Judges 2 Cross References - BSB

¹ Now the angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bochim and said, “I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land that I had promised to your fathers, and I said, ‘I will never break My covenant with you, ² and you are not to make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall tear down their altars.’ Yet you have not obeyed My voice. What is this you have done? ³ So now I tell you that I will not drive out these people before you; they will be thorns in your sides, and their gods will be a snare to you.” ⁴ When the angel of the LORD had spoken these words to all the Israelites, the people lifted up their voices and wept. ⁵ So they called that place Bochim and offered sacrifices there to the LORD. ⁶ After Joshua had dismissed the people, the Israelites went out to take possession of the land, each to his own inheritance. ⁷ And the people served the LORD throughout the days of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him, who had seen all the great works that the LORD had done for Israel. ⁸ And Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of 110. ⁹ They buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath-heres in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. ¹⁰ After that whole generation had also been gathered to their fathers, another generation rose up who did not know the LORD or the works that He had done for Israel. ¹¹ And the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals. ¹² Thus they forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they followed after various gods of the peoples around them. They bowed down to them and provoked the LORD to anger, ¹³ for they forsook Him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. ¹⁴ Then the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He delivered them into the hands of those who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist. ¹⁵ Wherever Israel marched out, the hand of the LORD was against them to bring calamity, just as He had sworn to them. So they were greatly distressed. ¹⁶ Then the LORD raised up judges, who saved them from the hands of those who plundered them. ¹⁷ Israel, however, did not listen to their judges. Instead, they prostituted themselves with other gods and bowed down to them. They quickly turned from the way of their fathers, who had walked in obedience to the LORD’s commandments; they did not do as their fathers had done. ¹⁸ Whenever the LORD raised up a judge for the Israelites, He was with that judge and saved them from the hands of their enemies while the judge was still alive; for the LORD was moved to pity by their groaning under those who oppressed them and afflicted them. ¹⁹ But when the judge died, the Israelites became even more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods to serve them and bow down to them. They would not give up their evil practices and stubborn ways. ²⁰ So the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He said, “Because this nation has transgressed the covenant I laid down for their fathers and has not heeded My voice, ²¹ I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died. ²² In this way I will test whether Israel will keep the way of the LORD by walking in it as their fathers did.” ²³ That is why the LORD had left those nations in place and had not driven them out immediately by delivering them into the hand of Joshua.

⁷ Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your offspring.” So Abram built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

⁷ Now the angel of the LORD found Hagar by a spring of water in the desert—the spring along the road to Shur. ⁸ “Hagar, servant of Sarai,” he said, “where have you come from, and where are you going?” “I am running away from my mistress Sarai,” she replied. ⁹ So the angel of the LORD told her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her authority.” ¹⁰ Then the angel added, “I will greatly multiply your offspring so that they will be too numerous to count.”

¹³ So Hagar gave this name to the LORD who had spoken to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “Here I have seen the One who sees me!”

⁷ I will establish My covenant as an everlasting covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. ⁸ And to you and your descendants I will give the land where you are residing—all the land of Canaan—as an eternal possession; and I will be their God.”

¹¹ Just then the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham, Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. ¹² “Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him,” said the angel, “for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from me.”

¹⁶ saying, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your only son, ¹⁷ I will surely bless you, and I will multiply your descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies.

³ Stay in this land as a foreigner, and I will be with you and bless you. For I will give all these lands to you and your offspring, and I will confirm the oath that I swore to your father Abraham. ⁴ I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations of the earth will be blessed,

¹⁶ the angel who has redeemed me from all harm—may He bless these boys. And may they be called by my name and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and may they grow into a multitude upon the earth.”

² There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from within a bush. Moses saw the bush ablaze with fire, but it was not consumed. ³ So Moses thought, “I must go over and see this marvelous sight. Why is the bush not burning up?” ⁴ When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called out to him from within the bush, “Moses, Moses!” “Here I am,” he answered. ⁵ “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” ⁶ Then He said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. ⁷ The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the affliction of My people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their oppressors, and I am aware of their sufferings. ⁸ I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.

¹⁴ The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

¹⁹ And the angel of God, who had gone before the camp of Israel, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from before them and stood behind them,

² “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

²⁰ Behold, I am sending an angel before you to protect you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared.

¹⁴ And the LORD answered, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

⁴² then I will remember My covenant with Jacob and My covenant with Isaac and My covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.

⁴⁴ Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject or despise them so as to destroy them and break My covenant with them; for I am the LORD their God.

³⁴ In keeping with the forty days you spied out the land, you shall bear your guilt forty years—a year for each day—and you will experience My alienation.

³⁴ Or has any god tried to take as his own a nation out of another nation—by trials, signs, wonders, and war, by a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and by great terrors—as the LORD your God did for you in Egypt, before your eyes?

⁹ Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps His covenant of loving devotion for a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commandments.

¹⁰ He continued, “This is how you will know that the living God is among you and that He will surely drive out before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites.

¹³ Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in His hand. Joshua approached Him and asked, “Are You for us or for our enemies?” ¹⁴ “Neither,” He replied. “I have now come as Commander of the LORD’s army.” Then Joshua fell facedown in reverence and asked Him, “What does my Lord have to say to His servant?”

⁵ So they called that place Bochim and offered sacrifices there to the LORD.

¹¹ Then the angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to hide it from the Midianites. ¹² And the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon and said, “The LORD is with you, O mighty man of valor.”

³ The angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her, “It is true that you are barren and have no children; but you will conceive and give birth to a son.

⁵¹ He struck all the firstborn of Egypt, the virility in the tents of Ham. ⁵² He led out His people like sheep and guided them like a flock in the wilderness. ⁵³ He led them safely, so they did not fear, but the sea engulfed their enemies.

³⁴ I will not violate My covenant or alter the utterance of My lips.

³⁶ Then He struck all the firstborn in their land, the firstfruits of all their vigor. ³⁷ He brought Israel out with silver and gold, and none among His tribes stumbled. ³⁸ Egypt was glad when they departed, for the dread of Israel had fallen on them.

⁴⁴ He gave them the lands of the nations, that they might inherit the fruit of others’ labor, ⁴⁵ that they might keep His statutes and obey His laws. Hallelujah!

