Jeremiah 5:11

"For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, saith Jehovah, They have denied Jehovah, and said, It is not he; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine: and the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them."

"It is not he ..." (Jeremiah 5:12). Ash tells us that the Hebrew expression, "It is not he," simply means that, "God will do no such thing as punish us, regardless of what any prophet says."[18] Zephaniah accused the people of exactly that same attitude (Zephaniah 1:12).

It is strange indeed that, despite all of the specific warnings God gave to his people through Moses in such specific terms as those of the last three or four chapters of Deuteronomy, the Jewish people should have decided that, as God's Chosen People, they were blessed forever no matter what they did! Green gave an explanation of that thus:

"The people perverted the doctrine of election. Instead of regarding it as a moral act subject to moral criticism and control, they came to look upon it as an unconditional relationship, guaranteeing them national victory and glory. They made it the basis of grandiose dreams and; `It can't happen here ... not to us... God's elect!'"[19]