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Because of the sins that you have committed before God, you will be taken to Babylon as exiles by Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Babylonians.
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Therefore when you have come to Babylon you will remain there for many years, for a long time, up to seven generations; after that I will bring you away from there in peace.
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Now in Babylon you will see gods made of silver and gold and wood, which people carry on their shoulders, and which cause the heathen to fear.
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So beware of becoming at all like the foreigners or of letting fear for these gods possess you
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when you see the multitude before and behind them worshiping them. But say in your heart, "It is you, O Lord, whom we must worship."
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For my angel is with you, and he is watching over your lives.
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Their tongues are smoothed by the carpenter, and they themselves are overlaid with gold and silver; but they are false and cannot speak.
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People take gold and make crowns for the heads of their gods, as they might for a girl who loves ornaments.
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Sometimes the priests secretly take gold and silver from their gods and spend it on themselves,
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or even give some of it to the prostitutes on the terrace. They deck their gods out with garments like human beings—these gods of silver and gold and wood
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that cannot save themselves from rust and corrosion. When they have been dressed in purple robes,