The Lord says, ¹  “I saw the prophets of Samaria ²  doing something that was disgusting. ³  They prophesied in the name of the god Baal and led my people Israel astray. ⁴ 

And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, ¹  he will rejoice more over it than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray.

You know that when you were pagans you were often led astray by speechless idols, however you were led.

“Therefore, I became provoked at that generation and said, ‘Their hearts are always wandering ¹  and they have not known my ways.’

For you were going astray like sheep ¹  but now you have turned back to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.

All of us had wandered off like sheep; each of us had strayed off on his own path, but the Lord caused the sin of all of us to attack him. ¹ 

“If you encounter ¹  your enemy’s ox or donkey wandering off, you must by all means return ²  it to him.

For forty years I was continually disgusted ¹  with that generation, and I said, ‘These people desire to go astray; ²  they do not obey my commands.’ ³ 

The one who leads the upright astray in an evil way will himself fall into his own pit, ¹  but the blameless will inherit what is good. ² 

The leaders of this nation were misleading people, and the people being led were destroyed. ¹ 

The officials of Zoan are fools, the officials of Memphis ¹  are misled; the rulers ²  of her tribes lead Egypt astray.

so that the house of Israel will no longer go astray from me, nor continue to defile themselves by all their sins. They will be my people and I will be their God, ¹  declares the sovereign Lord.’”

But I am afraid that ¹  just as the serpent ²  deceived Eve by his treachery, ³  your minds may be led astray ⁴  from a sincere and pure ⁵  devotion to Christ.

Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ ¹  and they will mislead many.

Then the Pharisees answered, ¹  “You haven’t been deceived too, have you? ² 

But evil people and charlatans will go from bad to worse, ¹  deceiving others and being deceived themselves. ² 

These things I have written to you about those who are trying to deceive you. ¹ 

They consult their wooden idols, and their diviner’s staff answers with an oracle. The wind of prostitution blows them astray; they commit spiritual adultery ¹  against their God.

“‘But the Levitical priests, the descendants of Zadok ¹  who kept the charge of my sanctuary when the people of Israel went astray from me, will approach me to minister to me; they will stand before me to offer me the fat and the blood, declares the sovereign Lord.

This is what the Lord says: “Because Judah has committed three covenant transgressions ¹  – make that four! ²  – I will not revoke my decree of judgment. ³  They rejected the Lord’s law; ⁴  they did not obey his commands. Their false gods, ⁵  to which their fathers were loyal, ⁶  led them astray.