They angered him with their heathen places of worship, and with their idols they made him furious.

Do not make any treaties with the people of the country, because when they worship their pagan gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you to join them, and you will be tempted to eat the food they offer to their gods.

Your sons might marry those foreign women, who would lead them to be unfaithful to me and to worship their pagan gods.

They stopped worshiping the LORD, the God of their ancestors, the God who had brought them out of Egypt, and they began to worship other gods, the gods of the peoples around them. They bowed down to them and made the LORD angry.

They stopped worshiping the LORD and served the Baals and the Astartes.

But the Israelites paid no attention to their leaders. Israel was unfaithful to the LORD and worshiped other gods. Their fathers had obeyed the LORD's commands, but this new generation soon stopped doing so.

But when the leader died, the people would return to the old ways and behave worse than the previous generation. They would serve and worship other gods, and stubbornly continue their own evil ways.

And so the people of Israel settled down among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

The people of Israel forgot the LORD their God; they sinned against him and worshiped the idols of Baal and Asherah.

Once again the Israelites sinned against the LORD by worshiping the Baals and the Astartes, as well as the gods of Syria, of Sidon, of Moab, of Ammon, and of Philistia. They abandoned the LORD and stopped worshiping him.

followed the customs of the people whom the LORD had driven out as his people advanced, and adopted customs introduced by the kings of Israel.

On all the hills and under every shady tree they put up stone pillars and images of the goddess Asherah,

Following the disgusting practices of the nations whom the LORD had driven out of the land as his people advanced, Manasseh sinned against the LORD.

He built pagan altars in the Temple, the place that the LORD had said was where he should be worshiped forever.

He sacrificed his sons in Hinnom Valley as burnt offerings. He practiced divination and magic and consulted fortunetellers and mediums. He sinned greatly against the LORD and stirred up his anger.

And if the people of Israel will obey all my commands and keep the whole Law that my servant Moses gave them, then I will not allow them to be driven out of the land that I gave to their ancestors."

"But you took advantage of your beauty and fame to sleep with everyone who came along.

You took the silver and gold jewelry that I had given you, used it to make male images, and committed adultery with them.

I gave you food---the best flour, olive oil, and honey---but you offered it as a sacrifice to win the favor of idols." This is what the Sovereign LORD says.

without taking my children and sacrificing them to idols?

The Sovereign LORD said, "You are doomed! Doomed! You did all that evil, and then

You dragged your beauty through the mud. You offered yourself to everyone who came by, and you were more of a prostitute every day.

"Now I have raised my hand to punish you and to take away your share of my blessing. I have handed you over to the Philistines, who hate you and are disgusted with your immoral actions.

You were also a prostitute for the Babylonians, that nation of merchants, but they didn't satisfy you either."

On every street you built places to worship idols and practice prostitution. But you are not out for money like a common prostitute.

A prostitute is paid, but you gave presents to all your lovers and bribed them to come from everywhere to sleep with you.

Now then, Jerusalem, you whore! Hear what the LORD is saying.

Because of this I will bring all your former lovers together---the ones you liked and the ones you hated. I will bring them around you in a circle, and then I will strip off your clothes and let them see you naked.

I will put you in their power, and they will tear down the places where you engage in prostitution and worship idols. They will take away your clothes and jewels and leave you completely naked.

They will burn your houses down and let crowds of women see your punishment. I will make you stop being a prostitute and make you stop giving gifts to your lovers.

You have forgotten how I treated you when you were young, and you have made me angry by all the things you did. That is why I have made you pay for them all. Why did you add sexual immorality to all the other disgusting things you did?" The Sovereign LORD has spoken.

You really are your mother's daughter. She detested her husband and her children. You are like your sisters, who hated their husbands and their children. You and your sister cities had a Hittite mother and an Amorite father.

Were you satisfied to follow in their footsteps and copy their disgusting actions? No, in only a little while you were acting worse than they were in everything you did.

She and her daughters were proud because they had plenty to eat and lived in peace and quiet, but they did not take care of the poor and the underprivileged.

"Samaria did not sin half as much as you have. You have acted more disgustingly than she ever did. Your corruption makes your sisters look innocent by comparison.

The LORD said to Jerusalem, "I will make them prosperous again---Sodom and her villages and Samaria and her villages. Yes, I will make you prosperous too.

They will become prosperous again, and you and your villages will also be restored.

and before the evil you did had been exposed? Now you are just like her---a joke to the Edomites, the Philistines, and your other neighbors who hate you.

The Sovereign LORD says, "I will treat you the way you deserve, because you ignored your promises and broke the covenant.

You will remember how you have acted, and be ashamed of it when you get your older sister and your younger sister back. I will let them be like daughters to you, even though this was not part of my covenant with you.

I will forgive all the wrongs you have done, but you will remember them and be too ashamed to open your mouth." The Sovereign LORD has spoken.

I brought them to the land I had promised to give them. When they saw the high hills and green trees, they offered sacrifices at all of them. They made me angry by the sacrifices they burned and by the wine they brought as offerings.

Now tell the Israelites what I am saying: Why must you commit the same sins your ancestors did and go running after their idols?

You have made up your minds that you want to be like the other nations, like the people who live in other countries and worship trees and rocks. But that will never be.

Do not let those people live in your country; if you do, they will make you sin against me. If you worship their gods, it will be a fatal trap for you."

Destroy every nation that the LORD your God places in your power, and do not show them any mercy. Do not worship their gods, for that would be fatal.

you may be sure that the LORD your God will no longer drive these nations out as you advance. Rather, they will be as dangerous for you as a trap or a pit and as painful as a whip on your back or thorns in your eyes. And this will last until none of you are left in this good land which the LORD your God has given you.

So I tell you now that I will not drive these people out as you advance. They will be your enemies, and you will be trapped by the worship of their gods."

And so the LORD became furious with Israel and let raiders attack and rob them. He let the enemies all around overpower them, and the Israelites could no longer protect themselves.

Every time they would go into battle, the LORD was against them, just as he had said he would be. They were in great distress.