¹ The Lord ²  said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and position yourself before Pharaoh as he goes out to the water, and tell him, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Release my people that they may serve me!

¹ The Lord said ²  to Moses, “Get up early in the morning, stand ³  before Pharaoh, and tell him, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews: “Release my people so that they may serve me!

So Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh and told him, “Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews: ‘How long do you refuse ¹  to humble yourself before me? ²  Release my people so that they may serve me!

Pharaoh ¹  summoned Moses and Aaron in the night and said, “Get up, get out ²  from among my people, both you and the Israelites! Go, serve the Lord as you have requested! ³ 

You shall not bow down to them or serve them, ¹  for I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous ²  God, responding to ³  the transgression of fathers by dealing with children to the third and fourth generations ⁴  of those who reject me, ⁵ 

After they have been destroyed from your presence, be careful not to be ensnared like they are; do not pursue their gods and say, “How do these nations serve their gods? I will do the same.”

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 

For after I have brought them ¹  to the land I promised to their ²  ancestors – one flowing with milk and honey – and they ³  eat their fill ⁴  and become fat, then they ⁵  will turn to other gods and worship them; they will reject me and break my covenant.

The Lord made the Jordan a boundary between us and you Reubenites and Gadites. You have no right to worship the Lord.’ ¹  In this way your descendants might cause our descendants to stop obeying ²  the Lord.

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,

They abandoned the Lord God of their ancestors ¹  who brought them out of the land of Egypt. They followed other gods – the gods of the nations who lived around them. They worshiped ²  them and made the Lord angry.

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.

Then they cried out to the Lord and admitted, ¹  ‘We have sinned, for we have forsaken the Lord and have served the Baals and the images of Ashtoreth. ²  Now deliver us from the hand of our enemies so that we may serve you.’ ³ 

The sovereign master ¹  says, “These people say they are loyal to me; ²  they say wonderful things about me, ³  but they are not really loyal to me. ⁴  Their worship consists of nothing but man-made ritual. ⁵ 

This happened because of the wickedness the people living there did. ¹  They made me angry ²  by worshiping and offering sacrifice to ³  other gods whom neither they nor you nor your ancestors ⁴  previously knew. ⁵ 

You must not make gods of silver alongside me, ¹  nor make gods of gold for yourselves. ² 

And the Lord sent a plague on the people because they had made the calf ¹  – the one Aaron made. ² 

The people said to Joshua, “We will worship ¹  the Lord our God and obey him.” ² 

So the Israelites ¹  removed the Baals and images of Ashtoreth. They served only the Lord.

Solomon worshiped ¹  the Sidonian goddess Astarte and the detestable Ammonite god Milcom. ²