Still, the LORD warned Israel and Judah through every prophet and every seer, saying, "Turn from your evil ways and keep My commandments and statutes according to all the law I commanded your ancestors and sent to you through My servants the prophets."

They rejected His statutes and His covenant He had made with their ancestors and the warnings He had given them. They pursued worthless idols and became worthless themselves, following the surrounding nations the LORD had commanded them not to imitate.

They made their sons and daughters pass through the fire and practiced divination and interpreted omens. They devoted themselves to do what was evil in the LORD's sight and provoked Him.

Even Judah did not keep the commandments of the LORD their God but lived according to the customs Israel had introduced.

When the LORD tore Israel from the house of David, Israel made Jeroboam son of Nebat king. Then Jeroboam led Israel away from following the LORD and caused them to commit great sin.

Finally, the LORD removed Israel from His presence just as He had declared through all His servants the prophets. So Israel has been exiled to Assyria from their homeland until today.

But the LORD God of their ancestors sent word against them by the hand of his messengers, sending them time and time again, for He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place.

But they kept ridiculing God's messengers, despising His words, and scoffing at His prophets, until the LORD's wrath was so stirred up against His people that there was no remedy.

One who becomes stiff-necked, after many reprimands will be broken suddenly-- and without a remedy.

The LORD has spoken concerning you, remnant of Judah: 'Don't go to Egypt.' Know for certain that I have warned you today!

For I have told you today, but you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD your God in everything He has sent me to [tell] you.

So I sent you all My servants the prophets time and time again, saying, Don't do this detestable thing that I hate.

But they did not listen or pay attention; they did not turn from their evil or stop burning incense to other gods.

When you enter any town, and they don't welcome you, go out into its streets and say,

'We are wiping off [as a witness] against you even the dust of your town that clings to our feet. Know this for certain: the kingdom of God has come near.'

When Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with preaching the message and solemnly testified to the Jews that the Messiah is Jesus.

But when they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his clothes and told them, "Your blood is on your own heads! I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles."

This means one must not transgress against and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger of all these offenses, as we also previously told and warned you.

We must therefore pay even more attention to what we have heard, so that we will not drift away.

how will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was first spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him.

See that you do not reject the One who speaks; for if they did not escape when they rejected Him who warned them on earth, even less will we if we turn away from Him who warns us from heaven.

If I say to the wicked person: You will surely die, but you do not warn him-- you don't speak out to warn him about his wicked way in order to save his life-- that wicked person will die for his iniquity. Yet I will hold you responsible for his blood.

taking vengeance with flaming fire on those who don't know God and on those who don't obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

These will pay the penalty of everlasting destruction, away from the Lord's presence and from His glorious strength,

For if we deliberately sin after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,

but a terrifying expectation of judgment, and the fury of a fire about to consume the adversaries.

But if you warn the righteous person that he should not sin, and he does not sin, he will indeed live because he listened to [your] warning, and you will have saved your life."

even [if] these three men-- Noah, Daniel, and Job-- were in it, they would deliver [only] themselves by their righteousness." [This is] the declaration of the Lord God.

even [if] Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live"-- the declaration of the Lord God-- "they could not deliver [their] son or daughter. They would deliver [only] themselves by their righteousness.

[Since] he heard the sound of the trumpet but ignored the warning, his blood is on his own hands. If he had taken warning, he would have saved his life.

But if you warn a wicked person to turn from his way and he doesn't turn from it, he will die for his iniquity, but you will have saved your life.

But I myself said: I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and futility; yet my vindication is with the LORD, and my reward is with my God.

And now, says the LORD, who formed me from the womb to be His servant, to bring Jacob back to Him so that Israel might be gathered to Him; for I am honored in the sight of the LORD, and my God is my strength--

But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to oppose what Paul was saying by insulting him.

Then Paul and Barnabas boldly said: "It was necessary that God's message be spoken to you first. But since you reject it, and consider yourselves unworthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles!

Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of everyone's blood,

For to God we are the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.

For we are not like the many who make a trade in God's message [for profit], but as those with sincerity, we speak in Christ, as from God and before God.