Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine;

"For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

Yet the LORD set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day.

And the LORD has declared today that you are a people for his treasured possession, as he has promised you, and that you are to keep all his commandments,

But the LORD's portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage.

He declares his word to Jacob, his statutes and rules to Israel.

We have become like those over whom you have never ruled, like those who are not called by your name.

All

These are the clans of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, in their nations, and from these the nations spread abroad on the earth after the flood.

For behold, I am calling all the tribes of the kingdoms of the north, declares the LORD, and they shall come, and every one shall set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, against all its walls all around and against all the cities of Judah.

Pour out your wrath on the nations that know you not, and on the peoples that call not on your name, for they have devoured Jacob; they have devoured him and consumed him, and have laid waste his habitation.

And all for the countless whorings of the prostitute, graceful and of deadly charms, who betrays nations with her whorings, and peoples with her charms.

And if any of the families of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, there will be no rain on them.

And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,

Therefore

Kill old men outright, young men and maidens, little children and women, but touch no one on whom is the mark. And begin at my sanctuary." So they began with the elders who were before the house.

As I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you, declares the Lord GOD.

He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us and against our rulers who ruled us, by bringing upon us a great calamity. For under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what has been done against Jerusalem.

Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent.

And that servant who knew his master's will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating.

There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek,

For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

Punish

"Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will punish all those who are circumcised merely in the flesh--

therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: "Behold, I will punish them. The young men shall die by the sword, their sons and their daughters shall die by famine,

What will you say when they set as head over you those whom you yourself have taught to be friends to you? Will not pangs take hold of you like those of a woman in labor?

General references

For I must die in this land; I must not go over the Jordan. But you shall go over and take possession of that good land.

then I will punish their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes,

"Thus says the Lord GOD: Disaster after disaster! Behold, it comes.

But it will be more bearable in the judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you.