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Listen to my message, my people, and get ready for the battle. When the disasters come, you must live as people whose home is not in this world.
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Merchants must not expect to make a profit from what they sell; they must be ready to run for their lives. Their customers must expect to lose whatever they buy. Whoever builds a house should not plan to live in it.
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Farmers should not expect to harvest their crops or pick their grapes.
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Those who marry must not expect to have children, and those who don't marry must live as if they had been widowed.
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Anything that is done will be useless.
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Foreigners will harvest the crops, seize the wealth, tear down the houses, and carry off the children as slaves. Anyone who has children will be bringing them up to be slaves or to die of starvation.
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Anyone who makes money will do so only to see it violently taken away. The more possessions people gather, the more they spend on their cities and houses, the more attention they give to their personal appearance,
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the more angry the Lord will become with them because of their sin. This is what the Lord says.
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Just as a respectable woman despises a prostitute,
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so righteousness despises sinfulness, no matter how attractive it may look. Righteousness will expose every sin in the world and condemn it face-to-face when her Defender comes.