2Ki 17:8-11, 16-17, 2Ch 33:2-9, Eze 16:15-63, 20:28-32 | ESV | STEP | and walked in the customs of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel , and in the customs that the kings of Israel had practiced .

8 ^aand walked in the customs of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel, ^band in the customs that the kings of Israel had practiced. 9 And the people of Israel did secretly against the Lord their God things that were not right. They built for themselves high places in all their towns, ^cfrom watchtower to fortified city. 10 They set up for themselves ^dpillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree, 11 and there they made offerings on all the high places, as the nations did whom the Lord carried away before them. And they did wicked things, provoking the Lord to anger,

2 Kings 17:16-17

16 And they abandoned all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made for themselves metal images of ^etwo calves; and they ^fmade an Asherah and ^gworshiped all the host of heaven and served ^hBaal. 17 ⁱAnd they burned their sons and their daughters as offerings ^{▼▼Or made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire} and used ^kdivination and ^lomens and ^msold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger.

2 Chronicles 33:2-9

2 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to ⁿthe abominations of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. 3 For he rebuilt the high places ^othat his father Hezekiah had broken down, and he erected altars to the Baals, and made ^pAsheroth, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. 4 And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, ^q“In Jerusalem shall my name be forever.” 5 And he built altars for all the host of heaven in ^rthe two courts of the house of the Lord. 6 ^sAnd he burned his sons as an offering ^tin the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, and ^uused fortune-telling and omens and sorcery, and dealt with ^vmediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. 7 And ^wthe carved image of the idol that he had made he set in the house of God, of which God said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, ^xI will put my name forever, 8 and I will no more remove the foot of Israel from the land ^ythat I appointed for your fathers, if only they will be careful to do all that I have commanded them, all the law, the statutes, and the rules given through Moses.” 9 Manasseh led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem astray, to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the people of Israel.

Ezekiel 16:15-63

15 ^z“But you trusted in your beauty ^aaand played the whore ^{▼▼Or were unfaithful; also verses 16, 17, 26, 28} because of your renown ^acand lavished your whorings ^{▼▼Or unfaithfulness; also verses 20, 22, 25, 26, 29, 33, 34, 36} on any passerby; your beauty ^{▼▼Hebrew it} became his. 16 You took some of your garments and made for yourself colorful shrines, and on them played the whore. The like has never been, nor ever shall be. ^{▼▼The meaning of this Hebrew sentence is uncertain} 17 You also took ^agyour beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and ^ahmade for yourself images of men, and with them played the whore. 18 And you took your embroidered garments to cover them, ^aiand set my oil and my incense before them. 19 ^ajAlso my bread that I gave you— ^akI fed you with fine flour and oil and honey—you set before them for ^ala pleasing aroma; and so it was, declares the Lord God. 20 ^amAnd you took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to me, and ^anthese you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your whorings so small a matter 21 that you slaughtered my children and delivered them up as an offering by fire to them? 22 And in all your abominations and your whorings you did not remember ^aothe days of your youth, ^apwhen you were naked and bare, wallowing in your blood.

23 “And after all your wickedness (woe, woe to you! declares the Lord God), 24 you built yourself ^aqa vaulted chamber and made yourself a lofty place in every square. 25 At the head of every street ^aryou built your lofty place and made ^asyour beauty an abomination, ^atoffering yourself ^{▼▼Hebrew spreading your legs} to any passerby and multiplying your whoring. 26 ^avYou also played the whore ^awwith the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors, ^axmultiplying your whoring, ^ayto provoke me to anger. 27 Behold, therefore, I stretched out my hand against you ^azand diminished your allotted portion ^baand delivered you to the greed of your enemies, ^bbthe daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your lewd behavior. 28 ^bcYou played the whore also ^bdwith the Assyrians, because you were not satisfied; yes, you played the whore with them, and still you were not satisfied. 29 You multiplied your whoring also with the trading land ^beof Chaldea, and even with this you were not satisfied.

30 “How sick is your heart, ^{▼▼Revocalization yields How I am filled with anger against you} declares the Lord God, because you did all these things, the deeds of a brazen prostitute, 31 building your vaulted chamber at the head of every street, and making your lofty place in every square. Yet you were not like a prostitute, ^bgbecause you scorned payment. 32 Adulterous wife, who receives strangers instead of her husband! 33 Men give gifts to all prostitutes, ^bhbut you gave your gifts to all your lovers, bribing them to come to you from every side with your whorings. 34 So you were different from other women in your whorings. No one solicited you to play the whore, and ^biyou gave payment, while no payment was given to you; therefore you were different.

