2 Kings 17:7-41
7
And this occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, f who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods
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g and walked in the customs of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel, h and in the customs that the kings of Israel had practiced.
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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, i from watchtower to fortified city.
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They set up for themselves j pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree,
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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,
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and they served idols, k of which the Lord had said to them, "You shall not do this."
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Yet the Lord l warned Israel and Judah m by every prophet n and every seer, saying, o "Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets."
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But they would not listen, p but were stubborn, as their fathers had been, who did not believe in the Lord their God.
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They despised his statutes q and his covenant that he made with their fathers and the warnings that he gave them. They went after r false idols s and became false, and they followed the nations that were around them, concerning whom the t Lord had commanded them that they should not do like them.
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And they abandoned all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made for themselves metal images of u two calves; and they v made an Asherah and w worshiped all the host of heaven and served x Baal.
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y And they burned their sons and their daughters as offerings and used z divination and a omens and b sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger.
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Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them out of his sight. None was left but c the tribe of Judah only.
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d Judah also did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the customs that Israel had introduced.
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And the Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel and afflicted them e and gave them into the hand of plunderers, until he had cast them out of his sight.
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f When he had torn Israel from the house of David, g they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. And Jeroboam drove Israel from following the Lord h and made them commit great sin.
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The people of Israel walked in all the sins that Jeroboam did. They did not depart from them,
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until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight, i as he had spoken by all his servants the prophets. j So Israel was exiled from their own land to Assyria until this day.
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k And the king of Assyria brought people from l Babylon, Cuthah, m Avva, n Hamath, and o Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the people of Israel. And they took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities.
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And at the beginning of their dwelling there, they did not fear the Lord. Therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which killed some of them.
26
So the king of Assyria was told, "The nations that you have carried away and placed in the cities of Samaria do not know the law of the god of the land. Therefore he has sent lions among them, and behold, they are killing them, because they do not know the law of the god of the land."
27
Then the king of Assyria commanded, "Send there one of the priests whom you carried away from there, and let him go and dwell there and teach them the law of the god of the land."
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So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and lived in p Bethel and taught them how they should fear the Lord.
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But every nation still made gods of its own and put them q in the shrines of the high places that the Samaritans had made, every nation in the cities in which they lived.
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The men of r Babylon made Succoth-benoth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima,
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and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites s burned their children in the fire to t Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of u Sepharvaim.
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v They also feared the Lord w and appointed from among themselves all sorts of people as priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the shrines of x the high places.
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So they feared the Lord but also served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away.
34
To this day they do according to the former manner. They do not fear the Lord, and they do not follow the statutes or the rules or the law or the commandment that the Lord commanded the children of Jacob, y whom he named Israel.
35
The Lord made a covenant with them and commanded them, z "You shall not fear other gods a or bow yourselves to them or serve them or sacrifice to them,
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but b you shall fear the Lord, c who brought you out of the land of Egypt with great power and d with an outstretched arm. You shall bow yourselves to him, and to him you shall sacrifice.
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And the statutes and the rules and the law and the commandment that he wrote for you, e you shall always be careful to do. z You shall not fear other gods,
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and f you shall not forget the covenant that I have made with you. z You shall not fear other gods,
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but b you shall fear the Lord your God, and he will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies."
40
However, they would not listen, but they did according to their former manner.
41
g So these nations feared the Lord and also served their carved images. Their children did likewise, and their children's children - as their fathers did, so they do to this day.
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Cross References
2 Kings 17:36
But you shall fear the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm. You shall bow yourselves to him, and to him you shall sacrifice.
Leviticus 25:38
I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan, and to be your God.
Exodus 20:2
I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
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Cross References
Leviticus 18:3
You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes.
Deuteronomy 18:9
When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations.
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Cross References
2 Kings 17:19
Judah also did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the customs that Israel had introduced.
2 Kings 16:3
But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel. He even burned his son as an offering, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel.
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Cross References
2 Kings 18:8
He struck down the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from watchtower to fortified city.
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Cross References
Exodus 23:24
You shall not bow down to their gods nor serve them, nor do as they do, but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their pillars in pieces.
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Cross References
Exodus 20:4
You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
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Cross References
Nehemiah 9:30
Many years you bore with them and warned them by your Spirit through your prophets. Yet they would not give ear. Therefore you gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands.
