Then he tore down the quarters of the male cult prostitutes that had been in the House of Adonai, where the women had been weaving coverings for the Asherah.
“See that you do not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land. Otherwise when they prostitute themselves with their gods and sacrifice to their gods, someone will invite you, and you will eat from their sacrifice.
I find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare, whose heart is a trap, and whose hands are chains. He who pleases God will escape her, but a sinner will be captured by her.
Also when all the Jews who were in Moab, among Ammon’s children, in Edom, and in all the countries, heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant of Judah, and that he had appointed over them Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan,
“But the children rebelled against Me; they did not walk in My statutes. They did not keep My ordinances to do them, which if a man does, he will live by them; they profaned My Shabbatot. Then I resolved to pour out My fury on them, to expend My anger on them in the wilderness.
“Like grapes in the wilderness I found Israel. Like early fruit on a fig tree in its first season I saw your fathers. They came to Baal-peor and devoted themselves to shame. So they became as detestable as the thing they loved.
O My people, remember, please: What did Balak, king of Moab, propose? What did Balaam son of Beor answer him? From Shittim as far as Gilgal, so that you might acknowledge the righteous acts of Adonai.”
Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent out two spies from Shittim saying: “Go, explore the land, especially Jericho.” So they went and came to the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab, and lodged there.
Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us, from which we have not cleansed ourselves to this day, although a plague came on the congregation of Adonai,
Then Joshua rose up early in the morning, and he and all Bnei-Yisrael set out from Shittim and came to the Jordan. They lodged there before crossing over.
“But I have a few things against you. You have some there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who was teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before Bnei-Yisrael, to eat food sacrificed to idols and to commit sexual immorality.