²⁵ “When you father children and children's children, and have grown old in the land, ^(A)if you act corruptly by making a carved image in the form of anything, and ^(B)by doing what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, so as to provoke him to anger,

¹⁶ beware ^(A)lest you act corruptly ^(B)by making a carved image for yourselves, in the form of any figure, ^(C)the likeness of male or female,

^22 (A)Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? ^(B)Are we stronger than he?

¹² He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord his God. He did not humble himself before ^(A)Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke from the mouth of the Lord. ^13 (B)He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God. ^(C)He stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the Lord, the God of Israel. ¹⁴ All the officers of the priests and the people likewise were exceedingly unfaithful, following all the abominations of the nations. And they polluted the house of the Lord that he had made holy in Jerusalem.

¹⁵ The Lord, the God of their fathers, ^(D)sent persistently to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place. ^16 (E)But they kept mocking the messengers of God, ^(F)despising his words and scoffing at his prophets, ^(G)until the wrath of the Lord rose against his people, until there was no remedy.

¹⁴ And I will forsake the remnant of my heritage and give them into the hand of their enemies, and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies, ¹⁵ because they have done what is evil in my sight and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came out of Egypt, even to this day.”

^16 (A)Moreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, besides the sin ^(B)that he made Judah to sin so that they did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.

² And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, ^(A)according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel.

^17 (A)And they burned their sons and their daughters as offerings^[a] and used ^(B)divination and ^(C)omens and ^(D)sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. ¹⁸ Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them out of his sight. None was left but ^(E)the tribe of Judah only.

^19 (F)Judah also did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the customs that Israel had introduced.

⁸ And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110 years. ⁹ And they buried him within the boundaries of ^(A)his inheritance in Timnath-heres, ^(B)in the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gaash. ¹⁰ And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.

Israel's Unfaithfulness

^11 (C)And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals. ^12 (D)And they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. ^(E)They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and ^(F)bowed down to them. ^(G)And they provoked the Lord to anger. ¹³ They abandoned the Lord ^(H)and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. ^14 (I)So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he ^(J)gave them over to plunderers, who plundered them. ^(K)And he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies, ^(L)so that they could no longer withstand their enemies. ¹⁵ Whenever they marched out, the hand of the Lord was against them for harm, as the Lord had warned, ^(M)and as the Lord had sworn to them. And they were in terrible distress.