The oracle of him who hears the words of God,
And knows the knowledge of the Most High,
Who sees the vision of the Almighty,
Falling down, yet having his eyes uncovered.

Then the Lord said,
“Because this people draw near with their words
And honor Me with their lip service,
But they remove their hearts far from Me,
And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote,

“Hear this, O house of Jacob, who are named Israel
And who came forth from the

loins of Judah,

Who swear by the name of the Lord
And invoke the God of Israel,
But not in truth nor in righteousness.

“Yet they seek Me day by day and delight to know My ways,
As a nation that has done righteousness
And has not forsaken the ordinance of their God.
They ask Me for just decisions,
They delight in the nearness of God.

They come to you as people come, and sit before you as My people and hear your words, but they do not do them, for they do the lustful desires expressed by their mouth, and their heart goes after their gain.

They cry out to Me,

“My God, we of Israel know You!”

and know His will and

approve the things that are essential, being instructed out of the Law,

holding to a form of

godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.

For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand

marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

Being

How much less one who is detestable and corrupt,
Man, who drinks iniquity like water!

But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

And disobedient

Samuel said,
“Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
As in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
And to heed than the fat of rams.

Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers

Unto

They call them rejected silver,

Because the Lord has rejected them.

And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper,

Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith.

General references

He replied, “Must I not be careful to speak what the Lord puts in my mouth?”

Nevertheless, you are not to eat of these among those which chew the cud, or among those that divide the hoof in two: the camel and the rabbit and the shaphan, for though they chew the cud, they do not divide the hoof; they are unclean for you.

They cry out to Me,

“My God, we of Israel know You!”