"Worship no god but me.

"Listen to everything that I, the LORD, have said to you. Do not pray to other gods; do not even mention their names.

"Do not worship any other god, because I, the LORD, tolerate no rivals.

Be certain that you do not forget the covenant that the LORD your God made with you. Obey his command not to make yourselves any kind of idol,

because the LORD your God is like a flaming fire; he tolerates no rivals.

" 'Worship no god but me.

Do not worship other gods, any of the gods of the peoples around you.

If you do worship other gods, the LORD's anger will come against you like fire and will destroy you completely, because the LORD your God, who is present with you, tolerates no rivals.

"Now then," Joshua continued, "honor the LORD and serve him sincerely and faithfully. Get rid of the gods which your ancestors used to worship in Mesopotamia and in Egypt, and serve only the LORD.

The people replied, "We would never leave the LORD to serve other gods!

As we advanced into this land, the LORD drove out all the Amorites who lived here. So we also will serve the LORD; he is our God."

and if you leave him to serve foreign gods, he will turn against you and punish you. He will destroy you, even though he was good to you before."

Joshua told them, "You are your own witnesses to the fact that you have chosen to serve the LORD." "Yes," they said, "we are witnesses."

The people then said to Joshua, "We will serve the LORD our God. We will obey his commands."

Samuel said to the people of Israel, "If you are going to turn to the LORD with all your hearts, you must get rid of all the foreign gods and the images of the goddess Astarte. Dedicate yourselves completely to the LORD and worship only him, and he will rescue you from the power of the Philistines."

So the Israelites got rid of their idols of Baal and Astarte, and worshiped only the LORD.

Elijah went up to the people and said, "How much longer will it take you to make up your minds? If the LORD is God, worship him; but if Baal is God, worship him!" But the people didn't say a word.

So they worshiped the LORD, but they also worshiped their own gods according to the customs of the countries from which they had come.

They still carry on their old customs to this day. They do not worship the LORD nor do they obey the laws and commands which he gave to the descendants of Jacob, whom he named Israel.

He built pagan altars in the Temple, the place that the LORD had said was where he should be worshiped.

In the two courtyards of the Temple he built altars for the worship of the stars.

He removed from office the priests that the kings of Judah had ordained to offer sacrifices on the pagan altars in the cities of Judah and in places near Jerusalem---all the priests who offered sacrifices to Baal, to the sun, the moon, the planets, and the stars.

He destroyed the living quarters in the Temple occupied by the temple prostitutes. (It was there that women wove robes used in the worship of Asherah.)

He built pagan altars in the Temple, the place that the LORD had said was where he should be worshiped forever.

In the two courtyards of the Temple he built altars for the worship of the stars.

I will sprinkle clean water on you and make you clean from all your idols and everything else that has defiled you.

The people of Israel will have nothing more to do with idols; I will answer their prayers and take care of them. Like an evergreen tree I will shelter them; I am the source of all their blessings."

I will destroy anyone who goes up on the roof and worships the sun, the moon, and the stars. I will also destroy those who worship me and swear loyalty to me, but then take oaths in the name of the god Molech.

"You cannot be a slave of two masters; you will hate one and love the other; you will be loyal to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

We know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we know the true God. We live in union with the true God---in union with his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and this is eternal life.

My children, keep yourselves safe from false gods!

Surely you know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you!

God will destroy anyone who destroys God's temple. For God's temple is holy, and you yourselves are his temple.

Don't you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and who was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourselves but to God;

You, too, are built upon the foundation laid by the apostles and prophets, the cornerstone being Christ Jesus himself.

But Christ is faithful as the Son in charge of God's house. We are his house if we keep up our courage and our confidence in what we hope for.

Come as living stones, and let yourselves be used in building the spiritual temple, where you will serve as holy priests to offer spiritual and acceptable sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ.

I will live among the people of Israel, and I will be their God.

I will be with you; I will be your God, and you will be my people.

O Lord, you have always been our home.

"Mortal man, here is my throne. I will live here among the people of Israel and rule them forever. