some evil people ¹  have departed from among you to entice the inhabitants of their cities, ²  saying, “Let’s go and serve other gods” (whom you have not known before). ³ 

“But if any prophet presumes to speak anything in my name that I have not authorized ¹  him to speak, or speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet must die.

The Lord will force you and your king ¹  whom you will appoint over you to go away to a people whom you and your ancestors have not known, and you will serve other gods of wood and stone there.

or associate with these nations that remain near ¹  you. You must not invoke or make solemn declarations by the names of their gods! ²  You must not worship ³  or bow down to them!

Joshua told all the people, “Here is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘In the distant past your ancestors ¹  lived beyond the Euphrates River, ²  including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor. They worshiped ³  other gods,

If ¹  you abandon the Lord and worship ²  foreign gods, he will turn against you; ³  he will bring disaster on you and destroy you, ⁴  though he once treated you well.” ⁵ 

At that time I also warned you, ¹  ‘If you disobey, ²  I will not drive out the Canaanites ³  before you. They will ensnare you ⁴  and their gods will lure you away.’” ⁵ 

When a leader died, the next generation ¹  would again ²  act more wickedly than the previous one. ³  They would follow after other gods, worshiping them ⁴  and bowing down to them. They did not give up ⁵  their practices or their stubborn ways.

I said to you, “I am the Lord your God! Do not worship ¹  the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are now living!” But you have disobeyed me.’” ² 

But the olive tree said to them, ‘I am not going to stop producing my oil, which is used to honor gods and men, just to sway above the other trees!’ ¹ 

But the grapevine said to them, ‘I am not going to stop producing my wine, which makes gods and men so happy, just to sway above the other trees!’ ¹ 

God answered Manoah’s prayer. ¹  God’s angelic messenger visited ²  the woman again while she was sitting in the field. But her husband Manoah was not with her.

He said, “You stole my gods that I made, as well as this priest, and then went away. What do I have left? How can you have the audacity to say to me, ‘What do you want?’” ¹ 

The leaders ¹  of all the people from all the tribes of Israel took their places in the assembly of God’s people, which numbered ²  four hundred thousand sword-wielding foot soldiers.

You should make images of the sores and images of the mice ¹  that are destroying the land. You should honor the God of Israel. Perhaps he will release his grip on you, your gods, and your land. ² 

Just as they have done ¹  from the day that I brought them up from Egypt until this very day, they have rejected me and have served other gods. This is what they are also doing to you.

The woman said, “Why have you devised something like this against God’s people? When the king speaks in this fashion, he makes himself guilty, for the king has not brought back the one he has banished.

“But if you or your sons ever turn away from me, fail to obey the regulations and rules I instructed you to keep, ¹  and decide to serve and worship other gods, ² 

Others will then answer, ¹  ‘Because they abandoned the Lord their God, who led their ancestors ²  out of Egypt. They embraced other gods whom they worshiped and served. ³  That is why the Lord has brought all this disaster down on them.’”

They came from nations about which the Lord had warned the Israelites, “You must not establish friendly relations with them! ¹  If you do, they will surely shift your allegiance to their gods.” ²  But Solomon was irresistibly attracted to them. ³