‘If a man or woman among you in one of your towns that the Lord your God will give you is discovered doing evil in the sight of the Lord your God and violating his covenant
The Lord’s anger burned against Israel, and he declared, ‘Because this nation has violated my covenant that I made with their ancestors and disobeyed me,
because they did not listen to the Lord their God but violated his covenant #– #all he had commanded Moses the servant of the Lord. They did not listen, and they did not obey.
If you break the covenant of the Lord your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods, and bow in worship to them, the Lord’s anger will burn against you, and you will quickly disappear from this good land he has given you.’
The one who is caught with the things set apart must be burned, along with everything he has, because he has violated the Lord’s covenant and committed an outrage in Israel.’
Israel has sinned. They have violated my covenant that I appointed for them. They have taken some of what was set apart. They have stolen, deceived, and put those things with their own belongings.
This one will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors on the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt #– #my covenant that they broke even though I am their master’ , #– #the Lord’s declaration.
When I bring them into the land I swore to give their ancestors, a land flowing with milk and honey, they will eat their fill and prosper. They will turn to other gods and worship them, despising me and breaking my covenant.
Then people will answer, “It is because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, which he had made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.
Be sure there is no man, woman, clan, or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the Lord our God to go and worship the gods of those nations. Be sure there is no root among you bearing poisonous and bitter fruit.
Be careful not to forget the covenant of the Lord your God that he made with you, and make an idol for yourselves in the shape of anything he has forbidden you.
I will bring a sword against you to execute the vengeance of the covenant. Though you withdraw into your cities, I will send a pestilence among you, and you will be delivered into enemy hands.
He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed and re-established the altars for Baal. He made an Asherah, as King Ahab of Israel had done; he also bowed in worship to all the stars in the sky and served them.
As for those who disobeyed my covenant, not keeping the terms of the covenant they made before me, I will treat them like the calf they cut in two in order to pass between its pieces.
‘Say to the Israelites: Any Israelite or foreigner residing in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech must be put to death; the people of the country are to stone him.
But Joash said to all who stood against him, ‘Would you plead Baal’s case for him? Would you save him? Whoever pleads his case will be put to death by morning! If he is a god, let him plead his own case because someone tore down his altar.’