Acceptable Idolatry
May 30, 2023
by Dan Li
Introduction
Today, I pondered a young lady that I went to college with when I was a young man, and some of her values. After we each finished college at the same time, we each went into the workforce. She worked at the same institution and in the same department that I did. She valued animals more than people. She said that animals were innocent and people weren’t, and therefore animals were of greater value than people. She would rather a person die than an animal. She also told me she wanted to get pregnant and have a child for herself, but not marry the man nor have him be any part of the child’s life – she wanted to raise the child without the father, or a father, at all. I found these values at the time, and still today, to be abhorrent and so utterly contrary to everything I knew/know to be right before God.
I wondered, if I had compromised as a Christian, got to liking and married someone like that, someone of the world, not a genuine Christian, what would the outcome have been. I briefly saw a glimps of that future in my mind’s eye: That day by day, I would have deteriated in my values in God, and fairly quickly would have become a heathen, and abandoned God, conforming myself to the world because of her. Day by day, being next to and influenced by someone I loved that was foreign to, and an enemy of God in their heart and mind, would have messed me up, turning my heart away from God, destroying my relationship with Jesus. This is what happened to Solomon. Are we we smarter or wiser than Solomon, for this not to happen to us also, if we were to marry someone of the world? (No).
Thankfully, the Lord kept me from such, and in His goodness, grace and mercy, gave me a woman who loved God with all her heart, and was wise towards God, not with man’s wisdom, but with God’s wisdom in Jesus, as my wife. “House and riches are the inheritance of fathers: and a prudent
wife is from the LORD.” (Prov 19:14)
Marriage To The World VS. Loyalty To God
It is absolutely true that God hates divorce. Yet during Nehemiah’s time, some Hebrew men (God’s people) had married some local Canaanite women (the world), and some even had children. This was compromise with the world, a mixing of the holy with the unholy, the sanctified with the common. These Canaanite women were not Hebrews, but served other gods, and were drawing the Hebrew men away from God and into the worship of other gods.
When Nehemiah and Ezra found out this was happening, they each confronted these men, and told them that this was the very reason that Israel and Judah had gone away from God, and why they suffered God punishing them, and turning them over to Babylon, the destruction of Jerusalem, the destruction of the temple, the deaths of most of Judah from the sword, famine, and disease, and the others exiled. They were repeating the sins of their fathers, and it would have again brought God’s judgment and destruction upon them:
“And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass, seeing that Thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and have given us such deliverance as this; Should we again break Thy commandments, and join in affinity with the people of these abominations? Wouldn’t You be angry with us until You had consumed us, so that there should be no remnant nor escaping?” Ezra 9:13-14
Nehemiah and Ezra shook these men back to their senses – they had gotten dulled-up by the world (Ezra 9-10; Neh 13:3,21-31). The Hebrew men repented of loving and marrying the foreign women who were not God’s people, divorced the women, and sent the women and any children they had with the women (mixed children) away – never to see them again nor have anything to do with them ever again. It was a very difficult and painful process, but one that was necessary in order to have God in their lives, and to prevent the destruction of the other people of God around them.
We see something similar to this when Abraham had to send Hagar and Ishmael away, the work of the flesh (the conceiving of Ishmael) would not be allowed to be heirs with God’s promise (the conceiving of Issac), which comes by God’s promise, faith. The bondwoman and her heir (Ishmael) had to be cast out. To our natural minds, sending the woman and child away, abandoned, would be wrong and cruel to do, but it was not wrong at all- it was absolutely right, apologetically so. To remain with them would have been wrong. (We must beware of humanistic values tainting us Christians and our views – this world is awash in humanism today, which is anti-Christ, and we Christians must hate it, not agree with it.)
There is no way for a Christian man to love and marry a woman who is not a Christian, and remain loyal to Jesus, she will pull his heart from God in the course of time. An exception would be a non-Christian man that is already married to a non-Christian woman, and he then later comes to know Christ himself. Same things apply to Christian women – they should never marry a non-Christian man (2 Cor 6:14).
Affinities With The World
Am I talking about marriage here? Not really. I’m talking about a broader issue that includes more than just marriage– acceptable idolatry, which isn’t at all acceptable to God. These wrong-marriages – affinities with the world – that existed in Nehemiah’s time, are examples for us today on a spiritual level even more so. We who are God’s people, Christians, must not love or attach ourselves via affection, via affinity, nor via sympathy, to the world in any way:
“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” (1 John 2:15-17)
and,
“Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?” (James 4:4-5)
and,
“What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” (1 Cor 6:19-20)
When we as Christians find certain things in this world that we like, that are compromised with sin, such as movies or shows that have elements of sexual immorality such as fornication, adultery, or homosexuality – and portrays these things as normal, OK, acceptable, permissible, or even good – then we have allowed our heart to have affections and affinities towards things which God hates. Maybe we hate the immorality in the show, but we love the show for other reasons, and the show is evil because of the immorality in it, and yet we love the show/movie. This compromise happens repeatedly to movie and show watchers who continue to watch these, and refuse to get rid of a show/movie that is grievous to the Holy Ghost within us.
