Ecclesiastes 7:29 Cross References

Ecclesiastes 7:29

29: I discovered that God created people to be upright, but they have each turned to follow their own downward path."

"My people are foolish and do not know me," says the LORD. "They are senseless children who have no understanding. They are clever enough at doing wrong, but they have no talent at all for doing right!"

Then God said, "Let us make people in our image, to be like ourselves. They will be masters over all life--the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the livestock, wild animals, and small animals."
So God created people in his own image; God patterned them after himself; male and female he created them.

The woman was convinced. The fruit looked so fresh and delicious, and it would make her so wise! So she ate some of the fruit. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her. Then he ate it, too.
At that moment, their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they strung fig leaves together around their hips to cover themselves.

Once we, too, were foolish and disobedient. We were misled by others and became slaves to many wicked desires and evil pleasures. Our lives were full of evil and envy. We hated others, and they hated us.

Now the LORD observed the extent of the people's wickedness, and he saw that all their thoughts were consistently and totally evil.
So the LORD was sorry he had ever made them. It broke his heart.

The heavens are shocked at such a thing and shrink back in horror and dismay, says the LORD.
For my people have done two evil things: They have forsaken me--the fountain of living water. And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all!

Well then, are we Jews better than others? No, not at all, for we have already shown that all people, whether Jews or Gentiles, are under the power of sin.
As the Scriptures say, "No one is good--not even one.
No one has real understanding; no one is seeking God.
All have turned away from God; all have gone wrong. No one does good, not even one."
"Their talk is foul, like the stench from an open grave. Their speech is filled with lies.The poison of a deadly snake drips from their lips."

For you ignore God's specific laws and substitute your own traditions."
Then he said, "You reject God's laws in order to hold on to your own traditions.

This is the history of the descendants of Adam. When God created people, he made them in the likeness of God.

You used to live just like the rest of the world, full of sin, obeying Satan, the mighty prince of the power of the air. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God.
All of us used to live that way, following the passions and desires of our evil nature. We were born with an evil nature, and we were under God's anger just like everyone else.

Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn't worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. The result was that their minds became dark and confused.
Claiming to be wise, they became utter fools instead.
And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people, or birds and animals and snakes.
So God let them go ahead and do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other's bodies.
Instead of believing what they knew was the truth about God, they deliberately chose to believe lies. So they worshiped the things God made but not the Creator himself, who is to be praised forever. Amen.

"Every leader in Israel who lives within your walls is bent on murder.
Fathers and mothers are contemptuously ignored. Resident foreigners are forced to pay for protection. Orphans and widows are wronged and oppressed.
Inside your walls you despise my holy things and violate my Sabbath days of rest.
People accuse others falsely and send them to their death. You are filled with idol worshipers and people who take part in lewd activities.
Men sleep with their fathers' wives and have intercourse with women who are menstruating.

Now the earth had become corrupt in God's sight, and it was filled with violence.
God observed all this corruption in the world, and he saw violence and depravity everywhere.

O LORD our God, you answered them. You were a forgiving God, but you punished them when they went wrong.

Let's build a great city with a tower that reaches to the skies--a monument to our greatness! This will bring us together and keep us from scattering all over the world."
But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower the people were building.
"Look!" he said. "If they can accomplish this when they have just begun to take advantage of their common language and political unity, just think of what they will do later. Nothing will be impossible for them!

They told Aaron, 'Make us some gods who can lead us, for we don't know what has become of this Moses, who brought us out of Egypt.'
So they made an idol shaped like a calf, and they sacrificed to it and rejoiced in this thing they had made.
Then God turned away from them and gave them up to serve the sun, moon, and stars as their gods! In the book of the prophets it is written, 'Was it to me you were bringing sacrifices during those forty years in the wilderness, Israel?
No, your real interest was in your pagan gods--the shrine of Molech, the star god Rephan, and the images you made to worship them. So I will send you into captivity far away in Babylon.'

They defiled themselves by their evil deeds, and their love of idols was adultery in the LORD's sight.

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