¹⁵ They rejected his statutes and his covenant he had made with their ancestors^(A) and the warnings he had given them. They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves,^(B) following the surrounding nations the Lord had commanded them not to imitate.^(C)

Living the New Life

¹⁷ Therefore, I say this and testify in the Lord: You should no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thoughts. ¹⁸ They are darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them and because^[a] of the hardness of their hearts. ¹⁹ They became callous and gave themselves over to promiscuity for the practice of every kind of impurity^(A) with a desire for more and more.^[b]

²⁰ But that is not how you came to know Christ,