We think that things that bother other Christians, don’t bother us, and is therefore subjective – it is OK for me to do — forgetting that it is the Holy Ghost, not yourself, that is grieved and offended. Over time, our conscience becomes seared to the sexual immorality, foul language, gross glorification of violence, and presence of homosexuality introduced and advanced within it, we no longer feel the Holy Ghost’s grieving’. We become dulled to things which should shock us, alarm us, trouble us, grieve us, anger us – because that’s what these things do to the heart of God – and we become fine with them, inevitably. We might even know, intellectually, that these things are not right, but because we persisted in watching, we get to where these things no longer bother our heart, our conscience. We thus become partakers with their sins, the sins of producing such wicked, immoral stuff for others to watch and consume.
We’re Consuming Things
Consuming in this sense is not with the mouth, but with the eyes, ears, mind, and heart. Food does not defile, because it is eliminated in our waste, it does not enter our hearts or minds; but, what we consume with our eyes, ears, does enter our heart and mind, and this does defile us. When we take the Lord’s supper, we are partaking of the Lord, via a figure, not the actual flesh of our Lord Jesus. Yet, dead-serious is consuming the Lord’s Supper. Consuming the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy manner, brings God’s judgment down upon us, some becoming sick, others dying early – Christians! (1 Cor 11). The shows and movies we watch, the music we listen to, the media we take in, these are also consumed, in a figure! And when these contain wickedness and sin, things greivous to the Holy Ghost, we also become partakers with the producers of that material, that media, in their wickedness and sin – Whoa!
“But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils. Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than He? All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.” 1 Cor 10:20-23
“And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts” (Gal 5:24)
More Than Affections and Love, Trust and Fear Also, Belong Only To God:
I Can Only Serve One Master
Further, if we have a love for something of this world, it takes our heart’s affections that belong only to the Lord, and we thus become covetous idolators before God. We “marry” our heart to things of this world, through our affections, which we should never do. The end result of this continued, and not repented of (since this loving the things of the world), is the supplanting God in our own life, with these little affection receiving “gods”. We need not be intentional about this, because whether intentional or not, the result is the same – loving the world, and despising God. One cannot serve two masters.
"No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. "Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?"… "Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." Matt 6:24-25,31-34Matt 6:24-25
“All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.” 1 Cor 6:12
Even things that are not outright sins, become sins to us, when we have undue and displaced affections from God towards things of this world. Examples of this could be anything at all. When Jesus, in the above verses of Matt 6:24-25, is telling us that a man cannot serve two masters, He is not saying that only the love for money is the only ‘other master’ – it can be anything that receives our affection, admiration, adoration, or even our fear/respect, that is not God alone.
Jesus further tells us that taking “thought for our life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, or yet for your body, what ye shall put on” is serving mammon (money). The worrying about these things, the being in fear/anxious about these things, take the fear that belongs only to God, and elicits us to want to trust in money, provokes us to want to secure ourselves to have enough money for our needs in distrust towards God, who provides for us.
Jesus tells us that in order for us not to serve mammon (money), which is idolatry, we Christians have to not take any thought our needs, not to take thought to our securing of our future needs – else it is serving mammon! Trusting an idol instead of God.
False Teaching: Teaching Man’s Wisdom, Methods, and Systems, As If From God
Christians today teach, as doctrine, the securing of your finances to provide for future needs, or unknown future emergencies that probably will come. They call it “good wisdom”, but God calls it idolatry. The Christian is snookered into believing this because he/she doesn’t realize that this is idolatry, despite Jesus’ clear words that it is serving a different master, something or someone that is not Jesus/God. To further the acceptance of this as OK, or even godly, the pastors of many churches are teaching this stuff from the pulpit, and bringing in teachings from Dave Ramsey and the likes, that teach the securing of one’s finances, and using money to secure one’s self/family from future emergencies, using “emergency funds”.
This is secular wisdom, secular teaching, masquerading as godly, calling it godly wisdom. So pastors are promoting these idolatrous teachings, as if these are from God – and people accept it because their own pastor, the man of God, is promoting and teaching it to them. Pastors should be men of God, and should know through Scripture, as well as by the Holy Ghost within them – through their relationship with God, that these teachings are not right, but many don’t.
