You must serve ¹  the Lord your God, and he ²  will bless your bread and your water, ³  and I will remove sickness from your midst.

Make sure you do not turn away to serve and worship other gods! ¹ 

However, if you ¹  turn aside and do not obey, but are lured away to worship and serve other gods,

There you will worship gods made by human hands – wood and stone that can neither see, hear, eat, nor smell.

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 

However, fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. Just look at the great things he has done for you!

If he is able to fight with me and strike me down, we will become your servants. But if I prevail against him and strike him down, you will become our servants and will serve us.”

“But if you people ¹  ever turn away from me, fail to obey the regulations and rules I instructed you to keep, ²  and decide to serve and worship other gods, ³ 

But you and your sons with you are responsible for your priestly duties, for everything at the altar and within the curtain. And you must serve. I give you the priesthood as a gift for service; but the unauthorized person who approaches must be put to death.”

When you look up ¹  to the sky ²  and see the sun, moon, and stars – the whole heavenly creation ³  – you must not be seduced to worship and serve them, ⁴  for the Lord your God has assigned ⁵  them to all the people ⁶  of the world. ⁷ 

Now if you forget the Lord your God at all ¹  and follow other gods, worshiping and prostrating yourselves before them, I testify to you today that you will surely be annihilated.

If you violate the covenantal laws of the Lord your God which he commanded you to keep, ¹  and follow, worship, and bow down to other gods, ²  the Lord will be very angry with you and you will disappear ³  quickly from the good land which he gave to you.”

If you fear the Lord, serving him and obeying him ¹  and not rebelling against what he says, ²  and if both you and the king who rules over you follow the Lord your God, all will be well. ³ 

Then Samuel said to the people, “Don’t be afraid. You have indeed sinned. ¹  However, don’t turn aside from the Lord. Serve the Lord with all your heart.

“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 

They said to him, “Today if you show a willingness to help these people and grant their request, they will be your servants from this time forward.” ¹ 

So I will throw you out of this land into a land that neither you nor your ancestors have ever known. There you must worship other gods day and night, for I will show you no mercy.’”