13
You are putting the Lord Almighty to the test -- but you will never know anything!
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You cannot plumb the depths of the human heart, nor find out what a man is thinking; how do you expect to search out God, who made all these things, and find out his mind or comprehend his thought? No, my brethren, do not provoke the Lord our God to anger.
15
For if he does not choose to help us within these five days, he has power to protect us within any time he pleases, or even to destroy us in the presence of our enemies.
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Do not try to bind the purposes of the Lord our God; for God is not like man, to be threatened, nor like a human being, to be won over by pleading.
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Therefore, while we wait for his deliverance, let us call upon him to help us, and he will hear our voice, if it pleases him.
18
"For never in our generation, nor in these present days, has there been any tribe or family or people or city of ours which worshiped gods made with hands, as was done in days gone by --
19
and that was why our fathers were handed over to the sword, and to be plundered, and so they suffered a great catastrophe before our enemies.
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But we know no other god but him, and therefore we hope that he will not disdain us or any of our nation.
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For if we are captured all Judea will be captured and our sanctuary will be plundered; and he will exact of us the penalty for its desecration.
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And the slaughter of our brethren and the captivity of the land and the desolation of our inheritance -- all this he will bring upon our heads among the Gentiles, wherever we serve as slaves; and we shall be an offense and a reproach in the eyes of those who acquire us.
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For our slavery will not bring us into favor, but the Lord our God will turn it to dishonor.