Dave Ramsey rightly teaches to not get in debt, and to get out of debt if they are in it, using Scripture, “the borrower is servant to the lender” and that Christians should not be borrowers, becoming servants of others who are not Jesus. “You were bought with a price; do not become bondservants of men” (1Cor 7:22-23). But then Dave Ramsey proceeds to OK other kinds of borrowing, such as for mortgages, using man’s wisdom, not Scripture (because Scripture doesn’t teach this – it teaches the borrower is servant to the lender, and we Christians should not become bond-servants of others). Secured loans, loansthat are secured by the value of the property (house, land), are not secure: Many Christians in 2009 got "upside down" in their mortgages, they owed more to the bank than their house was worth, and they were still responsible to pay the bank back, but when the house was sold, it wasn’t enough to satisfy the loan – they still owed, they were servants to the lenders.
And then Dave Ramsey also teaches you to secure yourself against unseen and unknow future, with an emergency fund – directly contrary to the teaching of Jesus in Matt 6:24-25! Jesus says doing this is idolatry, Dave Ramsey says it is good or godly wisdom. It causes people to put their trust in their money, their emergency fund, instead of God (Matt 6:24-25,31-34 says so, it is taking thought for your life, which Jesus teaches us not to do).
“…Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. Ye hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, "This people draweth nigh unto Me with their mouth, and honoureth Me with their lips; but their heart is far from Me. But in vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men."” (Matt 15:6b-9)
Failing To Make a Distinction Between The Holy and The Unholy
Christian people that teach things that are contrary to Scripture in a repeated (when warned by God or other Christians), methodologic, or systematic way, are false teachers – they are teaching entire precepts that violate God’s precepts, Scripture, and violate a Christian’s trust and relationship with God. These teachings are of man, and not of God. I would further submit to you that these teachings are the doctrines of devils. Largely abandoned in preaching by pastors today, is the difference between Christians and the world. Such mixing is not only seen as acceptable, but taught as a method of evangelism, or applied systematically inside of seeker-friendly churches. These fail to make a distinction between the holy and the unholy; the sanctified, washed in the blood of Jesus, and the common. The world is the common, and Christians are the holy, the sanctified:
“And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” 1 Cor 6:11
and,
“What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common” Acts 10:15
and,
"Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men." Matt 5:11-13
There must be a difference between a Christian and the world. Failing to make the distinction is a very great error. Failing to make a difference between holy and common, is to treat God as common, rather than holy, because only God can make someone or something holy – nothing else.
“And there I will meet with the children of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by my glory. And I will sanctify the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar: I will sanctify also both Aaron and his sons, to minister to me in the priest’s office. And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God.” Exodus 29:43-45
Here is a clear example of a couple guys (ministers unto God) who did not treat God as holy, not common:
“And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which He commanded them not. And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD. Then Moses said unto Aaron, This is it that the LORD spake, saying, “I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified.” And Aaron held his peace. Leviticus 10:1-3
When Moses did not treat God as holy before the people:
“And die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people; as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered unto his people: Because ye trespassed against Me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah-Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because ye sanctified Me not in the midst of the children of Israel. (Deuteronomy 32:50-51)
The Difference Between the Christian and the Sinner
I have heard seaker-friendly pastors and ministers say this: “We are all sinners”, equating the Christian and the sinner alike. This must not be! This is failing to make a difference between the holy, the sanctified, and the common. It fails to acknowledge the affect and the effect of Jesus shedding His precious holy blood on the cross for us who have received Him and what He did for our sins. It purports to leave Christians in their sin-which is a lie. “The wages of sin is death…” (Rom 3:23), and “If you walk according to the flesh, you will die” (Rom 8:13).
“And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” 1 Cor 6:11.
A Christian may say, ‘I was a sinner, but now I am saved and washed by the cleansing blood of Jesus, and I am made new.’ We must not deny what Jesus has done for us, we must not deny the power of God in a newly created creation of the Holy Spirit. These seeker-friendly “ministers” and pastors are fore-spoken of in 2 Timothy:
“Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” 2 Tim 3:5-7
We Christians must turn away from all such people that teach this false, powerless gospel, that teaches Christians are sinners, remain sinning, and such. This is why seeker-friendly “ministers” are false-teachers. “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men." (Matt 5:13)
The New Creation, Created In the Image of Christ
“Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knows us not, because it knew Him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is. And every man that has this hope in him purifieth himself, even as He is pure. Whosoever commits sin transgresses also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. And ye know that He was manifested to take away our sins; and in Him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in Him sinneth not: whosoever sins hath not seen Him, neither known Him. Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for His seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.” (1 John 3:7-10)
“My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” 1 John 2:1.
According to this verse, Christians are not to sin at all, and we certainly are not to walk around sinning. But if we do sin, we need to immediately repent of it, confess our sin to God, and get cleansed again by the blood of Jesus – not stay in a state of unholy. There is a great difference between a genuine Christian and the world, and that difference is the righteousness that is imputed to us by the blood of Jesus. We must not call that which God has made holy, common!
