2 Kings 13-17

New King James Version

Jehoahaz Reigns in Israel

13 In the twenty-third year of ^(A)Joash^[a] the son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, ^(B)Jehoahaz the son of Jehu became king over Israel in Samaria, and reigned seventeen years. ² And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, and followed the ^(C)sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had made Israel sin. He did not ^[b]depart from them.

³ Then ^(D)the anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel, and He delivered them into the hand of ^(E)Hazael king of Syria, and into the hand of ^(F)Ben-Hadad the son of Hazael, all their days. ⁴ So Jehoahaz ^(G)pleaded with the Lord, and the Lord listened to him; for ^(H)He saw the oppression of Israel, because the king of Syria oppressed them. ^5 (I)Then the Lord gave Israel a deliverer, so that they escaped from under the hand of the Syrians; and the children of Israel dwelt in their tents as before. ⁶ Nevertheless they did not depart from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, who had made Israel sin, but walked in them; ^(J)and the ^[c]wooden image also remained in Samaria. ⁷ For He left of the army of Jehoahaz only fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and ten thousand foot soldiers; for the king of Syria had destroyed them ^(K)and made them ^(L)like the dust at threshing.

⁸ Now the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz, all that he did, and his might, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? ⁹ So Jehoahaz ^[d]rested with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria. Then ^[e]Joash his son reigned in his place.

Jehoash Reigns in Israel

¹⁰ In the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah, ^[f]Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz became king over Israel in Samaria, and reigned sixteen years. ¹¹ And he did evil in the sight of the Lord. He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, but walked in them.

^12 (M)Now the rest of the acts of Joash, ^(N)all that he did, and ^(O)his might with which he fought against Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? ¹³ So Joash ^(P)rested^[g] with his fathers. Then Jeroboam sat on his throne. And Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.

Death of Elisha

¹⁴ Elisha had become sick with the illness of which he would die. Then Joash the king of Israel came down to him, and wept over his face, and said, “O my father, my father, ^(Q)the chariots of Israel and their horsemen!”

¹⁵ And Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and some arrows.” So he took himself a bow and some arrows. ¹⁶ Then he said to the king of Israel, “Put your hand on the bow.” So he put his hand on it, and Elisha put his hands on the king’s hands. ¹⁷ And he said, “Open the east window”; and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot”; and he shot. And he said, “The arrow of the Lord’s deliverance and the arrow of deliverance from Syria; for you must strike the Syrians at ^(R)Aphek till you have destroyed them.” ¹⁸ Then he said, “Take the arrows”; so he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground”; so he struck three times, and stopped. ¹⁹ And the man of God was angry with him, and said, “You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck Syria till you had destroyed it! ^(S)But now you will strike Syria only three times.”

²⁰ Then Elisha ^[h]died, and they buried him. And the ^(T)raiding bands from Moab invaded the land in the spring of the year. ²¹ So it was, as they were burying a man, that suddenly they spied a band of raiders; and they put the man in the tomb of Elisha; and when the man was let down and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood on his feet.

Israel Recaptures Cities from Syria

²² And ^(U)Hazael king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz. ²³ But the Lord was ^(V)gracious to them, had compassion on them, and ^(W)regarded them, ^(X)because of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not yet destroy them or cast them from His presence.

²⁴ Now Hazael king of Syria died. Then Ben-Hadad his son reigned in his place. ²⁵ And ^[i]Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz recaptured from the hand of Ben-Hadad, the son of Hazael, the cities which he had taken out of the hand of Jehoahaz his father by war. ^(Y)Three times Joash defeated him and recaptured the cities of Israel.

Amaziah Reigns in Judah^(Z)

14 In ^(AA)the second year of Joash the son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel, ^(AB)Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, became king. ² He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem. ³ And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, yet not like his father David; he did everything ^(AC)as his father Joash had done. ^4 (AD)However the ^[j]high places were not taken away, and the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.