⁹ In all their distress, He too was afflicted, and the Angel of His Presence saved them. In His love and compassion He redeemed them; He lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.

²¹ For the sake of Your name do not despise us; do not disgrace Your glorious throne. Remember Your covenant with us; do not break it.

²⁰ “This is what the LORD says: If you can break My covenant with the day and My covenant with the night, so that day and night cease to occupy their appointed time, ²¹ then My covenant may also be broken with David My servant and with My ministers the Levites who are priests, so that David will not have a son to reign on his throne.

³ In the womb he grasped his brother’s heel, and in his vigor he wrestled with God. ⁴ Yes, he struggled with the angel and prevailed; he wept and sought His favor; he found Him at Bethel and spoke with Him there— ⁵ the LORD is the God of Hosts—the LORD is His name of renown.

¹ Then the angel showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, with Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. ² And the LORD said to Satan: “The LORD rebukes you, Satan! Indeed, the LORD, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebukes you! Is not this man a firebrand snatched from the fire?”

¹⁰ Next I took my staff called Favor and cut it in two, revoking the covenant I had made with all the nations.

¹ “Behold, I will send My messenger, who will prepare the way before Me. Then the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to His temple—the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight—see, He is coming,” says the LORD of Hosts.

³⁰ After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai. ³¹ When Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight. As he approached to look more closely, the voice of the Lord came to him: ³² ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ Moses trembled with fear and did not dare to look. ³³ Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.

¹¹ “Who told you that you were naked?” asked the LORD God. “Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” ¹² And the man answered, “The woman whom You gave me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

¹⁰ “What have you done?” replied the LORD. “The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground.

³² You shall make no covenant with them or with their gods. ³³ They must not remain in your land, lest they cause you to sin against Me. For if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”

²¹ “What did this people do to you,” Moses asked Aaron, “that you have led them into so great a sin?”

¹² Be careful not to make a treaty with the inhabitants of the land you are entering, lest they become a snare in your midst. ¹³ Rather, you must tear down their altars, smash their sacred stones, and chop down their Asherah poles. ¹⁴ For you must not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. ¹⁵ Do not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you, and you will eat their sacrifices. ¹⁶ And when you take some of their daughters as brides for your sons, their daughters will prostitute themselves to their gods and cause your sons to do the same.

⁵² you must drive out before you all the inhabitants of the land, destroy all their carved images and cast idols, and demolish all their high places. ⁵³ You are to take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given you the land to possess.

² and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you to defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy. ³ Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, ⁴ because they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods. Then the anger of the LORD will burn against you, and He will swiftly destroy you.

¹⁶ You must destroy all the peoples the LORD your God will deliver to you. Do not look on them with pity. Do not worship their gods, for that will be a snare to you.

²⁵ You must burn up the images of their gods; do not covet the silver and gold that is on them or take it for yourselves, or you will be ensnared by it; for it is detestable to the LORD your God. ²⁶ And you must not bring any detestable thing into your house, or you, like it, will be set apart for destruction. You are to utterly detest and abhor it, because it is set apart for destruction.

² Destroy completely all the places where the nations you are dispossessing have served their gods—atop the high mountains, on the hills, and under every green tree. ³ Tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, burn up their Asherah poles, cut down the idols of their gods, and wipe out their names from every place.

¹⁶ However, in the cities of the nations that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, you must not leave alive anything that breathes. ¹⁷ For you must devote them to complete destruction—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—as the LORD your God has commanded you, ¹⁸ so that they cannot teach you to do all the detestable things they do for their gods, and so cause you to sin against the LORD your God.

²⁰ So the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He said, “Because this nation has transgressed the covenant I laid down for their fathers and has not heeded My voice,

¹ After these things had been accomplished, the leaders approached me and said, “The people of Israel, including the priests and Levites, have not kept themselves separate from the surrounding peoples whose abominations are like those of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites. ² Indeed, the Israelites have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons, so that the holy seed has been mixed with the people of the land. And the leaders and officials have taken the lead in this unfaithfulness!” ³ When I heard this report, I tore my tunic and cloak, pulled out some hair from my head and beard, and sat down in horror.

¹⁰ And now, our God, what can we say after this? For we have forsaken the commandments ¹¹ that You gave through Your servants the prophets, saying: ‘The land that you are entering to possess is a land polluted by the impurity of its peoples and the abominations with which they have filled it from end to end. ¹² Now, therefore, do not give your daughters in marriage to their sons or take their daughters for your sons. Never seek their peace or prosperity, so that you may be strong and may eat the good things of the land, leaving it as an inheritance to your sons forever.’ ¹³ After all that has come upon us because of our evil deeds and our great guilt (though You, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserve and have given us such a remnant as this),

⁵⁵ He drove out nations before them and apportioned their inheritance; He settled the tribes of Israel in their tents. ⁵⁶ But they tested and disobeyed God Most High, for they did not keep His decrees. ⁵⁷ They turned back and were faithless like their fathers, twisted like a faulty bow. ⁵⁸ They enraged Him with their high places and provoked His jealousy with their idols.

³⁴ They did not destroy the peoples as the LORD had commanded them, ³⁵ but they mingled with the nations and adopted their customs. ³⁶ They worshiped their idols, which became a snare to them. ³⁷ They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons. ³⁸ They shed innocent blood—the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood. ³⁹ They defiled themselves by their actions and prostituted themselves by their deeds. ⁴⁰ So the anger of the LORD burned against His people, and He abhorred His own inheritance.

⁵ This is what the LORD says: “What fault did your fathers find in Me that they strayed so far from Me, and followed worthless idols, and became worthless themselves?

¹⁸ Now what will you gain on your way to Egypt to drink the waters of the Nile? What will you gain on your way to Assyria to drink the waters of the Euphrates?

³¹ You people of this generation, consider the word of the LORD: “Have I been a wilderness to Israel or a land of dense darkness? Why do My people say, ‘We are free to roam; we will come to You no more’? ³² Does a maiden forget her jewelry or a bride her wedding sash? Yet My people have forgotten Me for days without number. ³³ How skillfully you pursue love! Even the most immoral of women could learn from your ways.