35 “Therefore, O prostitute, hear the word of the Lord: 36 Thus says the Lord God, Because your lust was poured out and your nakedness uncovered in your whorings with your lovers, and with all your abominable idols, ^bjand because of the blood of your children that you gave to them, 37 therefore, behold, ^bkI will gather all your lovers with whom you took pleasure, all those you loved and ^blall those you hated. ^bmI will gather them against you from every side ^bnand will uncover your nakedness to them, that ^bothey may see all your nakedness. 38 ^bpAnd I will judge you ^bqas women who commit adultery and ^brshed blood are judged, and bring upon you the blood of wrath and jealousy. 39 And I will give you into their hands, and they shall throw down your ^bsvaulted chamber and break down ^btyour lofty places. ^buThey shall strip you of your clothes and take ^bvyour beautiful jewels and leave you ^bwnaked and bare. 40 ^bxThey shall bring up a crowd against you, ^byand they shall stone you and cut you to pieces with their swords. 41 ^bzAnd they shall ^caburn your houses and ^cbexecute judgments upon you in the sight of many women. ^ccI will make you stop playing the whore, and ^cdyou shall also give payment no more. 42 ^ceSo will I satisfy my wrath on you, and my jealousy shall depart from you. I will be calm and will no more be angry. 43 Because you have not remembered ^cfthe days of your youth, but have enraged me with all these things, therefore, behold, ^cgI have returned your deeds upon your head, declares the Lord God. Have you not ^chcommitted lewdness in addition to all your abominations?

44 “Behold, everyone ^ciwho uses proverbs will use this proverb about you: ‘Like mother, like daughter.’ 45 You are the daughter of your mother, who loathed her husband and her children; and you are the sister of ^cjyour sisters, who loathed their husbands and their children. ^ckYour mother was a Hittite and ^clyour father an Amorite. 46 And ^cmyour elder sister is Samaria, who lived with her daughters to the north of you; and ^cnyour younger sister, who lived to the south of you, is Sodom with her daughters. 47 ^coNot only did you walk in their ways and do according to their abominations; within a very little time ^cpyou were more corrupt than they in all your ways. 48 ^cqAs I live, declares the Lord God, your sister ^crSodom and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done. 49 Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, ^csexcess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. 50 They were haughty and ^ctdid an abomination before me. So ^cuI removed them, when I saw it. 51 ^cvSamaria has not committed half your sins. You have committed more abominations than they, and ^cwhave made your sisters appear righteous by all the abominations that you have committed. 52 ^cxBear your disgrace, you also, for you have intervened on behalf of your sisters. Because of your sins in which you acted more abominably than they, they are more in the right than you. So be ashamed, you also, and bear your disgrace, for you have made your sisters appear righteous.

53 ^cy“I will restore their fortunes, both the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters, and the fortunes of Samaria and her daughters, and I will restore your own fortunes in their midst, 54 that you may bear your disgrace ^czand be ashamed of all that you have done, ^dabecoming a consolation to them. 55 As for your sisters, Sodom and her daughters shall return to their former state, ^dband Samaria and her daughters shall return ^dcto their former state, ^ddand you and your daughters shall return ^deto your former state. 56 Was not your sister Sodom a byword in your mouth ^dfin the day of your pride, 57 before your wickedness was uncovered? Now you have become ^dgan object of reproach for the daughters of Syria ^{▼▼Some manuscripts (compare Syriac) of Edom} and all those around her, and for ^dithe daughters of the Philistines, ^djthose all around who despise you. 58 ^dkYou bear the penalty of your lewdness and your abominations, declares the Lord.

The Lord’s Everlasting Covenant

59 “For thus says the Lord God: I will deal with you as you have done, you ^dlwho have despised the oath in breaking the covenant, 60 yet ^dmI will remember my covenant with you ^dnin the days of your youth, ^doand I will establish for you an everlasting covenant. 61 ^dpThen you will remember your ways ^dqand be ashamed when you take ^dryour sisters, both your elder and your younger, and I give them to you ^dsas daughters, but not on account of ^{▼▼Or not apart from} the covenant with you. 62 I will establish my covenant with you, ^duand you shall know that I am the Lord, 63 that you may remember and be confounded, and ^dvnever open your mouth again because of your shame, when I atone for you for all that you have done, declares the Lord God.”

Ezekiel 20:28-32

28 For when I had brought them into the land that ^dwI swore to give them, then wherever they saw ^dxany high hill or any leafy tree, there they offered their sacrifices and there they presented ^dythe provocation of their offering; there they sent up their pleasing aromas, and there they poured out their drink offerings. 29 (I said to them, ^dz'What is the high place to which you go?' So its name is called Bamah ^{▼▼ Bamah means high place} to this day.)

30 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: ^ebWill you defile yourselves after the manner of your fathers and go ^ecwhoring after their detestable things? 31 When you present your gifts and ^edoffer up your children in fire, ^{▼▼Hebrew and make your children pass through the fire} you defile yourselves with all your idols to this day. And ^efshall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? ^egAs I live, declares the Lord God, I will not be inquired of by you.

32 ^eh“What is in your mind shall never happen—the thought, ^ei‘Let us be like the nations, like the tribes of the countries, ^ejand worship wood and stone.’