12. “All the nations will call you blessed, because you will have a pleasant country,” says the Lord All-Powerful.
13. The Lord says, “You have said terrible things about me.“But you ask, ‘What have we said about you?’
14. “You have said, ‘It is useless to serve God. It did no good to obey his laws and to show the Lord All-Powerful that we were 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, and the Lord listened and heard them. The names of those who honored the Lord and respected him were written in his presence in a book to be remembered.
17. The Lord All-Powerful says, “They belong to me; on that day they will be my very own. As a parent shows mercy to his child who serves him, I will show mercy to my people.
18. You will again see the difference between good and evil people, between those who serve God and those who don’t.