When I brought your fathers out of Egypt, you arrived at the sea. The Egyptians chased your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea.

Now ¹  obey ²  the Lord and worship ³  him with integrity and loyalty. Put aside the gods your ancestors ⁴  worshiped ⁵  beyond the Euphrates ⁶  and in Egypt and worship ⁷  the Lord.

Samuel said to the people, “The Lord is the one who chose Moses and Aaron and who brought your ancestors ¹  up from the land of Egypt.

Now take your positions, so I may confront you ¹  before the Lord regarding all the Lord’s just actions toward you and your ancestors. ² 

and set up in it a place for the ark containing the covenant the Lord made with our ancestors ¹  when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.”

then listen from heaven, forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them back to the land you gave to their ancestors.

May the Lord our God be with us, as he was with our ancestors. May he not abandon us or leave us.

May he make us submissive, ¹  so we can follow all his instructions ²  and obey ³  the commandments, rules, and regulations he commanded our ancestors.

Judah did evil in the sight of ¹  the Lord. They made him more jealous by their sins than their ancestors had done. ² 

He did evil in the sight of ¹  the Lord, as his ancestors had done. He did not repudiate ²  the sinful ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat who encouraged Israel to sin.

because they have done evil in my sight ¹  and have angered me from the time their ancestors left Egypt right up to this very day!’”

But they were unfaithful to the God of their ancestors ¹  and worshiped instead ²  the gods of the native peoples ³  whom God had destroyed before them.

This was the order in which they carried out their assigned responsibilities when they entered the Lord’s temple, according to the regulations given them by their ancestor ¹  Aaron, just as the Lord God of Israel had instructed him. ² 

For we are resident foreigners and nomads in your presence, like all our ancestors; ¹  our days are like a shadow on the earth, without security. ² 

then listen from heaven, forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them back to the land you gave to them and their ancestors. ¹ 

Then they will honor ¹  you by obeying you ²  throughout their lifetimes as ³  they live on the land you gave to our ancestors.

Those among all the Israelite tribes who were determined to worship the Lord God of Israel followed them to Jerusalem ¹  to sacrifice to the Lord God of their ancestors. ² 

That day ¹  the Israelites were defeated; the men of Judah prevailed because they relied on the Lord God of their ancestors.

Jehoshaphat lived in Jerusalem. ¹  He went out among the people from Beer Sheba to the hill country of Ephraim and encouraged them to follow ²  the Lord God of their ancestors. ³ 

Jehoshaphat passed away ¹  and was buried with his ancestors ²  in the City of David. ³  His son Jehoram ⁴  replaced him as king.