⁵ Now it happened, as soon as the kingdom was established in his hand, that he executed his servants ^(AE)who had murdered his father the king. ⁶ But the children of the murderers he did not execute, according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, in which the Lord commanded, saying, ^(AF)“Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their fathers; but a person shall be put to death for his own sin.”

^7 (AG)He killed ten thousand Edomites in ^(AH)the Valley of Salt, and took ^[k]Sela by war, ^(AI)and called its name Joktheel to this day.

^8 (AJ)Then Amaziah sent messengers to ^[l]Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, “Come, let us face one another in battle.” ⁹ And Jehoash king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, ^(AK)“The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the ^(AL)cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son as wife’; and a wild beast that was in Lebanon passed by and trampled the thistle. ¹⁰ You have indeed defeated Edom, and ^(AM)your heart has ^[m]lifted you up. Glory in that, and stay at home; for why should you meddle with trouble so that you fall—you and Judah with you?”

¹¹ But Amaziah would not heed. Therefore Jehoash king of Israel went out; so he and Amaziah king of Judah faced one another at ^(AN)Beth Shemesh, which belongs to Judah. ¹² And Judah was defeated by Israel, and every man fled to his tent. ¹³ Then Jehoash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Jehoash, the son of Ahaziah, at Beth Shemesh; and he went to Jerusalem, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from ^(AO)the Gate of Ephraim to ^(AP)the Corner Gate—^[n]four hundred cubits. ¹⁴ And he took all ^(AQ)the gold and silver, all the articles that were found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king’s house, and hostages, and returned to Samaria.

^15 (AR)Now the rest of the acts of Jehoash which he did—his might, and how he fought with Amaziah king of Judah—are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? ¹⁶ So Jehoash ^[o]rested with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel. Then Jeroboam his son reigned in his place.

^17 (AS)Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, lived fifteen years after the death of Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel. ¹⁸ Now the rest of the acts of Amaziah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? ¹⁹ And ^(AT)they formed a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to ^(AU)Lachish; but they sent after him to Lachish and killed him there. ²⁰ Then they brought him on horses, and he was buried at Jerusalem with his fathers in the City of David.

²¹ And all the people of Judah took ^(AV)Azariah,^[p] who was sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amaziah. ²² He built ^(AW)Elath^[q] and restored it to Judah, after ^[r]the king rested with his fathers.

Jeroboam II Reigns in Israel

²³ In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, became king in Samaria, and reigned forty-one years. ²⁴ And he did evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart from all the ^(AX)sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had made Israel sin. ²⁵ He ^(AY)restored the ^[s]territory of Israel ^(AZ)from the entrance of Hamath to ^(BA)the^[t] Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the Lord God of Israel, which He had spoken through His servant ^(BB)Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet who was from ^(BC)Gath Hepher. ²⁶ For the Lord ^(BD)saw that the affliction of Israel was very bitter; and whether bond or free, ^(BE)there was no helper for Israel. ^27 (BF)And the Lord did not say that He would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven; but He saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash.

²⁸ Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, and all that he did—his might, how he made war, and how he recaptured for Israel, from ^(BG)Damascus and Hamath, ^(BH)what had belonged to Judah—are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? ²⁹ So Jeroboam ^[u]rested with his fathers, the kings of Israel. Then ^(BI)Zechariah his son reigned in his place.

Azariah Reigns in Judah^(BJ)

15 In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel, ^(BK)Azariah the son of Amaziah, king of Judah, ^(BL)became king. ² He was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecholiah of Jerusalem. ³ And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah had done, ^4 (BM)except that the ^[v]high places were not removed; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. ⁵ Then the Lord ^(BN)struck the king, so that he was a leper until the day of his ^(BO)death; so he ^(BP)dwelt in an isolated house. And Jotham the king’s son was over the royal house, judging the people of the land.

⁶ Now the rest of the acts of Azariah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? ⁷ So Azariah ^[w]rested with his fathers, and ^(BQ)they buried him with his fathers in the City of David. Then Jotham his son reigned in his place.

