheba. And so that's again interesting.
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  It's like he's be broke, all of these things.
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  When he takes the throne of his Kingdom, he is to write for
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  himself on a scroll a copy of this law taken from that of the
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  Levitical priest. Now I just wonder.
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  I mean, it seems like David did this because in a lot of the
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  Psalms he says, I meditate on your laws day and night.
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  So it seems like David was obedient to this Solomon.
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  I don't really know because if he did that, he disregarded a
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  lot of what it said just when we talked about the horses and the
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  wives and so forth. And, and then we also know that
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  in the Book of Kings, I believe, I don't remember which area, but
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  when I think it was Josiah who is the young king who came to
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  be, But he discovered the book of Law in the temple and
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  realized that they hadn't followed it in I don't know how
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  many years, like hundreds of years maybe.
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  And so they all decided that they were going to follow it at
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  the time of his reign. But then again, they fell away
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  from it again. So all the laws that God gives,
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  it seems like they are basically guardrails are protected their
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  protection for us if we obey them, it you know, if we obey
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  them, things will go well with us and then if we disobey them
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  or disregard them, then we will have consequences.
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  Even, you know, this is written to the Israelites, but I believe
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  it also affects us when we get to the 10 commandments that that
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  God will. You know, there are
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  consequences, whether they're just like a consequence of the
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  sin that we do, but they really are guardrails.
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  Like if we don't break God's 10 commandments, then things we
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  won't have the consequences that go along with that.
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  But I guess there there are blessings and also curses to
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  being the chosen one of God, like the chosen community that
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  God chose to work through and glorify himself through, which
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  was Israel. So, you know, people would say,
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  well, you know, maybe they were the favorite ones.
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  God doesn't have favorites, but to choose someone doesn't mean
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  that's the favorite. It just means that they are
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  chosen ones and God chose them of all to fulfill His word.
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  And and then we see that they didn't successfully do this, and
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  probably none of us would because we're all human and we
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  all make mistakes. So it, you know, it, it may be
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  good to like have all these blessings pronounced, but think
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  about like all the curses that are also there.
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  It's like there's good and bad that come with it.
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  And do these curses necessarily apply to all other people or
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  they just to the Israelites? It seems like they're just to
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  the Israelites. Then it says, so when he takes
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  the throne of his Kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll
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  a copy of this law taken from that of the Levitical priest.
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  It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his
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  life so that he may learn to Revere the Lord his God and
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  follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees
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  and not consider himself better than his fellow Israelites and
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  turn from the law to the right or to the left.
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  Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his
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  Kingdom in Israel. So we see that God did fulfill
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  this. You know, all the kings that
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  didn't take this copy of the scroll and read it, reflect on
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  it every day. He their descendants, you know,
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  eventually none of the descendants are ruling it over
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  Israel because first it was the northern Kingdom that was
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  conquered by the Assyrians. And then like what Jeremiah is
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  talking about is the southern Kingdom and they were going to
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  be conquered by the Babylonians. So anyway, Jeremiah is actually
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  warning them again, you know, that they need to obey what God
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  said, and they were at a point where they were not in
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  obedience. So we'll go back to Jeremiah
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  Chapter 11, verse 9. Then the Lord said to me, there
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  is a conspiracy among the people of Judah and those who live in
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  Jerusalem. They have returned to the sins
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  of their ancestors who refused to listen to my words.
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  They have followed other gods. Seems like idolatry is the
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  primary thing that God is offended by and to serve them.
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  Both Israel and Judah have broken the covenant I made with
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  their ancestors. Therefore this is what the Lord
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  says. I will bring on them a disaster
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  they cannot escape. Although they cry out to me, I
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  will not listen to them. The towns of Judah and the
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  people of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to whom they
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  burn incense. So they are burning incense to
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  fake gods, but they will not help them at all when disaster
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  strikes. You Judah, have so many gods as
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  you have towns and the altars you have set up to burn incense,
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  and to that shameful God bail are as many as the streets of
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  Jerusalem. Do not pray for these people or
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  offer any plea or petition for them, because I will not listen
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  when they call to me in the time of their distress.
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  Now that's kind of I'm going to read something about that.
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  When, when, when does God refuse to hear our prayers?
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  God sees, hears, and knows everything, including our
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  prayers. Nothing escapes his attention.
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  Why, then, did God say He would not listen to the people's cries
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  for help? There are several possible
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  reasons. In this case, God did not
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  respond because judgment was unavoidable.
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  Judah had disobeyed God's laws and ignored his pleas for so
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  long that judgment was in effect already on the way.
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  Their cries were too little, too late.
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  Several times, God explicitly told Jeremiah not to pray for
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  the people. In chapter 711 and 14, God said
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  that not even Moses and Samuel could have persuaded him to
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  relent. That's in chapter 15.
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  It's also possible that people sometimes sabotage their own
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  prayers, causing them to be ineffective.
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  The Bible mentions several attitudes and actions that can
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  short circuit our prayers. Sin is #1 disobedience is
• 24:28
  another one, hypocrisy and insincerity is another one.
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  Pride, wrong motives, lack of faith, and unloving attitudes
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  towards one's spouse. Finally, that.
