¹⁸ Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns^(A) away from the Lord our God to go and worship the gods of those nations; make sure there is no root among you that produces such bitter poison.^(B)

¹⁹ When such a person hears the words of this oath and they invoke a blessing^(C) on themselves, thinking, “I will be safe, even though I persist in going my own way,”^(D) they will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry. ²⁰ The Lord will never be willing to forgive^(E) them; his wrath and zeal^(F) will burn^(G) against them. All the curses written in this book will fall on them, and the Lord will blot^(H) out their names from under heaven.

⁷ When the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, this word of the Lord came to Shemaiah: “Since they have humbled themselves, I will not destroy them but will soon give them deliverance.^(A) My wrath^(B) will not be poured out on Jerusalem through Shishak.