³⁶ How unstable you are, constantly changing your ways! You will be disappointed by Egypt just as you were by Assyria.

²³ but this is what I commanded them: Obey Me, and I will be your God, and you will be My people. You must walk in all the ways I have commanded you, so that it may go well with you. ²⁴ Yet they did not listen or incline their ear, but they followed the stubborn inclinations of their own evil hearts. They went backward and not forward. ²⁵ From the day your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have sent you all My servants the prophets again and again. ²⁶ Yet they would not listen to Me or incline their ear, but they stiffened their necks and did more evil than their fathers. ²⁷ When you tell them all these things, they will not listen to you. When you call to them, they will not answer. ²⁸ Therefore you must say to them, ‘This is the nation that would not listen to the voice of the LORD their God and would not receive correction. Truth has perished; it has disappeared from their lips.

¹⁴ Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership can righteousness have with wickedness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness? ¹⁵ What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? ¹⁶ What agreement can exist between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people.” ¹⁷ “Therefore come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”

⁸ in blazing fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

¹⁷ For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who disobey the gospel of God?

³³ They must not remain in your land, lest they cause you to sin against Me. For if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”

¹² Be careful not to make a treaty with the inhabitants of the land you are entering, lest they become a snare in your midst.

⁵⁵ But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land before you, those you allow to remain will become barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides; they will harass you in the land where you settle.

¹³ know for sure that the LORD your God will no longer drive out these nations before you. Instead, they will become for you a snare and a trap, a scourge in your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land that the LORD your God has given you.

²¹ I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died.

⁶ And they took the daughters of these people in marriage, gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods.

¹ King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh—women of Moab, Ammon, Edom, and Sidon, as well as Hittite women. ² These women were from the nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, for surely they will turn your hearts after their gods.” Yet Solomon clung to these women in love. ³ He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines—and his wives turned his heart away. ⁴ For when Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and he was not wholeheartedly devoted to the LORD his God, as his father David had been. ⁵ Solomon followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians and Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. ⁶ So Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD; unlike his father David, he did not follow the LORD completely. ⁷ At that time on a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites.

³⁶ They worshiped their idols, which became a snare to them.

⁶ When they had gathered at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out before the LORD. On that day they fasted, and there they confessed, “We have sinned against the LORD.” And Samuel judged the Israelites at Mizpah.

¹ While Ezra prayed and made this confession, weeping and falling facedown before the house of God, a very large assembly of Israelites—men, women, and children—gathered around him, and the people wept bitterly as well.

¹⁰ A rebuke cuts into a man of discernment deeper than a hundred lashes cut into a fool.

⁹ They will come with weeping, and by their supplication I will lead them; I will make them walk beside streams of waters, on a level path where they will not stumble. For I am Israel’s Father, and Ephraim is My firstborn.”

¹⁰ Then I will pour out on the house of David and on the people of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and prayer, and they will look on Me, the One they have pierced. They will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for Him as one grieves for a firstborn son.

²¹ Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.

³⁸ As she stood behind Him at His feet weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears and wipe them with her hair. Then she kissed His feet and anointed them with the perfume.

¹⁰ Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation without regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.

⁹ Grieve, mourn, and weep. Turn your laughter to mourning, and your joy to gloom.

⁸ Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried under the oak below Bethel. So Jacob named it Allon-bachuth.

²⁶ And they heaped over Achan a large pile of rocks that remains to this day. So the LORD turned from His burning anger. Therefore that place is called the Valley of Achor to this day.

²⁴ So Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and called it The LORD Is Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

¹⁹ Then Manoah took a young goat and a grain offering and offered them on a rock to the LORD. And as Manoah and his wife looked on, the LORD did a marvelous thing.

⁹ Then Samuel took a suckling lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the LORD. He cried out to the LORD on behalf of Israel, and the LORD answered him.

⁶ So Joshua blessed them and sent them on their way, and they went to their homes.

²⁸ Then Joshua sent the people away, each to his own inheritance. ²⁹ Some time later, Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of 110. ³⁰ And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. ³¹ Israel had served the LORD throughout the days of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had experienced all the works that the LORD had done for Israel.

³¹ Israel had served the LORD throughout the days of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had experienced all the works that the LORD had done for Israel.

² And Joash did what was right in the eyes of the LORD all the days he was instructed by Jehoiada the priest.

² And Joash did what was right in the eyes of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada the priest.

¹⁴ When they were finished, they brought the rest of the money to the king and Jehoiada to make with it the articles for the house of the LORD—utensils for the service and for the burnt offerings, dishes, and other objects of gold and silver. Throughout the days of Jehoiada, burnt offerings were presented regularly in the house of the LORD. ¹⁵ When Jehoiada was old and full of years, he died at the age of 130. ¹⁶ And Jehoiada was buried with the kings in the City of David, because he had done what was good in Israel for God and His temple. ¹⁷ After the death of Jehoiada, however, the officials of Judah came and paid homage to the king, and he listened to them. ¹⁸ They abandoned the house of the LORD, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherah poles and idols. So wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this guilt of theirs. ¹⁹ Nevertheless, the LORD sent prophets to bring the people back to Him and to testify against them; but they would not listen. ²⁰ Then the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest, who stood up before the people and said to them, “This is what God says: ‘Why do you transgress the commandments of the LORD so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the LORD, He has forsaken you.’” ²¹ But they conspired against Zechariah, and by order of the king, they stoned him in the courtyard of the house of the LORD. ²² Thus King Joash failed to remember the kindness that Zechariah’s father Jehoiada had extended to him. Instead, Joash killed Jehoiada’s son. As he lay dying, Zechariah said, “May the LORD see this and call you to account.”

¹² Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now even more in my absence, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.

²⁹ Some time later, Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of 110. ³⁰ And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.

⁵⁰ as the LORD had commanded. They gave him the city of Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim, as he requested. He rebuilt the city and settled in it.

³⁰ And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.

¹⁵ You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a ripe old age.

⁸ And at a ripe old age he breathed his last and died, old and contented, and was gathered to his people.

¹⁷ Ishmael lived a total of 137 years. Then he breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his people.

³³ When Jacob had finished instructing his sons, he pulled his feet into the bed and breathed his last, and he was gathered to his people.

