Verse 16

The LORD said to his people:“You are standing at the crossroads. So consider your path. Ask where the old, reliable paths are. Ask where the path is that leads to blessing and follow it. If you do, you will find rest for your souls.” But they said,“We will not follow it!”

Referenced Verses

  • Jer 18:15 : 15 Yet my people have forgotten me and offered sacrifices to worthless idols! This makes them stumble along in the way they live and leave the old reliable path of their fathers. They have left them to walk in bypaths, in roads that are not smooth and level.
  • Deut 32:7 : 7 Remember the ancient days; bear in mind the years of past generations. Ask your father and he will inform you, your elders, and they will tell you.
  • Mal 4:4 : 4 Restoration through the Lord“Remember the law of my servant Moses, to whom at Horeb I gave rules and regulations for all Israel to obey.
  • Luke 16:29 : 29 But Abraham said,‘They have Moses and the prophets; they must respond to them.’
  • Isa 30:21 : 21 You will hear a word spoken behind you, saying,“This is the correct way, walk in it,” whether you are heading to the right or the left.
  • Isa 8:20 : 20 Then you must recall the LORD’s instructions and the prophetic testimony of what would happen. Certainly they say such things because their minds are spiritually darkened.
  • Isa 28:12 : 12 In the past he said to them,“This is where security can be found. Provide security for the one who is exhausted! This is where rest can be found.” But they refused to listen.
  • Matt 11:28-29 : 28 Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke on you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
  • Jer 44:16 : 16 “We will not listen to what you claim the LORD has spoken to us!
  • Isa 2:5 : 5 O descendants of Jacob, come, let us walk in the LORD’s guiding light.
  • Jer 7:23 : 23 I also explicitly commanded them:“Obey me. If you do, I will be your God and you will be my people. Live exactly the way I tell you and things will go well with you.”
  • Jer 18:12 : 12 But they just keep saying,‘We do not care what you say! We will do whatever we want to do! We will continue to behave wickedly and stubbornly!’”
  • John 12:35 : 35 Jesus replied,“The light is with you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going.
  • Col 2:6 : 6 Warnings Against the Adoption of False Philosophies Therefore, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him,
  • Heb 6:12 : 12 so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and perseverance inherit the promises.
  • Heb 11:2-12:1 : 2 For by it the people of old received God’s commendation. 3 By faith we understand that the worlds were set in order at God’s command, so that the visible has its origin in the invisible. 4 By faith Abel offered God a greater sacrifice than Cain, and through his faith he was commended as righteous, because God commended him for his offerings. And through his faith he still speaks, though he is dead. 5 By faith Enoch was taken up so that he did not see death, and he was not to be found because God took him up. For before his removal he had been commended as having pleased God. 6 Now without faith it is impossible to please him, for the one who approaches God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. 7 By faith Noah, when he was warned about things not yet seen, with reverent regard constructed an ark for the deliverance of his family. Through faith he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. 8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place he would later receive as an inheritance, and he went out without understanding where he was going. 9 By faith he lived as a foreigner in the promised land as though it were a foreign country, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, who were fellow heirs of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with firm foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 11 By faith, even though Sarah herself was barren and he was too old, he received the ability to procreate, because he regarded the one who had given the promise to be trustworthy. 12 So in fact children were fathered by one man– and this one as good as dead– like the number of stars in the sky and like the innumerable grains of sand on the seashore. 13 These all died in faith without receiving the things promised, but they saw them in the distance and welcomed them and acknowledged that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth. 14 For those who speak in such a way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 In fact, if they had been thinking of the land that they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they aspire to a better land, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. 17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. He had received the promises, yet he was ready to offer up his only son. 18 God had told him,“Through Isaac descendants will carry on your name,” 19 and he reasoned that God could even raise him from the dead, and in a sense he received him back from there. 20 By faith also Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning the future. 21 By faith Jacob, as he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph and worshiped as he leaned on his staff. 22 By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, mentioned the exodus of the sons of Israel and gave instructions about his burial. 