Zechariah Reigns in Israel

⁸ In the thirty-eighth year of Azariah king of Judah, ^(BR)Zechariah the son of Jeroboam reigned over Israel in Samaria six months. ⁹ And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, ^(BS)as his fathers had done; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had made Israel sin. ¹⁰ Then Shallum the son of Jabesh conspired against him, and ^(BT)struck and killed him in front of the people; and he reigned in his place.

¹¹ Now the rest of the acts of Zechariah, indeed they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

¹² This was the word of the Lord which He spoke to Jehu, saying, ^(BU)“Your sons shall sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.” And so it was.

Shallum Reigns in Israel

¹³ Shallum the son of Jabesh became king in the thirty-ninth year of ^[x]Uzziah king of Judah; and he reigned a full month in Samaria. ¹⁴ For Menahem the son of Gadi went up from ^(BV)Tirzah, came to Samaria, and struck Shallum the son of Jabesh in Samaria and killed him; and he reigned in his place.

¹⁵ Now the rest of the acts of Shallum, and the conspiracy which he ^[y]led, indeed they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. ¹⁶ Then from Tirzah, Menahem attacked ^(BW)Tiphsah, all who were there, and its territory. Because they did not surrender, therefore he attacked it. All ^(BX)the women there who were with child he ripped open.

Menahem Reigns in Israel

¹⁷ In the thirty-ninth year of Azariah king of Judah, Menahem the son of Gadi became king over Israel, and reigned ten years in Samaria. ¹⁸ And he did evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart all his days from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had made Israel sin. ^19 (BY)Pul^[z] king of Assyria came against the land; and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver, that his ^[aa]hand might be with him to ^(BZ)strengthen the kingdom under his control. ²⁰ And Menahem ^(CA)exacted^[ab] the money from Israel, from all the very wealthy, from each man fifty shekels of silver, to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria turned back, and did not stay there in the land.

²¹ Now the rest of the acts of Menahem, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? ²² So Menahem ^[ac]rested with his fathers. Then Pekahiah his son reigned in his place.

Pekahiah Reigns in Israel

²³ In the fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekahiah the son of Menahem became king over Israel in Samaria, and reigned two years. ²⁴ And he did evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had made Israel sin. ²⁵ Then Pekah the son of Remaliah, an officer of his, conspired against him and ^[ad]killed him in Samaria, in the ^(CB)citadel of the king’s house, along with Argob and Arieh; and with him were fifty men of Gilead. He killed him and reigned in his place.

²⁶ Now the rest of the acts of Pekahiah, and all that he did, indeed they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

Pekah Reigns in Israel

²⁷ In the fifty-second year of Azariah king of Judah, ^(CC)Pekah the son of Remaliah became king over Israel in Samaria, and reigned twenty years. ²⁸ And he did evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had made Israel sin. ²⁹ In the days of Pekah king of Israel, ^[ae]Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria ^(CD)came and took ^(CE)Ijon, Abel Beth Maachah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali; and he ^(CF)carried them captive to Assyria. ³⁰ Then Hoshea the son of Elah led a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, and struck and killed him; so he ^(CG)reigned in his place in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah.

³¹ Now the rest of the acts of Pekah, and all that he did, indeed they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

Jotham Reigns in Judah^(CH)

³² In the second year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, ^(CI)Jotham the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, began to reign. ³³ He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was ^[af]Jerusha the daughter of Zadok. ³⁴ And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord; he did ^(CJ)according to all that his father Uzziah had done. ^35 (CK)However the ^[ag]high places were not removed; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. ^(CL)He built the Upper Gate of the house of the Lord.

³⁶ Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? ³⁷ In those days the Lord began to send ^(CM)Rezin king of Syria and ^(CN)Pekah the son of Remaliah against Judah. ³⁸ So Jotham ^[ah]rested with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the City of David his father. Then Ahaz his son reigned in his place.