² But Pharaoh replied, “Who is the LORD that I should obey His voice and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and I will not let Israel go.”

¹³ After you have seen it, you too will be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron was;

¹⁶ And the LORD said to Moses, “You will soon rest with your fathers, and these people will rise up and prostitute themselves with the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake Me and break the covenant I have made with them.

¹² Now the sons of Eli were wicked men; they had no regard for the LORD

¹² And when your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom.

⁹ As for you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve Him wholeheartedly and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands the intent of every thought. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.

¹⁴ Yet they say to God: ‘Leave us alone! For we have no desire to know Your ways.

⁵ How great are Your works, O LORD, how deep are Your thoughts! ⁶ A senseless man does not know, and a fool does not understand,

¹² At their feasts are the lyre and harp, tambourines and flutes and wine. They disregard the actions of the LORD and fail to see the work of His hands.

³ “They bend their tongues like bows; lies prevail over truth in the land. For they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not take Me into account,” declares the LORD.

¹⁶ He took up the cause of the poor and needy, and so it went well with him. Is this not what it means to know Me?” declares the LORD.

³⁴ No longer will each man teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquities and will remember their sins no more.”

³⁶ For when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep. His body was buried with his fathers and saw decay.

⁸ Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. ⁹ But now that you know God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you are turning back to those weak and worthless principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?

¹⁶ They profess to know God, but by their actions they deny Him. They are detestable, disobedient, and unfit for any good deed.

¹³ But the men of Sodom were wicked, sinning greatly against the LORD.

⁷ But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD; so the LORD put him to death.

⁷ So the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD; they forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs.

¹² Once again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD. So He gave Eglon king of Moab power over Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the LORD.

¹ After Ehud died, the Israelites again did evil in the sight of the LORD.

¹ Again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD; so He delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years,

³³ And as soon as Gideon was dead, the Israelites turned and prostituted themselves with the Baals, and they set up Baal-berith as their god.

⁶ And again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD. They served the Baals, the Ashtoreths, the gods of Aram, Sidon, and Moab, and the gods of the Ammonites and Philistines. Thus they forsook the LORD and did not serve Him.

¹⁰ Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD, saying, “We have sinned against You, for we have indeed forsaken our God and served the Baals.”

¹ Again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD, so He delivered them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.

⁴ So the Israelites put away the Baals and Ashtoreths and served only the LORD.

¹⁸ “I have not troubled Israel,” Elijah replied, “but you and your father’s house have, for you have forsaken the commandments of the LORD and have followed the Baals.

² Instead, he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and even made cast images of the Baals.

² And he did evil in the sight of the LORD by following the abominations of the nations that the LORD had driven out before the Israelites. ³ For he rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had torn down, and he raised up altars for the Baals and made Asherah poles. And he worshiped and served all the host of heaven.

⁶ He sacrificed his sons in the fire in the Valley of Hinnom. He practiced sorcery, divination, and witchcraft, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did great evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger.

¹² from the descendants of Azgad, Johanan son of Hakkatan, and with him 110 men;

²³ “How can you say, ‘I am not defiled; I have not run after the Baals’? Look at your behavior in the valley; acknowledge what you have done. You are a swift young she-camel galloping here and there,

¹⁴ Instead, they have followed the stubbornness of their hearts and gone after the Baals, as their fathers taught them.”

¹³ I will punish her for the days of the Baals when she burned incense to them, when she decked herself with rings and jewelry, and went after her lovers. But Me she forgot,” declares the LORD. ¹⁴ “Therefore, behold, I will allure her and lead her to the wilderness, and speak to her tenderly. ¹⁵ There I will give back her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor into a gateway of hope. There she will respond as she did in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt. ¹⁶ In that day,” declares the LORD, “you will call Me ‘my Husband,’ and no longer call Me ‘my Master.’ ¹⁷ For I will remove from her lips the names of the Baals; no longer will their names be invoked.

⁵ You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,

⁹ You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,

¹⁴ Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you. ¹⁵ For the LORD your God, who is among you, is a jealous God. Otherwise the anger of the LORD your God will be kindled against you, and He will wipe you off the face of the earth.

⁵ Such a prophet or dreamer must be put to death, because he has advocated rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery; he has tried to turn you from the way in which the LORD your God has commanded you to walk. So you must purge the evil from among you.

¹⁸ Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the LORD our God to go and worship the gods of those nations. Make sure there is no root among you that bears such poisonous and bitter fruit,

²⁵ And the people will answer, ‘It is because they abandoned the covenant of the LORD, the God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt.

¹⁶ And the LORD said to Moses, “You will soon rest with your fathers, and these people will rise up and prostitute themselves with the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake Me and break the covenant I have made with them. ¹⁷ On that day My anger will burn against them, and I will abandon them and hide My face from them, so that they will be consumed, and many troubles and afflictions will befall them. On that day they will say, ‘Have not these disasters come upon us because our God is no longer with us?’

¹⁵ But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked—becoming fat, bloated, and gorged. He abandoned the God who made him and scorned the Rock of his salvation.

¹⁷ His majesty is like a firstborn bull, and his horns are like those of a wild ox. With them he will gore the nations, even to the ends of the earth. Such are the myriads of Ephraim, and such are the thousands of Manasseh.”

⁸ When they chose new gods, then war came to their gates. Not a shield or spear was found among forty thousand in Israel.

¹¹ And the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals.

¹⁰ They put his armor in the temple of the Ashtoreths and hung his body on the wall of Beth-shan.

⁵ Solomon followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians and Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.

³³ For they have forsaken Me to worship Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the Ammonites. They have not walked in My ways, nor done what is right in My eyes, nor kept My statutes and judgments, as Solomon’s father David did.

¹³ The king also desecrated the high places east of Jerusalem, to the south of the Mount of Corruption, which King Solomon of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.

⁵ For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many so-called gods and lords),

²⁰ No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God. And I do not want you to be participants with demons. ²¹ You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot partake in the table of the Lord and the table of demons too. ²² Are we trying to provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?

²⁸ then I will walk in fury against you, and I, even I, will punish you sevenfold for your sins.

³⁷ They will stumble over one another as before the sword, though no one is behind them. So you will not be able to stand against your enemies.