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Cross References
2 Kings 17:23
Until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight, as he had spoken by all his servants the prophets. So Israel was exiled from their own land to Assyria until this day.
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Cross References
1 Samuel 9:9
(Formerly in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, he said, "Come, let us go to the seer," for today's "prophet" was formerly called a seer.)
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Cross References
Jeremiah 18:11
Now, therefore, say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: 'Thus says the Lord, Behold, I am shaping disaster against you and devising a plan against you. Return, every one from his evil way, and amend your ways and your deeds.
Jeremiah 25:5
Saying, 'Turn now, every one of you, from his evil way and evil deeds, and dwell upon the land that the Lord has given to you and your fathers from of old and forever.
Jeremiah 35:15
I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, sending them persistently, saying, 'Turn now every one of you from his evil way, and amend your deeds, and do not go after other gods to serve them, and then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to you and your fathers.' But you did not incline your ear or listen to me.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 9:6
Know, therefore, that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people.
2 Chronicles 30:8
Do not now be stiff-necked as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to the Lord and come to his sanctuary, which he has consecrated forever, and serve the Lord your God, that his fierce anger may turn away from you.
Deuteronomy 31:27
For I know how rebellious and stubborn you are. Behold, even today while I am yet alive with you, you have been rebellious against the Lord. How much more after my death!
Acts 7:51
You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 29:25
Then people will say, 'It is because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 32:21
They have made me jealous with what is no god; they have provoked me to anger with their idols. So I will make them jealous with those who are no people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
1 Kings 16:13
For all the sins of Baasha and the sins of Elah his son, which they sinned and which they made Israel to sin, provoking the Lord God of Israel to anger with their idols.
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Cross References
Jeremiah 2:5
Thus says the Lord : "What wrong did your fathers find in me that they went far from me, and went after worthlessness, and became worthless?
Romans 1:21
For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 12:30 - 31
Take care that you be not ensnared to follow them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, 'How did these nations serve their gods? - that I also may do the same.
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Cross References
1 Kings 12:28
So the king took counsel and made two calves of gold. And he said to the people, "You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
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Cross References
1 Kings 14:15
The Lord will strike Israel as a reed is shaken in the water, and root up Israel out of this good land that he gave to their fathers and scatter them beyond the Euphrates, because they have made their Asherim, provoking the Lord to anger.
1 Kings 14:23
For they also built for themselves high places and pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree.
1 Kings 15:13
He also removed Maacah his mother from being queen mother because she had made an abominable image for Asherah. And Asa cut down her image and burned it at the brook Kidron.
1 Kings 16:33
And Ahab made an Asherah. Ahab did more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.
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Cross References
2 Kings 21:3
For he rebuilt the high places that Hezekiah his father had destroyed, and he erected altars for Baal and made an Asherah, as Ahab king of Israel had done, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them.
2 Kings 23:5
And he deposed the priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to make offerings in the high places at the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem; those also who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and the moon and the constellations and all the host of the heavens.
Deuteronomy 4:19
And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, things that the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven.
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Cross References
2 Kings 11:18
Then all the people of the land went to the house of Baal and tore it down; his altars and his images they broke in pieces, and they killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. And the priest posted watchmen over the house of the Lord.
1 Kings 16:31
And as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he took for his wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal and worshiped him.
1 Kings 22:53
He served Baal and worshiped him and provoked the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger in every way that his father had done.
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Cross References
2 Kings 16:3
But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel. He even burned his son as an offering, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel.
Leviticus 18:21
You shall not give any of your children to offer them to Molech, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.
Ezekiel 23:37
For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands. With their idols they have committed adultery, and they have even offered up to them for food the children whom they had borne to me.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 18:10
There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer
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Cross References
Leviticus 19:26
You shall not eat any flesh with the blood in it. You shall not interpret omens or tell fortunes.
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Cross References
1 Kings 21:20
Ahab said to Elijah, "Have you found me, O my enemy?" He answered, "I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do what is evil in the sight of the Lord.
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Cross References
1 Kings 11:13
However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son, for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem that I have chosen.
1 Kings 11:32
(but he shall have one tribe, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city that I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel).
