I will punish her for all those times when she burned incense to her images of Baal, when she put on her earrings and jewels and went out to look for her lovers but forgot all about me,” says the Lord.

我必追讨她素日给诸巴力烧香的罪；那时她佩带耳环和别样妆饰，随从她所爱的，却忘记我。这是耶和华说的。”

我要惩罚她素日给诸巴力烧香的罪；那时她佩戴耳环和珠宝，跟随她所爱的，却忘记我。这是耶和华说的。

我要惩罚她素日给诸巴力烧香的罪；那时她佩戴耳环和珠宝，跟随她所爱的，却忘记我。这是耶和华说的。

我要惩罚她，因为她在节日向巴力烧香。那时她戴耳环佩首饰，追逐她的情人，把我忘记。这是耶和华说的。

她在拜众巴力的日子，向他们烧香，佩戴耳环首饰，打扮自己，跟随她那些爱人，却把我遗忘，所以我必惩罚她。”这是耶和华说的。

我必追討她素日給諸巴力燒香的罪；那時她佩帶耳環和別樣妝飾，隨從她所愛的，卻忘記我。這是耶和華說的。

我要懲罰她素日給諸巴力燒香的罪；那時她佩戴耳環和珠寶，跟隨她所愛的，卻忘記我。這是耶和華說的。

我要懲罰她素日給諸巴力燒香的罪；那時她佩戴耳環和珠寶，跟隨她所愛的，卻忘記我。這是耶和華說的。

我要懲罰她，因為她在節日向巴力燒香。那時她戴耳環佩首飾，追逐她的情人，把我忘記。這是耶和華說的。

她在拜眾巴力的日子，向他們燒香，佩戴耳環首飾，打扮自己，跟隨她那些愛人，卻把我遺忘，所以我必懲罰她。”這是耶和華說的。

我必察罰她拜巴力的節日向巴力燻祭的罪；那時她用她的耳環和珠寶裝飾自己，跟着她的愛人走，我呢、她卻忘了；永恆主發神諭說。

耶和華曰、昔彼奉事巴力、為之焚香、以耳環珍寶自飾、從其情人而忘我、我必討之、

耶和華曰、越在疇昔、斯民焚香、奉事巴力、違逆乎我、譬彼婦女、以耳環金索、修飾自好、從其所懽、故我必加以罰、

彼平日奉事諸巴力、為之焚香、以鼻環金索、修飾自好、從愛之者反忘我、故我必罰之、此乃主所言、

I will punish her for the days she burned incense to the Baals; she decked herself with rings and jewelry, and went after her lovers, but me she forgot,” declares the Lord.

Israel burned incense to the gods that were named Baal. I will punish her for all the times she did that. She decorated herself with rings and jewelry. Then she went after her lovers. But she forgot all about me,” declares the Lord.

And I will punish her for the feast days of the Baals when she burned offerings to them and adorned herself with her ring and jewelry, and went after her lovers and forgot me, declares the Lord.

And I will punish her for the days of the Baals, to which she burned incense. She put on her rings and her jewelry and followed her lovers, but she forgot me. This is the LORD’s declaration.

I will punish her for the days of the Baals When she used to offer sacrifices to them And adorn herself with her nose ring and jewelry, And follow her lovers, so that she forgot Me,” declares the Lord.

I will punish her For the days of the Baals to which she burned incense. She decked herself with her earrings and jewelry, And went after her lovers; But Me she forgot,” says the Lord.

And I will visit upon her the days of the Baalim, unto which she burned incense, when she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith Jehovah.

And I will punish her for the days of the Baals when she burned incense to them, put on her rings and jewelry, and went after her lovers, but forgot Me. This is the Lord’s declaration.

And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the LORD.

“ I will punish her for the festival days when she burned incense to the Baal idols; she adorned herself with earrings and jewelry, and went after her lovers, but she forgot me!” says the LORD.

I will visit on her the days of the Baals, to which she burned incense, when she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and went after her lovers, and forgot me,” says Yahweh.

But the more I called to him, the farther he moved from me, offering sacrifices to the images of Baal and burning incense to idols.

The Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight. They forgot about the Lord their God, and they served the images of Baal and the Asherah poles.

When the tribe of Ephraim spoke, the people shook with fear, for that tribe was important in Israel. But the people of Ephraim sinned by worshiping Baal and thus sealed their destruction.

But when you had eaten and were satisfied, you became proud and forgot me.

Do you really think you can steal, murder, commit adultery, lie, and burn incense to Baal and all those other new gods of yours,

The things my people do are as depraved as what they did in Gibeah long ago. God will not forget. He will surely punish them for their sins.The Lord says,“ O Israel, when I first found you, it was like finding fresh grapes in the desert. When I saw your ancestors, it was like seeing the first ripe figs of the season. But then they deserted me for Baal peor, giving themselves to that shameful idol. Soon they became vile, as vile as the god they worshiped.

The time of Israel’s punishment has come; the day of payment is here. Soon Israel will know this all too well. Because of your great sin and hostility, you say,“ The prophets are crazy and the inspired men are fools!”

My people are being destroyed because they don’t know me. Since you priests refuse to know me, I refuse to recognize you as my priests. Since you have forgotten the laws of your God, I will forget to bless your children.

Again the Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight. They served the images of Baal and Ashtoreth, and the gods of Aram, Sidon, Moab, Ammon, and Philistia. They abandoned the Lord and no longer served him at all.

“ I have made no trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied.“ You and your family are the troublemakers, for you have refused to obey the commands of the Lord and have worshiped the images of Baal instead.Now summon all Israel to join me at Mount Carmel, along with the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah who are supported by Jezebel.”So Ahab summoned all the people of Israel and the prophets to Mount Carmel.Then Elijah stood in front of them and said,“ How much longer will you waver, hobbling between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him! But if Baal is God, then follow him!” But the people were completely silent.Then Elijah said to them,“ I am the only prophet of the Lord who is left, but Baal has 450 prophets.Now bring two bulls. The prophets of Baal may choose whichever one they wish and cut it into pieces and lay it on the wood of their altar, but without setting fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood on the altar, but not set fire to it.Then call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by setting fire to the wood is the true God!” And all the people agreed.Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal,“ You go first, for there are many of you. Choose one of the bulls, and prepare it and call on the name of your god. But do not set fire to the wood.”So they prepared one of the bulls and placed it on the altar. Then they called on the name of Baal from morning until noontime, shouting,“ O Baal, answer us!” But there was no reply of any kind. Then they danced, hobbling around the altar they had made.About noontime Elijah began mocking them.“ You’ll have to shout louder,” he scoffed,“ for surely he is a god! Perhaps he is daydreaming, or is relieving himself. Or maybe he is away on a trip, or is asleep and needs to be wakened!”So they shouted louder, and following their normal custom, they cut themselves with knives and swords until the blood gushed out.They raved all afternoon until the time of the evening sacrifice, but still there was no sound, no reply, no response.Then Elijah called to the people,“ Come over here!” They all crowded around him as he repaired the altar of the Lord that had been torn down.He took twelve stones, one to represent each of the tribes of Israel,and he used the stones to rebuild the altar in the name of the Lord. Then he dug a trench around the altar large enough to hold about three gallons.He piled wood on the altar, cut the bull into pieces, and laid the pieces on the wood. Then he said,“ Fill four large jars with water, and pour the water over the offering and the wood.”After they had done this, he said,“ Do the same thing again!” And when they were finished, he said,“ Now do it a third time!” So they did as he said,and the water ran around the altar and even filled the trench.At the usual time for offering the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet walked up to the altar and prayed,“ O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, prove today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant. Prove that I have done all this at your command.O Lord, answer me! Answer me so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God and that you have brought them back to yourself.”Immediately the fire of the Lord flashed down from heaven and burned up the young bull, the wood, the stones, and the dust. It even licked up all the water in the trench!And when all the people saw it, they fell face down on the ground and cried out,“ The Lord— he is God! Yes, the Lord is God!”Then Elijah commanded,“ Seize all the prophets of Baal. Don’t let a single one escape!” So the people seized them all, and Elijah took them down to the Kishon Valley and killed them there.

But my people are not so reliable, for they have deserted me; they burn incense to worthless idols. They have stumbled off the ancient highways and walk in muddy paths.

Look now, people of Judah; you have as many gods as you have towns. You have as many altars of shame— altars for burning incense to your god Baal— as there are streets in Jerusalem.