Ahaz Reigns in Judah^(CO)

16 In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, Ahaz the son of Jotham, king of Judah, began to reign. ² Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; and he did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord his God, as his father David had done. ³ But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel; indeed ^(CP)he made his son pass through the fire, according to the ^(CQ)abominations of the nations whom the Lord had cast out from before the children of Israel. ⁴ And he sacrificed and burned incense on the ^(CR)high places, ^(CS)on the hills, and under every green tree.

^5 (CT)Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to make war; and they besieged Ahaz but could not overcome him. ⁶ At that time Rezin king of Syria ^(CU)captured ^[ai]Elath for Syria, and drove the men of Judah from Elath. Then the ^[aj]Edomites went to Elath, and dwell there to this day.

⁷ So Ahaz sent messengers to ^(CV)Tiglath-Pileser^[ak] king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and save me from the hand of the king of Syria and from the hand of the king of Israel, who rise up against me.” ⁸ And Ahaz ^(CW)took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasuries of the king’s house, and sent it as a present to the king of Assyria. ⁹ So the king of Assyria heeded him; for the king of Assyria went up against ^(CX)Damascus and ^(CY)took it, carried its people captive to ^(CZ)Kir, and killed Rezin.

¹⁰ Now King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, and saw an altar that was at Damascus; and King Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest the design of the altar and its pattern, according to all its workmanship. ¹¹ Then ^(DA)Urijah the priest built an altar according to all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus. So Urijah the priest made it before King Ahaz came back from Damascus. ¹² And when the king came back from Damascus, the king saw the altar; and ^(DB)the king approached the altar and made offerings on it. ¹³ So he burned his burnt offering and his grain offering; and he poured his drink offering and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings on the altar. ¹⁴ He also brought ^(DC)the bronze altar which was before the Lord, from the front of the ^[al]temple—from between the new altar and the house of the Lord—and put it on the north side of the new altar. ¹⁵ Then King Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest, saying, “On the great new altar burn ^(DD)the morning burnt offering, the evening grain offering, the king’s burnt sacrifice, and his grain offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, their grain offering, and their drink offerings; and sprinkle on it all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifice. And the bronze altar shall be for me to inquire by.” ¹⁶ Thus did Urijah the priest, according to all that King Ahaz commanded.

^17 (DE)And King Ahaz cut off ^(DF)the panels of the carts, and removed the lavers from them; and he took down ^(DG)the Sea from the bronze oxen that were under it, and put it on a pavement of stones. ¹⁸ Also he removed the Sabbath pavilion which they had built in the temple, and he removed the king’s outer entrance from the house of the Lord, on account of the king of Assyria.

¹⁹ Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? ²⁰ So Ahaz rested with his fathers, and ^(DH)was buried with his fathers in the City of David. Then Hezekiah his son reigned in his place.

Hoshea Reigns in Israel

17 In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, ^(DI)Hoshea the son of Elah became king of Israel in Samaria, and he reigned nine years. ² And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, but not as the kings of Israel who were before him. ^3 (DJ)Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against him; and Hoshea ^(DK)became his vassal, and paid him tribute money. ⁴ And the king of Assyria uncovered a conspiracy by Hoshea; for he had sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, and brought no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year. Therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison.

Israel Carried Captive to Assyria^(DL)

⁵ Now ^(DM)the king of Assyria went throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria and besieged it for three years. ^6 (DN)In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria took Samaria and ^(DO)carried Israel away to Assyria, ^(DP)and placed them in Halah and by the Habor, the River of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

⁷ For ^(DQ)so it was that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and they had ^(DR)feared other gods, ⁸ and ^(DS)had walked in the statutes of the nations whom the Lord had cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made. ⁹ Also the children of Israel secretly did against the Lord their God things that were not right, and they built for themselves ^[am]high places in all their cities, ^(DT)from watchtower to fortified city. ^10 (DU)They set up for themselves sacred pillars and ^(DV)wooden images^{[an] (DW)}on every high hill and under every green tree. ¹¹ There they burned incense on all the high places, like the nations whom the Lord had carried away before them; and they did wicked things to provoke the Lord to anger, ¹² for they served idols, ^(DX)of which the Lord had said to them, ^(DY)“You shall not do this thing.”