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  Finally, what sometimes appears to be no answer to prayer may
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  actually be a delayed answer. Other times, God may deny our
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  request in order to give us something better than we knew to
• 24:58
  ask for. So we'll go back.
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  Let's see, what is my beloved doing in my temple as she, with
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  many others, works out her evil schemes.
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  Can consecrated meat avert your punishment?
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  When you engage in your witness wickedness, then you rejoice.
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  The Lord called you a thriving olive tree with fruit beautiful
• 25:22
  in form, but with the roar of a mighty storm He will set it on
• 25:28
  fire and its branches will be broken.
• 25:30
  The Lord Almighty who planted you has secreed disaster for
• 25:35
  you, because the people of both Israel and Judah have done evil
• 25:39
  and aroused by anger, by burning incense to bail.
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  Because the Lord revealed their plot to me, I knew it, for at
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  that time He showed me what they were doing.
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  I had been like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter.
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  I did not realize that they had plotted against me, saying, Let
• 25:57
  us destroy the tree and its fruit, let us cut him off from
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  the land of the living, that His name be remembered no more.
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  But you, Lord Almighty, who judge righteously and test the
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  heart and mind, let me see your vengeance on them.
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  For to you I have admitted my cause.
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  Therefore this is what the Lord says about the people of
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  Anathoth. Anathoth was a city in Benjamin
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  where Jeremiah was born. So who these people were
• 26:29
  threatening to kill you, saying do not prophecy in the name of
• 26:32
  the Lord, or you will die by our hands.
• 26:36
  Therefore, this is what the Lord Almighty says.
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  I will punish them. Their young men will die by the
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  sword, their sons and daughters by famine.
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  Not even a remnant will be left to them, because I will bring
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  disaster on the people of Anaphor in the year of their
• 26:53
  punishment. And that's the end of Chapter
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  11. I'll read the questions and
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  answers and then we will wrap up this one.
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  Didn't people know what this covenant said?
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  Sadly, God's people had forgotten their spiritual
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  foundation. The covenant of Moses and its
• 27:12
  two way promises between God and His people.
• 27:15
  Jeremiah was challenging the people to renew their commitment
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  to their covenant responsibilities.
• 27:22
  What were the curses of the covenant?
• 27:23
  God had clearly stated from the beginning that there would be
• 27:27
  blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience, and
• 27:31
  Deuteronomy chapter 28 the curses included utter disaster
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  for the land and its people if they rejected God and worshipped
• 27:39
  idols. How many gods did Judah serve?
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  It is impossible to say. For centuries, they had been
• 27:47
  influenced by their Canaanite neighbors who had an estimated
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  2000 to 3000 different gods. Pagan nations at that time
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  typically believed that each town had its own God to protect
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  and provide for its people. Perhaps Judah had adopted this
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  same idea. Is it sometimes wrong to pray?
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  This was a unique case. Most of the time, we err on the
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  side of praying too little rather than praying too much.
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  God told Jeremiah not to pray for the people because they had
• 28:19
  already been judged. They had refused to repent while
• 28:23
  they had the opportunity. Now it was too late.
• 28:27
  God emphasized his resolve by saying, in effect, I don't want
• 28:31
  to hear any more about it. My mind is made-up.
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  I think this is something that we need to think about with
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  ourselves and our relationship with God.
• 28:42
  We don't want to keep pushing God and testing Him.
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  If we know there's things that God wants us to do in our lives
• 28:46
  and we don't do it, then how long is God going to be patient
• 28:52
  with us? He is very patient.
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  But there's a certain point, just like with these Israelites,
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  where He said, Nope, that's it. Now you're going to have
• 28:59
  judgment and that's where God doesn't have favoritism.
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  If He does that with the Israelites, don't you think
• 29:05
  He'll do that with all who are not Israelites?
• 29:10
  So did God make a mistake by planting Israel?
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  Absolutely not. From the beginning of God's
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  relationship with Israel, it was clear that Israel was going to
• 29:19
  forsake her covenant with the Lord and face many curses as a
• 29:23
  result. The ultimate curse was
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  banishment from the land, which was the focus of Jeremiah's
• 29:28
  warnings. God's people would then return
• 29:30
  to the Lord, and the Lord would restore them.
• 29:33
  Finally, the Lord would circumcise their hearts, which
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  points to Jeremiah's promise of a new covenant, a law written on
• 29:40
  the heart rather than on stone. God knew all of this before He
• 29:45
  planted Israel. Is it right to pray for
• 29:49
  vengeance? Some people may be troubled by
• 29:52
  this passage. However, we should realize that
• 29:54
  Jeremiah was praying not for his own vengeance, but for God's.
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  It is also important to recognize that God's vengeance
• 30:06
  does not arise from revenge, but from justice.
• 30:10
  People who oppose God bring judgment on themselves.
• 30:16
  What was behind the murder this murderer plot?
• 30:20
  Men from Jeremiah's hometown wanted to halt his influence,
• 30:25
  probably because he had been undermining theirs.
• 30:29
  He supported the King's reforms, including the destruction of
• 30:33
  altars to their local God. Jeremiah also endorsed the
• 30:37
  priest at the temple in Jerusalem over the idolatrous
• 30:42
  priest of Anathoth. So that concludes Chapter 11
• 30:47
  from Jeremiah.