All of that happened because the people of Israel had not obeyed the LORD their God. They rejected the solemn agreement he had made with them, and they ignored everything that the LORD's servant Moses had told them.
Our stubborn ancestors refused to obey-- they forgot about the miracles you had worked for them, and they were determined to return to Egypt and become slaves again.
This is the LORD's message for his rebellious people: "You follow your own plans instead of mine; you make treaties without asking me, and you keep on sinning.
but they still rebelled against me. They refused to listen and kept on worshiping their idols and foreign gods. In my anger, I decided to punish the Israelites in Egypt.
God turned his back on his people and left them. Then they worshiped the stars in the sky, just as it says in the Book of the Prophets, "People of Israel, you didn't offer sacrifices and offerings to me during those forty years in the desert.