23 By faith, when Moses was born, his parents hid him for three months, because they saw the child was beautiful and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. 24 By faith, when he grew up, Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 choosing rather to be ill-treated with the people of God than to enjoy sin’s fleeting pleasure. 26 He regarded abuse suffered for Christ to be greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for his eyes were fixed on the reward. 27 By faith he left Egypt without fearing the king’s anger, for he persevered as though he could see the one who is invisible. 28 By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, so that the one who destroyed the firstborn would not touch them. 29 By faith they crossed the Red Sea as if on dry ground, but when the Egyptians tried it, they were swallowed up. 30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell after the people marched around them for seven days. 31 By faith Rahab the prostitute escaped the destruction of the disobedient, because she welcomed the spies in peace. 32 And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets. 33 Through faith they conquered kingdoms, administered justice, gained what was promised, shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, gained strength in weakness, became mighty in battle, put foreign armies to flight, 35 and women received back their dead raised to life. But others were tortured, not accepting release, to obtain resurrection to a better life. 36 And others experienced mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, sawed apart, murdered with the sword; they went about in sheepskins and goatskins; they were destitute, afflicted, ill-treated 38 (the world was not worthy of them); they wandered in deserts and mountains and caves and openings in the earth. 39 And these all were commended for their faith, yet they did not receive what was promised. 40 For God had provided something better for us, so that they would be made perfect together with us. 1 The Lord’s Discipline Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, we must get rid of every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and run with endurance the race set out for us,
  • John 13:17 : 17 If you understand these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
  • Acts 17:11 : 11 These Jews were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they eagerly received the message, examining the scriptures carefully every day to see if these things were so.
  • Rom 4:1-6 : 1 The Illustration of Justification What then shall we say that Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh, has discovered regarding this matter? 2 For if Abraham was declared righteous by works, he has something to boast about– but not before God. 3 For what does the scripture say?“Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” 4 Now to the one who works, his pay is not credited due to grace but due to obligation. 5 But to the one who does not work, but believes in the one who declares the ungodly righteous, his faith is credited as righteousness. 6 So even David himself speaks regarding the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
  • Rom 4:12 : 12 And he is also the father of the circumcised, who are not only circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham possessed when he was still uncircumcised.
  • Jer 2:25 : 25 Do not chase after other gods until your shoes wear out and your throats become dry. But you say,‘It is useless for you to try and stop me because I love those foreign gods and want to pursue them!’
  • Song 1:7-8 : 7 The Shepherd and the ShepherdessThe Beloved to Her Lover: Tell me, O you whom my heart loves, where do you pasture your sheep? Where do you rest your sheep during the midday heat? Tell me lest I wander around beside the flocks of your companions! 8 The Lover to His Beloved: If you do not know, O most beautiful of women, simply follow the tracks of my flock, and pasture your little lambs beside the tents of the shepherds.
  • Jer 22:21 : 21 While you were feeling secure I gave you warning. But you said,“I refuse to listen to you.” That is the way you have acted from your earliest history onward. Indeed, you have never paid attention to me.
  • Matt 21:28-32 : 28 The Parable of the Two Sons“What do you think? A man had two sons. He went to the first and said,‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ 29 The boy answered,‘I will not.’ But later he had a change of heart and went. 30 The father went to the other son and said the same thing. This boy answered,‘I will, sir,’ but did not go. 31 Which of the two did his father’s will?” They said,“The first.” Jesus said to them,“I tell you the truth, tax collectors and prostitutes will go ahead of you into the kingdom of God! 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him. But the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe. Although you saw this, you did not later change your minds and believe him.
  • John 5:39 : 39 You study the scriptures thoroughly because you think in them you possess eternal life, and it is these same scriptures that testify about me,
  • John 5:46-47 : 46 If you believed Moses, you would believe me, because he wrote about me. 47 But if you do not believe what Moses wrote, how will you believe my words?”