Faith and Trust in God
The Devil, Satan, is very deceptive. His goal is to cause people, especially Christians, to not trust God, and he does this in very subtile, seemingly innocuous ways, lest you become aware of it. When we don’t trust God, we do put our trust in something or someone else. Or, when we take our life direction from those who are not God, we are being led by someone or something that is not God- we are serving an idol, we are taking our direction, affections, fears, or our trust that belongs only to God, and putting them on someone or something else, and that something else becomes our idol. These idols can also be systems, institutions, organizations, and methods too.
We know we human beings are vulnerable to injury or sickness, and we have needs that must be met in order to keep living, so we naturally, in the natural, rightly have fears about these things because we are not invincible, we are not God. However, a Christian, who belongs to God, must not concern himself with these things, he/she must trust God to do this for us, to provide for us, and to keep us- this is faith in God. A Christian must live by faith, “and whatever that is not of faith is sin”, “the just shall live by faith”, and “…the life I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God”. We must not attempt to do this ourselves, for ourselves, lest in doing so, we distrust God, and point our trust, fears, and affections, or direction, to other things instead of Him. “Little Children, keep yourselves from idols.” (1 John 5:21)
Conclusion: Idolatry Is Unacceptable to God
Acceptable idolatry is idolatry that is acceptable to man, humans – yet these are abhorrent to God, an abomination to Him. There is no such thing as “acceptable idolatry” to God, and what He calls acceptable or unacceptable is the only thing that only ever matters at all, not what men think, not men’s opinions. Covetousness is idolatry.
“And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided Him. And He said unto them, "Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God." (Luke 16:14-15)
“For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them.” (Eph 5:5-7)
“Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Cor 6:9-11)
More Supported Reading
Amos 3
1 Hear this word that the LORD hath spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying,
2 You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.
3 Can two walk together, except they be agreed?
4 Will a lion roar in the forest, when he hath no prey? will a young lion cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing?
5 Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no gin is for him? shall one take up a snare from the earth, and have taken nothing at all?
6 Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?
Will a lion roar in the forest, when he hath no prey? will a young lion cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing?
7 Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets.
8 The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord GOD hath spoken, who can but prophesy?
Psalms 127:1-2
1 Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.
2 It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so He giveth his beloved sleep.
The Song of Moses:
Deut 32:1-47
1 Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.
2 My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass:
3 Because I will publish the name of the LORD: ascribe ye greatness unto our God.
4 He is the Rock, His work is perfect: for all His ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is He.
5 They have corrupted themselves, their spot is not the spot of his children: they are a perverse and crooked generation.
6 Do ye thus requite the LORD, O foolish people and unwise? is not He thy Father that hath bought thee? Hath He not made thee, and established thee?
7 ¶ Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee.
8 When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.
9 For the LORD’s portion is His people; Jacob is the lot of His inheritance.
10 He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; He led him about, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye.
11 As an eagle stirrs up her nest, flutters over her young, spreads abroad her wings, takes them, bears them on her wings:
12 So the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him.
13 He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and He made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock;
14 Butter of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape.
15 ¶ But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.
16 They provoked Him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they Him to anger.
17 They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not.
18 Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee.
19 And when the LORD saw it, He abhorred them, because of the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters.
20 And He said, I will hide My face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith.
21 They have moved Me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked Me to anger with their vanities: and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
22 For a fire is kindled in Mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.
23 I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them.
24 They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust.
25 The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man of gray hairs.
26 I said, I would scatter them into corners, I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men:
27 Were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely, and lest they should say, Our hand is high, and the LORD hath not done all this.
28 For they are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them.
29 O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!
30 How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had shut them up?
31 For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges.
32 For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter:
33 Their wine is the poison of dragons [serpents], and the cruel venom of asps.
34 Is not this laid up in store with Me, and sealed up among My treasures?
35 To Me belongeth vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.
36 For the LORD shall judge His people, and repent Himself for His servants, when He sees that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left.
37 And He shall say, Where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted,
38 Which did eat the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink offerings? let them rise up and help you, and be your protection.
39 See now that I, even I, am He, and there is no god with Me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of My hand.
40 For I lift up My hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever.
41 If I whet My glittering sword, and Mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to Mine enemies, and will reward them that hate Me.
42 I will make Mine arrows drunk with blood, and My sword shall devour flesh; and that with the blood of the slain and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy.
43 Rejoice, O ye nations, with His people: for He will avenge the blood of His servants, and will render vengeance to His adversaries, and will be merciful unto His land, and to His people.
44 ¶ And Moses came and spake all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he, and Joshua the son of Nun.
45 And Moses made an end of speaking all these words to all Israel:
46 And he said unto them, Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this day, which ye shall command your children to observe to do, all the words of this law.
47 For it is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life: and through this thing ye shall prolong your days in the land, whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.
