16 In past generations he permitted all the nations to go on in their ways,+

17 So this is what I say and bear witness to in the Lord, that you should no longer go on walking just as the nations also walk,+ in the futility of their minds.+ 18 They are in darkness mentally and alienated from the life that belongs to God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the insensitivity of their hearts.