²⁵ “When you have had children and children’s children and become complacent in the land, if you act corruptly by making an idol in the form of anything, thus doing what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God and provoking him to anger,^(A)

¹⁶ so that you do not act corruptly by making an idol for yourselves in the form of any figure: the likeness of male or female,^(A)

²² Or are we provoking the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?^(A)

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

The Fall of Jerusalem

¹⁵ The Lord, the God of their ancestors, sent persistently to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place,^{(C) 16} but they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words, and scoffing at his prophets until the wrath of the Lord against his people became so great that there was no remedy.^(D)

¹⁴ I will cast off the remnant of my heritage and give them into the hand of their enemies; 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 ancestors came out of Egypt even to this day.”

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

² He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, following the abominable practices of the nations that the Lord drove out before the people of Israel.^(A)

¹⁷ They made their sons and their daughters pass through fire, used divination and augury, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger.^{(A) 18} Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them out of his sight; none was left but the tribe of Judah alone.^(B)

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

⁸ Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of one hundred ten years. ⁹ So they buried him within the bounds of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. ¹⁰ Moreover, that whole generation was gathered to their ancestors, and another generation grew up after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.^(A)

Israel’s Unfaithfulness

¹¹ Then the Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals,^{(B) 12} and they abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt; they followed other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were all around them and bowed down to them, and they provoked the Lord to anger.^{(C) 13} They abandoned the Lord and served Baal and the Astartes.^{(D) 14} So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers who plundered them, and he sold them into the power of their enemies all around, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies.^{(E) 15} Whenever they marched out, the hand of the Lord was against them to bring misfortune, as the Lord had warned them and sworn to them, and they were in great distress.