Self-Delusion

“Though in his lifetime he blesses his soul— and men praise you when you prosper—”

“In prosperity I said, “I will never be shaken.””

“And Ephraim boasts: “How rich I have become! I have found wealth for myself. In all my labors, they can find in me no iniquity that is sinful.””

“So he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, since I have nowhere to store my crops?’”

“But My people would not listen to Me, and Israel would not obey Me.”

“So I gave them up to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices.”

“Ephraim is joined to idols; leave him alone!”

“and with every wicked deception directed against those who are perishing, because they refused the love of the truth that would have saved them.”