And they abandoned the temple of the Lord, the God of their fathers, and they served sacred groves and graven images. And wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem because of this sin.
Instead, you have worked evil beyond all those who were before you. And you have made for yourself strange gods and molten images, so that you provoke me to anger. And you have cast me behind your back.
And the seer Jehu, the son of Hanani, met him, and said to him: "You offer assistance to the impious, and you are joined in friendship with those who hate the Lord. And for this reason, you certainly deserve the wrath of the Lord.
but instead you have advanced along the paths of the kings of Israel, and you have caused Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to fornicate, imitating the fornication of the house of Ahab, and moreover, you have killed your brothers, the house of your father, who are better than you:
And so he did evil in the sight of the Lord, just as the house of Ahab did. For after the death of his father, they were counselors to him, to his destruction.
Then, after Jehoiada passed away, the leaders of Judah entered and reverenced the king. And he was enticed by their obsequiousness, and so he acquiesced to them.
For this reason, the Lord became angry against Amaziah, and he sent a prophet to him, who would say to him, "Why have you adored gods who did not free their own people from your hand?"
And they said to them: "You shall not lead back captives to here, lest we sin against the Lord. Why are you willing to add to our sins, and to build upon our old offenses? For indeed, the sin is great, and the furious anger of the Lord is hanging over Israel."
And so the fury of the Lord was stirred up against Judah and Jerusalem, and he handed them over to turmoil, and to destruction, and to hissing, just as you discern with your own eyes.
But he did not repay according to the benefits which he had received, for his heart was lifted up. And so wrath was brought against him, and against Judah and Jerusalem.
For they have abandoned me, and they have sacrificed to foreign gods, so that they provoked me to wrath by all the works of their hands. Therefore, my fury will rain down upon this place, and it will not be extinguished.
For I will be like a lioness to Ephraim, and like a lion's offspring to the house of Judah. I myself will seize and go forth. I will take away, and there is no one who can rescue.
Did not Achan, the son of Zerah, go against the commandment of the Lord, and so his wrath was laid over all the people of Israel? And he was only one man. If only he had perished in his wickedness alone!"
But after Gideon died, the sons of Israel turned away, and they committed fornication with the Baals. And they struck a covenant with Baal, so that he would be their god.