Isaiah 65:3 Cross References

Isaiah 65:3

3: All day long they insult me to my face by worshiping idols in their sacred gardens. They burn incense on the rooftops of their homes.

Shame will cover you when you think of the times you offered sacrifices to idols in your groves of sacred oaks. You will blush when you think of all the sins you committed in your sacred gardens.

"Those who `purify' themselves in a sacred garden, feasting on pork and rats and other forbidden meats, will come to a terrible end," says the LORD.

Judah and Jerusalem will lie in ruins because they speak out against the LORD and refuse to obey him. They have offended his glorious presence among them.

During the reign of King Josiah, the LORD said to me, "Have you seen what fickle Israel does? Like a wife who commits adultery, Israel has worshiped other gods on every hill and under every green tree.

"The altars you make for me must be simple altars of earth. Offer on such altars your sacrifices to me--your burnt offerings and peace offerings, your sheep and goats and your cattle. Build altars in the places where I remind you who I am, and I will come and bless you there.
If you build altars from stone, use only uncut stones. Do not chip or shape the stones with a tool, for that would make them unfit for holy use.

This rule will stop the Israelites from sacrificing animals in the open fields. It will cause them to bring their sacrifices to the priest at the entrance of the Tabernacle, so he can present them to the LORD as peace offerings.

They stirred up his jealousy by worshiping foreign gods; they provoked his fury with detestable acts.
They offered sacrifices to demons, non-gods, to gods they had not known before, to gods only recently arrived, to gods their ancestors had never feared.
You neglected the Rock who had fathered you; you forgot the God who had given you birth.
"The LORD saw this and was filled with loathing. He was provoked to anger by his own sons and daughters.

Oh, how often they rebelled against him in the desert and grieved his heart in the wilderness.

For my people have abandoned me and worshiped pagan gods, and I am very angry with them for everything they have done. My anger is burning against this place, and it will not be quenched.'

But the Israelites would not listen. They were as stubborn as their ancestors and refused to believe in the LORD their God.
They rejected his laws and the covenant he had made with their ancestors, and they despised all his warnings. They worshiped worthless idols and became worthless themselves. They followed the example of the nations around them, disobeying the LORD's command not to imitate them.
They defied all the commands of the LORD their God and made two calves from metal. They set up an Asherah pole and worshiped Baal and all the forces of heaven.
They even sacrificed their own sons and daughters in the fire. They consulted fortune-tellers and used sorcery and sold themselves to evil, arousing the LORD's anger.

Go ahead. Finish what they started.
Snakes! Sons of vipers! How will you escape the judgment of hell?
I will send you prophets and wise men and teachers of religious law. You will kill some by crucifixion and whip others in your synagogues, chasing them from city to city.
As a result, you will become guilty of murdering all the godly people from righteous Abel to Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you murdered in the Temple between the altar and the sanctuary.
I assure you, all the accumulated judgment of the centuries will break upon the heads of this very generation.

for when I brought them into the land I had promised them, they offered sacrifices and incense on every high hill and under every green tree they saw! They roused my fury as they offered up sacrifices to their gods. They brought their perfumes and incense and poured out their drink offerings to them!

"Then make a small altar out of acacia wood for burning incense.
It must be eighteen inches square and three feet high, with horns at the corners carved from the same piece of wood as the altar.
Overlay the top, sides, and horns of the altar with pure gold, and run a gold molding around the entire altar.
Beneath the molding, on opposite sides of the altar, attach two gold rings to support the carrying poles.
The poles are to be made of acacia wood and overlaid with gold.

They have roused my jealousy by worshiping non-gods; they have provoked my fury with useless idols. Now I will rouse their jealousy by blessing other nations; I will provoke their fury by blessing the foolish Gentiles.

"Have you seen this, son of man?" he asked. "Is it nothing to the people of Judah that they commit these terrible sins, leading the whole nation into violence, thumbing their noses at me, and rousing my fury against them?
Therefore, I will deal with them in fury. I will neither pity nor spare them. And though they scream for mercy, I will not listen."

Israel and Judah have done nothing but wrong since their earliest days. They have infuriated me with all their evil deeds," says the LORD.
"From the time this city was built until now, it has done nothing but anger me, so I am determined to get rid of it.
"The sins of Israel and Judah--the sins of the people of Jerusalem, the kings, the officials, the priests, and the prophets--stir up my anger.
My people have turned their backs on me and have refused to return. Day after day, year after year, I taught them right from wrong, but they would not listen or obey.
They have set up their abominable idols right in my own Temple, defiling it.

They made God angry by building altars to other gods; they made him jealous with their idols.

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