³¹ Do not worship the Lord your God in the way they worship their gods, for in the worship of their gods they do all the disgusting things that the Lord hates. They even sacrifice their children in the fires on their altars.

⁹ During all this time devout people from this righteous nation were secretly offering sacrifices, giving their word to each other that they would keep God's law and share each other's blessings and dangers. Already they were chanting those ancient hymns of praise. ¹⁰ But their enemies' pitiful cries of grief echoed everywhere, as they mourned for their dead children. ¹¹ Masters suffered the same punishment as their slaves; the king endured the same loss as the common people. ¹² There were too many dead bodies to count. There were not enough people left to bury them all. In a single moment their dearest children died; all of them met death in the same way. ¹³ These people had paid no attention to any warning, but relied instead on their magical powers. But when their first-born sons were killed, then they recognized that Israel was God's son.