Israel’s Rebellion and Repentance

⁶ Then the Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.^(A) They worshiped the Baals and the Ashtoreths, the gods of Aram, Sidon, and Moab, and the gods of the Ammonites and the Philistines.^(B) They abandoned the Lord and did not worship him.^(C)

³ Samuel told them, “If you^(A) are returning to the Lord^(B) with all your heart,^(C) get rid of the foreign gods^(D) and the Ashtoreths that are among you, set your hearts on the Lord, and worship only him.^(E) Then he will rescue you from the Philistines.” ⁴ So the Israelites removed the Baals and the Ashtoreths^(F) and only worshiped the Lord.

¹⁰ Then they cried out to the Lord and said, ‘We have sinned, for we abandoned the Lord and worshiped the Baals and the Ashtoreths. Now rescue us from the power of our enemies,^(A) and we will serve you.’

⁵ Solomon followed Ashtoreth,^(A) the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom,^(B) the abhorrent idol of the Ammonites.^(C)

³³ For they have abandoned me; they have bowed down to Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, to Chemosh, the god of Moab, and to Milcom, the god of the Ammonites.^(A) They have not walked in my ways to do what is right in my sight and to carry out my statutes and my judgments as his father David did.^(B)

¹³ The king also defiled the high places that were across from Jerusalem, to the south of the Mount of Destruction, which King Solomon of Israel had built for Ashtoreth, the abhorrent idol of the Sidonians; for Chemosh, the abhorrent idol of Moab; and for Milcom, the detestable idol of the Ammonites.^(A)