if they fail to repent. And last, the verb to repent, in the second sentence, is given as an escape clause. b. Command. The Lord does not only point to their shortcomings; he also shows them how to correct them. After negatively criticizing their spiritual status, he positively commands them to restore it. They must constantly recall their former position by reviewing their own ecclesiastical history and recollecting what their forebears did in the church forty years earlier; and as they recall their