Rebellious Israel Renewed

³⁰ “Therefore say to the Israelites: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Will you defile yourselves^(A) the way your ancestors did and lust after their vile images?^(B)

⁸ See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy,^(A) which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces^[a] of this world^(B) rather than on Christ.

⁹ For in Christ all the fullness^(C) of the Deity lives in bodily form, ¹⁰ and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head^(D) over every power and authority.^(E)

¹⁴ With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce^(A) the unstable;^(B) they are experts in greed^(C)—an accursed brood!^{(D) 15} They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam^(E) son of Bezer,^[a] who loved the wages of wickedness. ¹⁶ But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey—an animal without speech—who spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.^(F)

¹⁷ These people are springs without water^(G) and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them.^(H)