They offer sacrifices to idols on the mountaintops. They go up into the hills to burn incense in the pleasant shade of oaks, poplars, and terebinth trees.“ That is why your daughters turn to prostitution, and your daughters in law commit adultery.

They forgot God, their savior, who had done such great things in Egypt—

Their mother is a shameless prostitute and became pregnant in a shameful way. She said,‘ I’ll run after other lovers and sell myself to them for food and water, for clothing of wool and linen, and for olive oil and drinks.’

be careful not to forget the Lord, who rescued you from slavery in the land of Egypt.

Why? Because you have turned from the God who can save you. You have forgotten the Rock who can hide you. So you may plant the finest grapevines and import the most expensive seedlings.

One day Israel’s new king, Ahaziah, fell through the latticework of an upper room at his palace in Samaria and was seriously injured. So he sent messengers to the temple of Baal zebub, the god of Ekron, to ask whether he would recover.

“ You sisters sent messengers to distant lands to get men. Then when they arrived, you bathed yourselves, painted your eyelids, and put on your finest jewels for them.You sat with them on a beautifully embroidered couch and put my incense and my special oil on a table that was spread before you.From your room came the sound of many men carousing. They were lustful men and drunkards from the wilderness, who put bracelets on your wrists and beautiful crowns on your heads.

“ But that is the time to be careful! Beware that in your plenty you do not forget the Lord your God and disobey his commands, regulations, and decrees that I am giving you today.For when you have become full and prosperous and have built fine homes to live in,and when your flocks and herds have become very large and your silver and gold have multiplied along with everything else, be careful!Do not become proud at that time and forget the Lord your God, who rescued you from slavery in the land of Egypt.

There are hired murderers, loan racketeers, and extortioners everywhere. They never even think of me and my commands, says the Sovereign Lord.

The same happens to all who forget God. The hopes of the godless evaporate.

You took the very jewels and gold and silver ornaments I had given you and made statues of men and worshiped them. This is adultery against me!

And as though it were not enough to follow the sinful example of Jeroboam, he married Jezebel, the daughter of King Ethbaal of the Sidonians, and he began to bow down in worship of Baal.First Ahab built a temple and an altar for Baal in Samaria.

But the people soon forgot about the Lord their God, so he handed them over to Sisera, the commander of Hazor’s army, and also to the Philistines and to the king of Moab, who fought against them.

They forgot what he had done— the great wonders he had shown them,

The Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight and served the images of Baal.They abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They went after other gods, worshiping the gods of the people around them. And they angered the Lord.They abandoned the Lord to serve Baal and the images of Ashtoreth.

You neglected the Rock who had fathered you; you forgot the God who had given you birth.

Therefore, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to these shepherds:“ Instead of caring for my flock and leading them to safety, you have deserted them and driven them to destruction. Now I will pour out judgment on you for the evil you have done to them.

When she runs after her lovers, she won’t be able to catch them. She will search for them but not find them. Then she will think,‘ I might as well return to my husband, for I was better off with him than I am now.’

Israel has forgotten its Maker and built great palaces, and Judah has fortified its cities. Therefore, I will send down fire on their cities and will burn up their fortresses.”

“ And because you have forgotten me and turned your back on me, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: You must bear the consequences of all your lewdness and prostitution.”

In this way, Jehu destroyed every trace of Baal worship from Israel.

“ You say,‘ That’s not true! I haven’t worshiped the images of Baal!’ But how can you say that? Go and look in any valley in the land! Face the awful sins you have done. You are like a restless female camel desperately searching for a mate.You are like a wild donkey, sniffing the wind at mating time. Who can restrain her lust? Those who desire her don’t need to search, for she goes running to them!When will you stop running? When will you stop panting after other gods? But you say,‘ Save your breath. I’m in love with these foreign gods, and I can’t stop loving them now!’

He rebuilt the pagan shrines his father, Hezekiah, had destroyed. He constructed altars for Baal and set up an Asherah pole, just as King Ahab of Israel had done. He also bowed before all the powers of the heavens and worshiped them.

Yet how quickly they forgot what he had done! They wouldn’t wait for his counsel!

Does a young woman forget her jewelry, or a bride her wedding dress? Yet for years on end my people have forgotten me.

Now go, lead the people to the place I told you about. Look! My angel will lead the way before you. And when I come to call the people to account, I will certainly hold them responsible for their sins.”