¹⁷“But you must walk with me, just as your father David did. Do everything I command you to do. Obey my rules and laws. ¹⁸Then I will set up your royal throne. I made a covenant with your father David to do that. I said to him, ‘You will always have a son to rule over Israel.’

¹⁹“But suppose all of you turn away from me. You refuse to obey the rules and commands I have given you. And you go off to serve other gods and worship them. ²⁰Then I will remove Israel from my land. It is the land I gave them. I will turn my back on this temple. I will do it even though I have set it apart for my Name to be there. I will make all of the nations hate it. They will laugh and joke about it.

²¹“This temple is now so grand and beautiful. But the time is coming when all those who pass by it will be shocked. They will say, ‘Why has the Lord done a thing like this to this land and temple?’

²²“People will answer, ‘Because they have deserted the Lord. He is the God of their people who lived long ago. He brought them out of Egypt. But they have been holding on to other gods. They’ve been worshiping them. They’ve been serving them. That’s why he has brought all of this horrible trouble on them.’ ”

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