In one of the cities the Lord your God is giving you, there may be a man or woman among you who is doing what the Lord considers evil. This person may be disregarding the conditions of the Lord’s promise
This happened because they refused to obey the Lord their God and disregarded the conditions of the promise he made to them. They refused to obey everything that Moses, the Lord’s servant, had commanded.
He rebuilt the illegal places of worship that his father Hezekiah had destroyed. He set up altars dedicated to Baal and made a pole dedicated to the goddess Asherah as King Ahab of Israel had done. Manasseh, like Ahab, worshiped and served the entire army of heaven.
It will not be like the promise that I made to their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of Egypt. They rejected that promise, although I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord.
I will hand over the people who have rejected my promise. They have not kept the terms of the promise which they made in my presence when they cut a calf in two and passed between its pieces.
I will punish you the same way that those who are guilty of prostitution and murder are punished. I will give you the death penalty in my fury and burning anger.
“Sound the alarm on the ram’s horn. The enemy swoops down on the Lord’s temple like an eagle. The people of Israel have rejected my promise and rebelled against my teachings.
“Tell the Israelites: If Israelites or foreigners living among you give one of their children as a sacrifice to ⌞the god⌟ Molech, they must be put to death. The common people must stone them to death.
I will bring war on you to get revenge for my promise ⌞that you rejected⌟. When you gather in your cities, I will send plagues on you and you will fall under the control of your enemy.
Make sure there is no man, woman, family, or tribe among you today who turns from the Lord our God to worship the gods of those nations. Make sure that no one among you is the source of this kind of bitter poison.
The answer will be, “Because they abandoned the promise of the Lord God of their ancestors. He made this promise to them when he brought them out of Egypt.
I will bring them into the land that I swore to give to their ancestors, a land flowing with milk and honey. When they have eaten all they want and have become fat, they will turn to other gods and worship them. They will despise me and reject my promise.
Be careful that you don’t forget the promise that the Lord your God made to you. Don’t make your own carved idols or statues that represent anything the Lord your God has forbidden.
When you ignore the conditions placed on you by the Lord your God and follow other gods, serve them and bow down to them, the Lord will be angry with you. Then you will quickly disappear from the good land he has given you.”
Israel has sinned. They have ignored the requirements that I have placed on them. They have taken what I claimed for myself and put it among their own goods. They have not only stolen, but they have also lied.
The man who is selected, along with everything he has, must be burned because he has ⌞stolen⌟ what the Lord has claimed. He has ignored the Lord’s requirements and done a godless thing in Israel.’ ”
The Lord became angry with Israel. He said, “Because the people of this nation have rejected the promise I gave their ancestors and have not obeyed me,
But Joash said to everyone standing around him, “You’re not going to defend Baal, are you? Do you think you should save him? Whoever defends him will be put to death in the morning. If he’s a god, let him defend himself when someone tears down his altar.”