Then the Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. They worshipped the Baals and the Ashtoreths, the gods of Aram, Sidon, and Moab, and the gods of the Ammonites and the Philistines. They abandoned the Lord and did not worship him.
How can you protest, ‘I am not defiled; I have not followed the Baals’? Look at your behaviour in the valley; acknowledge what you have done. You are a swift young camel twisting and turning on her way,
He passed his sons through the fire in Ben Hinnom Valley. He practised witchcraft, divination, and sorcery, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did a huge amount of evil in the Lord’s sight, angering him.
The Israelites again did what was evil in the Lord’s sight. He gave King Eglon of Moab power over Israel, because they had done what was evil in the Lord’s sight.
The Lord said to Moses, ‘You are about to rest with your ancestors, and these people will soon prostitute themselves with the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will abandon me and break the covenant I have made with them.
On that very night the Lord said to him, ‘Take your father’s young bull and a second bull seven years old. Then tear down the altar of Baal that belongs to your father and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.
But they were disobedient and rebelled against you. They flung your law behind their backs and killed your prophets who warned them in order to turn them back to you. They committed terrible blasphemies.
They have returned to the iniquities of their ancestors who refused to obey my words and have followed other gods to worship them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah broke my covenant which I made with their ancestors.
‘When you have children and grandchildren and have been in the land a long time, and if you act corruptly, make an idol in the form of anything, and do what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, angering him,
Samuel told them, ‘If you are returning to the Lord with all your heart, get rid of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths that are among you, set your hearts on the Lord, and worship only him. Then he will rescue you from the Philistines.’
Then they cried out to the Lord and said, “We have sinned, for we abandoned the Lord and worshipped the Baals and the Ashtoreths. Now rescue us from the power of our enemies, and we will serve you.”
He burned incense in Ben Hinnom Valley and burned his children in , the fire, imitating the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had dispossessed before the Israelites.
For long ago I broke your yoke; I tore off your chains. You insisted, ‘I will not serve! ’ On every high hill and under every green tree you lay down like a prostitute.
Then you will answer them, “Because your ancestors abandoned me #– #this is the Lord’s declaration #– #and followed other gods, served them, and bowed in worship to them. Indeed, they abandoned me and did not keep my instruction.
They entered and possessed it, but they did not obey you or live according to your instructions. They failed to perform all you commanded them to do, and so you have brought all this disaster on them.