¹⁴ Now behold, you, a brood of sinners, have risen up in place of your fathers to further stoke the burning anger of the LORD against Israel.

²⁰ The LORD will send curses upon you, confusion and reproof in all to which you put your hand, until you are destroyed and quickly perish because of the wickedness you have committed in forsaking Him.

²⁵ The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will march out against them in one direction but flee from them in seven. You will be an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.

⁵⁸ If you are not careful to observe all the words of this law which are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name—the LORD your God—

¹⁹ because when such a person hears the words of this oath, he invokes a blessing on himself, saying, ‘I will have peace, even though I walk in the stubbornness of my own heart.’ This will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry. ²⁰ The LORD will never be willing to forgive him. Instead, His anger and jealousy will burn against that man, and every curse written in this book will fall upon him. The LORD will blot out his name from under heaven

¹⁷ On that day My anger will burn against them, and I will abandon them and hide My face from them, so that they will be consumed, and many troubles and afflictions will befall them. On that day they will say, ‘Have not these disasters come upon us because our God is no longer with us?’ ¹⁸ And on that day I will surely hide My face because of all the evil they have done by turning to other gods.

³⁰ How could one man pursue a thousand, or two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, unless the LORD had given them up?

¹² This is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies. They will turn their backs and run from their enemies, because they themselves have been set apart for destruction. I will no longer be with you unless you remove from among you whatever is devoted to destruction. ¹³ Get up and consecrate the people, saying, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Among you, O Israel, there are things devoted to destruction. You cannot stand against your enemies until you remove them.

¹⁹ The LORD was with Judah, and they took possession of the hill country; but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the plains because they had chariots of iron.

³⁴ The Amorites forced the Danites into the hill country and did not allow them to come down into the plain.

⁷ So the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD; they forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs. ⁸ Then the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He sold them into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim king of Aram-naharaim, and the Israelites served him eight years.

² So the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his forces was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-hagoyim.

⁷ So the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and Ammonites,

²⁰ So the LORD rejected all the descendants of Israel. He afflicted them and delivered them into the hands of plunderers, until He had banished them from His presence.

⁵ In those days there was no safety for travelers, because the residents of the lands had many conflicts.

¹⁶ But they mocked the messengers of God, despising His words and scoffing at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD against His people was stirred up beyond remedy.

⁹ But You have rejected and humbled us; You no longer go forth with our armies. ¹⁰ You have made us retreat from the foe, and those who hate us have plundered us.

¹² You sell Your people for nothing; no profit do You gain from their sale.

⁴⁰ So the anger of the LORD burned against His people, and He abhorred His own inheritance. ⁴¹ He delivered them into the hand of the nations, and those who hated them ruled over them. ⁴² Their enemies oppressed them, and subdued them under their hand.

¹ This is what the LORD says: “Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce with which I sent her away? Or to which of My creditors did I sell you? Look, you were sold for your iniquities, and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.

¹⁰ Indeed, if you were to strike down the entire army of the Chaldeans that is fighting against you, and only wounded men remained in their tents, they would still get up and burn this city down.”

¹⁴ If, however, you fail to obey Me and to carry out all these commandments, ¹⁵ and if you reject My statutes, despise My ordinances, and neglect to carry out all My commandments, and so break My covenant, ¹⁶ then this is what I will do to you: I will bring upon you sudden terror, wasting disease, and fever that will destroy your sight and drain your life. You will sow your seed in vain, because your enemies will eat it. ¹⁷ And I will set My face against you, so that you will be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee when no one pursues you. ¹⁸ And if after all this you will not obey Me, I will proceed to punish you sevenfold for your sins. ¹⁹ I will break down your stubborn pride and make your sky like iron and your land like bronze, ²⁰ and your strength will be spent in vain. For your land will not yield its produce, and the trees of the land will not bear their fruit. ²¹ If you walk in hostility toward Me and refuse to obey Me, I will multiply your plagues seven times, according to your sins. ²² I will send wild animals against you to rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and reduce your numbers, until your roads lie desolate. ²³ And if in spite of these things you do not accept My discipline, but continue to walk in hostility toward Me, ²⁴ then I will act with hostility toward you, and I will strike you sevenfold for your sins. ²⁵ And I will bring a sword against you to execute the vengeance of the covenant. Though you withdraw into your cities, I will send a plague among you, and you will be delivered into the hand of the enemy. ²⁶ When I cut off your supply of bread, ten women will bake your bread in a single oven and dole out your bread by weight, so that you will eat but not be satisfied. ²⁷ But if in spite of all this you do not obey Me, but continue to walk in hostility toward Me, ²⁸ then I will walk in fury against you, and I, even I, will punish you sevenfold for your sins. ²⁹ You will eat the flesh of your own sons and daughters. ³⁰ I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars, and heap your lifeless bodies on the lifeless remains of your idols; and My soul will despise you. ³¹ I will reduce your cities to rubble and lay waste your sanctuaries, and I will refuse to smell the pleasing aroma of your sacrifices. ³² And I will lay waste the land, so that your enemies who dwell in it will be appalled. ³³ But I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out a sword after you as your land becomes desolate and your cities are laid waste. ³⁴ Then the land shall enjoy its Sabbaths all the days it lies desolate, while you are in the land of your enemies. At that time the land will rest and enjoy its Sabbaths. ³⁵ As long as it lies desolate, the land will have the rest it did not receive during the Sabbaths when you lived in it. ³⁶ As for those of you who survive, I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies, so that even the sound of a windblown leaf will put them to flight. And they will flee as one flees the sword, and fall when no one pursues them. ³⁷ They will stumble over one another as before the sword, though no one is behind them. So you will not be able to stand against your enemies. ³⁸ You will perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies will consume you. ³⁹ Those of you who survive in the lands of your enemies will waste away in their iniquity and will decay in the sins of their fathers. ⁴⁰ But if they will confess their iniquity and that of their fathers in the unfaithfulness that they practiced against Me, by which they have also walked in hostility toward Me— ⁴¹ and I acted with hostility toward them and brought them into the land of their enemies—and if their uncircumcised hearts will be humbled and they will make amends for their iniquity, ⁴² then I will remember My covenant with Jacob and My covenant with Isaac and My covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. ⁴³ For the land will be abandoned by them, and it will enjoy its Sabbaths by lying desolate without them. And they will pay the penalty for their iniquity, because they rejected My ordinances and abhorred My statutes. ⁴⁴ Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject or despise them so as to destroy them and break My covenant with them; for I am the LORD their God. ⁴⁵ But for their sake I will remember the covenant with their fathers, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God. I am the LORD.” ⁴⁶ These are the statutes, ordinances, and laws that the LORD established between Himself and the Israelites through Moses on Mount Sinai.

