Israel Descends into Apostasy

⁶ Later on, the Israelis again practiced what the Lord considered to be evil by serving the Baals, the stars, the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the descendants of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines. In doing so, they ignored^[a] the Lord and wouldn’t serve him. ⁷ In his burning anger against Israel, he sold them into domination by the Philistines and the Ammonites, ⁸ who trampled and troubled the Israelis during that year—eighteen years for the Israelis who lived east of the Jordan River in Gilead, the land occupied by^[b] the Amorites. ⁹ The Ammonites crossed the Jordan River to fight against the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and the house of Ephraim. As a result, Israel was deeply distressed.