TSK · Jeremiah 13:27

Take notice of this, you ignorant people! You fools, when will you ever understand?

On every high, elevated hill you prepare your bed; you go up there to offer sacrifices.

The Lord Expresses His Exasperation at Judah’s Persistent Idolatry“Indeed, long ago you threw off my authority and refused to be subject to me. You said,‘I will not serve you.’ Instead, you gave yourself to other gods on every high hill and under every green tree, like a prostitute sprawls out before her lovers.

When Josiah was king of Judah, the LORD said to me,“Jeremiah, you have no doubt seen what wayward Israel has done. You have seen how she went up to every high hill and under every green tree to give herself like a prostitute to other gods.

“Oh people of Jerusalem, purify your hearts from evil so that you may yet be delivered. How long will you continue to harbor up wicked schemes within you?

They are like lusty, well-fed stallions. Each of them lusts after his neighbor’s wife.

Then you will know that I am the LORD– when their dead lie among their idols around their altars, on every high hill and all the mountaintops, under every green tree and every leafy oak, the places where they have offered fragrant incense to all their idols.

“‘After all of your evil–“Woe! Woe to you!” declares the Sovereign LORD–

“Son of man, there were two women who were daughters of the same mother.

It has tried my patience; yet its thick rot is not removed from it. Subject its rot to the fire!

I will sprinkle you with pure water and you will be clean from all your impurities. I will purify you from all your idols.

Symbols of Sin and Judgment: The Prostitute and Her Children When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, he said to him,“Go marry a prostitute who will bear illegitimate children conceived through prostitution, because the nation continually commits spiritual prostitution by turning away from the LORD.”

O Samaria, he has rejected your calf idol! My anger burns against them! They will not survive much longer without being punished, even though they are Israelites!

“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

Self-Purification Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that could defile the body and the spirit, and thus accomplish holiness out of reverence for God.

Adulterers, do you not know that friendship with the world means hostility toward God? So whoever decides to be the world’s friend makes himself God’s enemy.