²⁵ After you have children and grandchildren and you have been in the land a long time, if you then act corruptly and make an idol of any form—doing evil in the sight of the LORD your God and provoking Him to anger— ²⁶ I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you this day that you will quickly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live long upon it, but will be utterly destroyed. ²⁷ Then the LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and only a few of you will survive among the nations to which the LORD will drive you. ²⁸ And there you will serve man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or eat or smell.

¹⁵ If, however, you do not obey the LORD your God by carefully following all His commandments and statutes I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: ¹⁶ You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country. ¹⁷ Your basket and kneading bowl will be cursed. ¹⁸ The fruit of your womb will be cursed, as well as the produce of your land, the calves of your herds, and the lambs of your flocks. ¹⁹ You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out. ²⁰ The LORD will send curses upon you, confusion and reproof in all to which you put your hand, until you are destroyed and quickly perish because of the wickedness you have committed in forsaking Him. ²¹ The LORD will make the plague cling to you until He has exterminated you from the land that you are entering to possess. ²² The LORD will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, and with blight and mildew; these will pursue you until you perish. ²³ The sky over your head will be bronze, and the earth beneath you iron. ²⁴ The LORD will turn the rain of your land into dust and powder; it will descend on you from the sky until you are destroyed. ²⁵ The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will march out against them in one direction but flee from them in seven. You will be an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. ²⁶ Your corpses will be food for all the birds of the air and beasts of the earth, with no one to scare them away. ²⁷ The LORD will afflict you with the boils of Egypt, with tumors and scabs and itch from which you cannot be cured. ²⁸ The LORD will afflict you with madness, blindness, and confusion of mind, ²⁹ and at noon you will grope about like a blind man in the darkness. You will not prosper in your ways. Day after day you will be oppressed and plundered, with no one to save you. ³⁰ You will be pledged in marriage to a woman, but another man will violate her. You will build a house but will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard but will not enjoy its fruit. ³¹ Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will not eat any of it. Your donkey will be taken away and not returned to you. Your flock will be given to your enemies, and no one will save you. ³² Your sons and daughters will be given to another nation, while your eyes grow weary looking for them day after day, with no power in your hand. ³³ A people you do not know will eat the produce of your land and of all your toil. All your days you will be oppressed and crushed. ³⁴ You will be driven mad by the sights you see. ³⁵ The LORD will afflict you with painful, incurable boils on your knees and thighs, from the soles of your feet to the top of your head. ³⁶ The LORD will bring you and the king you appoint to a nation neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you will worship other gods—gods of wood and stone. ³⁷ You will become an object of horror, scorn, and ridicule among all the nations to which the LORD will drive you. ³⁸ You will sow much seed in the field but harvest little, because the locusts will consume it. ³⁹ You will plant and cultivate vineyards, but will neither drink the wine nor gather the grapes, because worms will eat them. ⁴⁰ You will have olive trees throughout your territory but will never anoint yourself with oil, because the olives will drop off. ⁴¹ You will father sons and daughters, but they will not remain yours, because they will go into captivity. ⁴² Swarms of locusts will consume all your trees and the produce of your land. ⁴³ The foreigner living among you will rise higher and higher above you, while you sink down lower and lower. ⁴⁴ He will lend to you, but you will not lend to him. He will be the head, and you will be the tail. ⁴⁵ All these curses will come upon you. They will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, since you did not obey the LORD your God and keep the commandments and statutes He gave you. ⁴⁶ These curses will be a sign and a wonder upon you and your descendants forever. ⁴⁷ Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and gladness of heart in all your abundance, ⁴⁸ you will serve your enemies the LORD will send against you in famine, thirst, nakedness, and destitution. He will place an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you. ⁴⁹ The LORD will bring a nation from afar, from the ends of the earth, to swoop down upon you like an eagle—a nation whose language you will not understand, ⁵⁰ a ruthless nation with no respect for the old and no pity for the young. ⁵¹ They will eat the offspring of your livestock and the produce of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain or new wine or oil, no calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks, until they have caused you to perish. ⁵² They will besiege all the cities throughout your land, until the high and fortified walls in which you trust have fallen. They will besiege all your cities throughout the land that the LORD your God has given you. ⁵³ Then you will eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters whom the LORD your God has given you, in the siege and distress that your enemy will inflict on you. ⁵⁴ The most gentle and refined man among you will begrudge his brother, the wife he embraces, and the rest of his children who have survived, ⁵⁵ refusing to share with any of them the flesh of his children he will eat because he has nothing left in the siege and distress that your enemy will inflict on you within all your gates. ⁵⁶ The most gentle and refined woman among you, so gentle and refined she would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground, will begrudge the husband she embraces and her son and daughter ⁵⁷ the afterbirth that comes from between her legs and the children she bears, because she will secretly eat them for lack of anything else in the siege and distress that your enemy will inflict on you within your gates. ⁵⁸ If you are not careful to observe all the words of this law which are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name—the LORD your God— ⁵⁹ He will bring upon you and your descendants extraordinary disasters, severe and lasting plagues, and terrible and chronic sicknesses. ⁶⁰ He will afflict you again with all the diseases you dreaded in Egypt, and they will cling to you. ⁶¹ The LORD will also bring upon you every sickness and plague not recorded in this Book of the Law, until you are destroyed. ⁶² You who were as numerous as the stars in the sky will be left few in number, because you would not obey the voice of the LORD your God. ⁶³ Just as it pleased the LORD to make you prosper and multiply, so also it will please Him to annihilate you and destroy you. And you will be uprooted from the land you are entering to possess. ⁶⁴ Then the LORD will scatter you among all the nations, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known. ⁶⁵ Among those nations you will find no repose, not even a resting place for the sole of your foot. There the LORD will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and a despairing soul. ⁶⁶ So your life will hang in doubt before you, and you will be afraid night and day, never certain of survival. ⁶⁷ In the morning you will say, ‘If only it were evening!’ and in the evening you will say, ‘If only it were morning!’—because of the dread in your hearts of the terrifying sights you will see. ⁶⁸ The LORD will return you to Egypt in ships by a route that I said you should never see again. There you will sell yourselves to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.”

