23
Then, in the celebration of secret religious ceremonies involving the ritual murder of children or in hidden mysteries or in the mad orgies of strange worship practices,
24
people stop keeping their lives and their marriages pure. Instead, one person plots to kill another by lying in ambush. Another person causes grief by becoming sexually involved with another person's spouse.
25
Everything becomes a confused mix of blood, murder, theft, and deception. Corruption, breaking one's word, upheaval, false pledges—all these things abound.
26
What is good is shouted down. Favors are forgotten. Entire beings are stained with guilt. Legitimate genealogy is lost. Marriage is thrown into confusion. Adultery and promiscuity abound.
27
The worship of nameless idols is the origin of all evil—its cause as well as its result.