that today you have turned away from following the Lord? “ ‘If today you are rebelling against the Lord, then tomorrow He will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel!
“But if you and your sons turn in any way from following Me and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them,
For He had torn Israel from the house of David, and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. Jeroboam diverted Israel from following the Lord and caused them to sin greatly.
From the time when Amaziah turned aside from the Lord, they plotted a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish. Then they sent for him and put him to death in Lachish.
So Josiah took away all the detestable things from the lands that belonged to the people of Israel and caused all who were found in Israel to serve the Lord their God. And all his days they did not turn away from the Lord, the God of their fathers.
Moses said to Aaron, and to Eleazar and Ithamar his sons, “Do not let your hair be loosely disheveled, nor rend your clothes, lest you die, and lest wrath come upon all the people. Instead, let your brothers, the whole house of Israel, mourn the burning which the Lord has caused.
For they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods. Then the anger of the Lord will be inflamed against you, and He will quickly destroy you.
“The whole congregation of the Lord says, ‘What is this trespass you have committed against the God of Israel? Today you have turned from following the Lord by building yourselves an altar to rebel against Him!
Did not Achan son of Zerah commit a trespass in the things under the ban, and wrath fall on all the congregation of Israel? And that man did not perish alone in his iniquity.’ ”
Yet the Israelites violated their obligations with regard to the things dedicated for destruction. Achan, son of Karmi, son of Zimri, son of Zerah, from the tribe of Judah took from the things dedicated for destruction, and the anger of the Lord burned against the Israelites.
Israel has sinned, and they have broken My covenant that I commanded them. They took from the things dedicated for destruction. They have stolen, acted deceitfully, and put them among their own possessions.
When I saw among the plundered goods a beautiful robe from Babylon, two hundred shekels of silver, and a gold bar weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them, so I took them. They are hidden in the ground in my tent. The silver is underneath them.”
If you will fear the Lord, and serve Him, and obey His voice, and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then both you and the king that reigns over you will continue following the Lord your God.
Samuel said to the people, “Do not fear. You have done all this wickedness, only do not turn aside from following the Lord, and serve the Lord with all your heart.