⁴⁰ For I lift up My hand to heaven and declare: As surely as I live forever, ⁴¹ when I sharpen My flashing sword, and My hand grasps it in judgment, I will take vengeance on My adversaries and repay those who hate Me.

¹⁵ But just as every good thing the LORD your God promised you has come to pass, likewise the LORD will bring upon you the calamity He has threatened, until He has destroyed you from this good land He has given you. ¹⁶ If you transgress the covenant of the LORD your God, which He commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, then the anger of the LORD will burn against you, and you will quickly perish from this good land He has given you.”

⁹ The Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah, Benjamin, and the house of Ephraim, and Israel was in deep distress.

⁶ Seeing that they were in danger because their troops were hard-pressed, the men of Israel hid in caves and thickets, among the rocks, and in cellars and cisterns.

²⁴ Now the men of Israel were in distress that day, for Saul had placed the troops under an oath, saying, “Cursed is the man who eats any food before evening, before I have taken vengeance on my enemies.” So none of the troops tasted any food.

⁶ And David was greatly distressed because the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of every man grieved for his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the LORD his God.

⁸ But if that nation I warned turns from its evil, then I will relent of the disaster I had planned to bring.

¹⁰ For I have set My face against this city to bring disaster and not good, declares the LORD. It will be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, who will destroy it with fire.’

¹¹ Therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I will set My face to bring disaster and to cut off all Judah.

²⁷ I am watching over them for harm and not for good, and every man of Judah who is in the land of Egypt will meet his end by sword or famine, until they are finished off.

³ Therefore this is what the LORD says: “I am planning against this nation a disaster from which you cannot free your necks. Then you will not walk so proudly, for it will be a time of calamity.

⁸ We are hard pressed on all sides, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;

⁹ But when the Israelites cried out to the LORD, He raised up Othniel son of Caleb’s younger brother Kenaz as a deliverer to save them. ¹⁰ The Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he became Israel’s judge and went out to war. And the LORD delivered Cushan-rishathaim king of Aram into the hand of Othniel, who prevailed against him.

¹⁵ And again they cried out to the LORD, and He raised up Ehud son of Gera, a left-handed Benjamite, as their deliverer. So they sent him with tribute to Eglon king of Moab.

⁵ And she would sit under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, where the Israelites would go up to her for judgment.

¹⁴ The LORD turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Am I not sending you?”

¹¹ So the LORD sent Jerubbaal, Barak, Jephthah, and Samuel, and He delivered you from the hands of your enemies on every side, and you dwelt securely.

²⁷ So You delivered them into the hands of enemies who oppressed them, and in their time of distress they cried out to You. From heaven You heard them, and in Your great compassion You gave them deliverers who saved them from the hands of their enemies.

⁴³ Many times He rescued them, but they were bent on rebellion and sank down in their iniquity. ⁴⁴ Nevertheless He heard their cry; He took note of their distress. ⁴⁵ And He remembered His covenant with them, and relented by the abundance of His loving devotion.

²⁰ All this took about 450 years. After this, God gave them judges until the time of Samuel the prophet.

⁸ How quickly they have turned aside from the way that I commanded them! They have made for themselves a molten calf and have bowed down to it. They have sacrificed to it and said, ‘These, O Israel, are your gods, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.’”

⁷ They must no longer offer their sacrifices to the goat demons to which they have prostituted themselves. This will be a permanent statute for them for the generations to come.’

¹² And the LORD said to me, “Get up and go down from here at once, for your people, whom you brought out of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. How quickly they have turned aside from the way that I commanded them! They have made for themselves a molten image.”

¹⁶ And I saw how you had sinned against the LORD your God; you had made for yourselves a molten calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way that the LORD had commanded you.

²⁴ So the people said to Joshua, “We will serve the LORD our God and obey His voice.”

⁷ And the people served the LORD throughout the days of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him, who had seen all the great works that the LORD had done for Israel.

⁵ “Look,” they said, “you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint a king to judge us like all the other nations.” ⁶ But when they said, “Give us a king to judge us,” their demand was displeasing in the sight of Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD. ⁷ And the LORD said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you. For it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected Me as their king. ⁸ Just as they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking Me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you.

¹² But when you saw that Nahash king of the Ammonites was moving against you, you said to me, ‘No, we must have a king to rule over us’—even though the LORD your God was your king.

¹⁷ Is it not the wheat harvest today? I will call on the LORD to send thunder and rain, so that you will know and see what a great evil you have committed in the sight of the LORD by asking for a king.”

¹⁹ They pleaded with Samuel, “Pray to the LORD your God for your servants so that we will not die! For we have added to all our sins the evil of asking for a king.”

¹⁵ Again and again the LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to His people through His messengers because He had compassion on them and on His dwelling place. ¹⁶ But they mocked the messengers of God, despising His words and scoffing at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD against His people was stirred up beyond remedy.

²⁷ Those far from You will surely perish; You destroy all who are unfaithful to You.

³⁹ They defiled themselves by their actions and prostituted themselves by their deeds.

⁴³ Many times He rescued them, but they were bent on rebellion and sank down in their iniquity.

² Rebuke your mother, rebuke her, for she is not My wife, and I am not her husband. Let her remove the adultery from her face and the unfaithfulness from between her breasts.

⁶ I am amazed how quickly you are deserting the One who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—

¹ Then one of the seven angels with the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits on many waters. ² The kings of the earth were immoral with her, and those who dwell on the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her immorality.” ³ And the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, where I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. ⁴ The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls. She held in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. ⁵ And on her forehead a mysterious name was written: BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

⁶ And the LORD regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.

²⁴ So God heard their groaning, and He remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

¹² “I will surely be with you,” God said, “and this will be the sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, all of you will worship God on this mountain.”