¹³ Yet the Lord testified against Israel and against Judah, by all of His ^(DZ)prophets, ^(EA)every seer, saying, ^(EB)“Turn from your evil ways, and keep My commandments and My statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by My servants the prophets.” ¹⁴ Nevertheless they would not hear, but ^(EC)stiffened their necks, like the necks of their fathers, who ^(ED)did not believe in the Lord their God. ¹⁵ And they ^(EE)rejected His statutes ^(EF)and His covenant that He had made with their fathers, and His testimonies which He had testified against them; they followed ^(EG)idols, ^(EH)became idolaters, and went after the nations who were all around them, concerning whom the Lord had charged them that they should ^(EI)not do like them. ¹⁶ So they left all the commandments of the Lord their God, ^(EJ)made for themselves a molded image and two calves, ^(EK)made a wooden image and worshiped all the ^(EL)host of heaven, ^(EM)and served Baal. ^17 (EN)And they caused their sons and daughters to pass through the fire, ^(EO)practiced witchcraft and soothsaying, and ^(EP)sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger. ¹⁸ Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them from His sight; there was none left ^(EQ)but the tribe of Judah alone.

¹⁹ Also ^(ER)Judah did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made. ²⁰ And the Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel, afflicted them, and ^(ES)delivered them into the hand of plunderers, until He had cast them from His ^(ET)sight. ²¹ For ^(EU)He tore Israel from the house of David, and ^(EV)they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. Then Jeroboam drove Israel from following the Lord, and made them commit a great sin. ²² For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they did not depart from them, ²³ until the Lord removed Israel out of His sight, ^(EW)as He had said by all His servants the prophets. ^(EX)So Israel was carried away from their own land to Assyria, as it is to this day.

Assyria Resettles Samaria

^24 (EY)Then the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, ^(EZ)Ava, Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel; and they took possession of Samaria and dwelt in its cities. ²⁵ And it was so, at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they did not fear the Lord; therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which killed some of them. ²⁶ So they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, “The nations whom you have removed and placed in the cities of Samaria do not know the rituals of the God of the land; therefore He has sent lions among them, and indeed, they are killing them because they do not know the rituals of the God of the land.” ²⁷ Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, “Send there one of the priests whom you brought from there; let him go and dwell there, and let him teach them the rituals of the God of the land.” ²⁸ Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the Lord.

²⁹ However every nation continued to make gods of its own, and put them ^(FA)in the shrines on the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in the cities where they dwelt. ³⁰ The men of ^(FB)Babylon made Succoth Benoth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima, ^31 (FC)and the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites ^(FD)burned their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim. ³² So they feared the Lord, ^(FE)and from every class they appointed for themselves priests of the ^[ao]high places, who sacrificed for them in the shrines of the high places. ^33 (FF)They feared the Lord, yet served their own gods—according to the rituals of the nations from among whom they were carried away.

³⁴ To this day they continue practicing the former rituals; they do not fear the Lord, nor do they follow their statutes or their ordinances, or the law and commandment which the Lord had commanded the children of Jacob, ^(FG)whom He named Israel, ³⁵ with whom the Lord had made a covenant and charged them, saying: ^(FH)“You shall not fear other gods, nor ^(FI)bow down to them nor serve them nor sacrifice to them; ³⁶ but the Lord, who ^(FJ)brought you up from the land of Egypt with great power and ^(FK)an outstretched arm, ^(FL)Him you shall fear, Him you shall worship, and to Him you shall offer sacrifice. ³⁷ And the statutes, the ordinances, the law, and the commandment which He wrote for you, ^(FM)you shall be careful to observe forever; you shall not fear other gods. ³⁸ And the covenant that I have made with you, ^(FN)you shall not forget, nor shall you fear other gods. ³⁹ But the Lord your God you shall fear; and He will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies.” ⁴⁰ However they did not obey, but they followed their former rituals. ^41 (FO)So these nations feared the Lord, yet served their carved images; also their children and their children’s children have continued doing as their fathers did, even to this day.