But if you and your sons, wandering, will have turned away, not following me, and not keeping my commandments and my ceremonies, which I have proposed to you, but instead you go away, and you serve strange gods and adore them,
even from that time when Israel was torn away from the house of David, and they appointed for themselves Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, as king. For Jeroboam separated Israel from the Lord, and he caused them to sin a great sin.
And after he withdrew from the Lord, they set up an ambush against him in Jerusalem. But since he had fled into Lachish, they sent and killed him in that place.
Therefore, Josiah took away all the abominations from all the regions of the sons of Israel. And he caused all who were remaining in Israel to serve the Lord their God. During all his days, they did not withdraw from the Lord, the God of their fathers.
And Moses said to Aaron, and to his sons, Eleazar and Ithamar: "Do not uncover your heads, and do not rend your garments, lest perhaps you may die, and indignation may rise up over the entire assembly. Let your brothers, and all the house of Israel, bewail the burning that the Lord has kindled.
But they fell prone on their faces, and they said, "O most strong One, the God of the spirits of all flesh, should your anger rage against all, for the sin of one?"
For she will seduce your son, so that he will not follow me, and so that he will instead serve foreign gods. And the fury of the Lord will be enraged, and he will quickly destroy you.
"All the people of the Lord declare this: What is this transgression? Why have you forsaken the Lord, the God of Israel, by building a sacrilegious altar, and by withdrawing from the worship of him?
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 the sons of Israel transgressed the commandment, and they usurped what was anathema. For Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, from the tribe of Judah, took something from what was anathema. And the Lord became angry against the sons of Israel.
Israel has sinned and transgressed my covenant. And they have taken from what is anathema. And they have stolen and lied, and they have hidden it among their goods.
For I saw among the spoils a very fine scarlet cloak, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a gold bar of fifty shekels. And coveting these, I took and hid them in the ground near the middle of my tent, and I covered the silver with the soil that I had dug."
If you will fear the Lord, and serve him, and listen to his voice, and not provoke the mouth of the Lord, then both you, and the king who rules over you, will be following the Lord your God.
Then Samuel said to the people: "Do not be afraid. You have done all this evil. Yet truly, do not choose to withdraw from the back of the Lord. Instead, serve the Lord with all your heart.