19 But if you will have turned away, and will have forsaken my justices and my precepts, which I have set before you, and going astray, you serve strange gods, and you adore them,
19 But if you turn away, and forsake my justices, and my commandments which I have set before you, and shall go and serve strange gods, and adore them,
“And you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father. Serve God with a pure heart. Be happy in your heart (mind) to serve God. Why? Because the Lord knows what is in every person’s heart (mind). The Lord understands everything you think. If you go to the Lord for help, you will get an answer. But if you turn away from the Lord, he will leave you forever.
I will not continue to keep the Israelites off the land that I chose to give to their ancestors. {\cf2\super [408]} But they must obey all the things I commanded them. The people of Israel must obey all the laws, rules, and commands that I gave Moses to give to them.”
Don’t worship or serve idols of any kind. Why? Because I, the Lord, am your God. I hate my people worshiping other gods. [125] People who sin against me become my enemies. And I will punish those people. And I will punish their children, their grandchildren, and even their great-grandchildren.
The Lord answered these questions. He said,\par “It is because the people of Judah quit following my teachings.\par I gave them my teachings,\par but they refused to listen to me.\par They did not follow my teachings.\par
“But if you don’t listen to things the Lord your God tells you—if you don’t obey all his commands and laws that I tell you today—then all these bad things will happen to you:
There are still some people living among us that are not people of Israel. Those people worship their own gods. Don’t become friends with those people. Don’t serve or worship their gods.