³⁶ For the LORD will vindicate His people and have compassion on His servants when He sees that their strength is gone and no one remains, slave or free.

⁵ No one shall stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so will I be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.

¹⁶ So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the LORD, and He could no longer bear the misery of Israel.

⁴ Then Jehoahaz sought the favor of the LORD, and the LORD listened to him because He saw the oppression that the king of Aram had inflicted on Israel.

²² And Hazael king of Aram oppressed Israel throughout the reign of Jehoahaz. ²³ But the LORD was gracious to Israel and had compassion on them, and He turned toward them because of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And to this day, the LORD has been unwilling to destroy them or cast them from His presence.

⁵ “For the cause of the oppressed and for the groaning of the needy, I will now arise,” says the LORD. “I will bring safety to him who yearns.”

¹³ Return, O LORD! How long will it be? Have compassion on Your servants.

⁷ At any time I might announce that a nation or kingdom will be uprooted, torn down, and destroyed. ⁸ But if that nation I warned turns from its evil, then I will relent of the disaster I had planned to bring. ⁹ And if at another time I announce that I will build up and establish a nation or kingdom, ¹⁰ and if it does evil in My sight and does not listen to My voice, then I will relent of the good I had intended for it.

⁸ How could I give you up, O Ephraim? How could I surrender you, O Israel? How could I make you like Admah? How could I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart is turned within Me; My compassion is stirred!

¹⁰ When God saw their actions—that they had turned from their evil ways—He relented from the disaster He had threatened to bring upon them.

⁹ One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking; do not be silent. ¹⁰ For I am with you and no one will lay a hand on you, because I have many people in this city.”

¹¹ So the land had rest for forty years, until Othniel son of Kenaz died. ¹² Once again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD. So He gave Eglon king of Moab power over Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the LORD.

²³ For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance is like the wickedness of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He has rejected you as king.”

¹⁷ After the death of Jehoiada, however, the officials of Judah came and paid homage to the king, and he listened to them. ¹⁸ They abandoned the house of the LORD, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherah poles and idols. So wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this guilt of theirs.

⁸ Then they will not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, whose heart was not loyal, whose spirit was not faithful to God.

¹⁷ At that time Jerusalem will be called The Throne of the LORD, and all the nations will be gathered in Jerusalem to honor the name of the LORD. They will no longer follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts.

¹² And you have done more evil than your fathers. See how each of you follows the stubbornness of his evil heart instead of obeying Me.

¹⁷ They keep saying to those who despise Me, ‘The LORD says that you will have peace,’ and to everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart, ‘No harm will come to you.’

³² Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your fathers.

³ When Moses came and told the people all the words and ordinances of the LORD, they all responded with one voice: “All the words that the LORD has spoken, we will do.” ⁴ And Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD. Early the next morning he got up and built an altar at the base of the mountain, along with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel. ⁵ Then he sent out some young men of Israel, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as peace offerings to the LORD. ⁶ Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he sprinkled on the altar. ⁷ Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people, who replied, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.” ⁸ So Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

¹⁰ Now leave Me alone, so that My anger may burn against them and consume them. Then I will make you into a great nation.” ¹¹ But Moses sought the favor of the LORD his God, saying, “O LORD, why does Your anger burn against Your people, whom You brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand?

¹⁰ All of you are standing today before the LORD your God—you leaders of tribes, elders, officials, and all the men of Israel, ¹¹ your children and wives, and the foreigners in your camps who cut your wood and draw your water— ¹² so that you may enter into the covenant of the LORD your God, which He is making with you today, and into His oath, ¹³ and so that He may establish you today as His people, and He may be your God as He promised you and as He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

²² For a fire has been kindled by My anger, and it burns to the depths of Sheol; it consumes the earth and its produce, and scorches the foundations of the mountains.

¹⁶ If you transgress the covenant of the LORD your God, which He commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, then the anger of the LORD will burn against you, and you will quickly perish from this good land He has given you.”

²¹ “No!” replied the people. “We will serve the LORD!” ²² Then Joshua told them, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the LORD.” “We are witnesses!” they said. ²³ “Now, therefore,” he said, “get rid of the foreign gods among you and incline your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel.” ²⁴ So the people said to Joshua, “We will serve the LORD our God and obey His voice.” ²⁵ On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people, and there at Shechem he established for them a statute and ordinance.

¹⁴ Then the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He delivered them into the hands of those who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist.

⁸ Then the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He sold them into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim king of Aram-naharaim, and the Israelites served him eight years.

³² It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant they broke, though I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD.

³⁷ I will make you pass under the rod and will bring you into the bond of the covenant.

³ So now I tell you that I will not drive out these people before you; they will be thorns in your sides, and their gods will be a snare to you.”

³ the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived in the mountains of Lebanon from Mount Baal-hermon to Lebo-hamath.

²⁴ For they did not practice My ordinances, but they rejected My statutes and profaned My Sabbaths, fixing their eyes on the idols of their fathers.

¹ Some time later God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he answered.

² Remember that these forty years the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness, so that He might humble you and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commandments.

¹⁶ He fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers had not known, in order to humble you and test you, so that in the end He might cause you to prosper.

³ you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. For the LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love Him with all your heart and with all your soul.

¹ These are the nations that the LORD left to test all the Israelites who had not known any of the wars in Canaan, ² if only to teach warfare to the subsequent generations of Israel, especially to those who had not known it formerly: ³ the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived in the mountains of Lebanon from Mount Baal-hermon to Lebo-hamath. ⁴ These nations were left to test the Israelites, to find out whether they would keep the commandments of the LORD, which He had given their fathers through Moses.

³¹ And so when ambassadors of the rulers of Babylon were sent to him to inquire about the wonder that had happened in the land, God left him alone to test him, that He might know all that was in Hezekiah’s heart.

¹⁰ Yet He knows the way I have taken; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold.

¹⁰ For You, O God, have tested us; You have refined us like silver.

³ A crucible for silver and a furnace for gold, but the LORD is the tester of hearts.

² But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He will be like a refiner’s fire, like a launderer’s soap. ³ And He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver. Then they will present offerings to the LORD in righteousness.