14. “You have said, ‘It is useless to serve God. It did no good to obey his laws. And it did no good to show the Lord of heaven’s armies that we are sorry for what we did.
15. So we say that proud people are happy. Evil people succeed. They challenge God and get away with it.’”
16. Then those who honored the Lord spoke with each other. The Lord listened and heard them. The names of those who honored the Lord and respected him were written in a book. The Lord will remember them.
17. The Lord of heaven’s armies says, “They belong to me. On that day they will be my very own. A father shows mercy to his son who serves him. In the same way I will show mercy to my people.
18. You will again see the difference between good and evil people. You will see the difference between those who serve God and those who don’t.