1 Kings 12:20
And when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. There was none that followed the house of David but the tribe of Judah only.
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Cross References
Jeremiah 3:8
She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, I had sent her away with a decree of divorce. Yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she too went and played the whore.
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Cross References
Judges 2:14
So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers, who plundered them. And he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies.
2 Kings 13:3
And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he gave them continually into the hand of Hazael king of Syria and into the hand of Ben-hadad the son of Hazael.
2 Kings 15:29
In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came and captured Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and he carried the people captive to Assyria.
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Cross References
1 Kings 11:11
Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, "Since this has been your practice and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant.
1 Kings 11:31
And he said to Jeroboam, "Take for yourself ten pieces, for thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, 'Behold, I am about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon and will give you ten tribes
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Cross References
1 Kings 12:20
And when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. There was none that followed the house of David but the tribe of Judah only.
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Cross References
1 Kings 14:16
And he will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he sinned and made Israel to sin.
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Cross References
2 Kings 17:13
Yet the Lord warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, "Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets.
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Cross References
2 Kings 17:6
In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria, and he carried the Israelites away to Assyria and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
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Cross References
Ezra 4:2
They approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers' houses and said to them, "Let us build with you, for we worship your God as you do, and we have been sacrificing to him ever since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria who brought us here.
Ezra 4:10
And the rest of the nations whom the great and noble Osnappar deported and settled in the cities of Samaria and in the rest of the province Beyond the River.
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Cross References
2 Kings 17:30
The men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima.
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Cross References
2 Kings 18:34
Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?
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Cross References
1 Kings 8:65
So Solomon held the feast at that time, and all Israel with him, a great assembly, from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of Egypt, before the Lord our God, seven days.
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Cross References
2 Kings 17:31
And the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.
2 Kings 18:34
Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?
2 Kings 19:13
Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?'
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Cross References
1 Kings 12:29
And he set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan.
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Cross References
1 Kings 12:31
He also made temples on high places and appointed priests from among all the people, who were not of the Levites.
1 Kings 13:32
For the saying that he called out by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel and against all the houses of the high places that are in the cities of Samaria shall surely come to pass.
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Cross References
2 Kings 17:24
And the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the people of Israel. And they took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities.
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Cross References
2 Kings 17:17
And they burned their sons and their daughters as offerings and used divination and omens and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger.
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Cross References
2 Kings 19:37
And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword and escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.
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Cross References
2 Kings 17:24
And the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the people of Israel. And they took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities.
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Cross References
Zephaniah 1:5
Those who bow down on the roofs to the host of the heavens, those who bow down and swear to the Lord and yet swear by Milcom.
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Cross References
1 Kings 12:31
He also made temples on high places and appointed priests from among all the people, who were not of the Levites.
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Cross References
2 Kings 17:29
But every nation still made gods of its own and put them in the shrines of the high places that the Samaritans had made, every nation in the cities in which they lived.
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Cross References
Genesis 32:28
Then he said, "Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.
Genesis 35:10
And God said to him, "Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name." So he called his name Israel.
1 Kings 18:31
Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord came, saying, "Israel shall be your name.
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Cross References
Judges 6:10
And I said to you, 'I am the Lord your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.' But you have not obeyed my voice.
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Cross References
Exodus 20:5
You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 6:13
It is the Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear.
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Cross References
2 Kings 17:7
And this occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods
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Cross References
Exodus 6:6
Say therefore to the people of Israel, 'I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment.
Deuteronomy 4:34
Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 5:32
You shall be careful therefore to do as the Lord your God has commanded you. You shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.
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Cross References
2 Kings 17:35
The Lord made a covenant with them and commanded them, "You shall not fear other gods or bow yourselves to them or serve them or sacrifice to them.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 4:23
Take care, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and make a carved image, the form of anything that the Lord your God has forbidden you.
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Cross References
2 Kings 17:35
The Lord made a covenant with them and commanded them, "You shall not fear other gods or bow yourselves to them or serve them or sacrifice to them.
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Cross References
2 Kings 17:36
But you shall fear the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm. You shall bow yourselves to him, and to him you shall sacrifice.
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Cross References
Zephaniah 1:5
Those who bow down on the roofs to the host of the heavens, those who bow down and swear to the Lord and yet swear by Milcom.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.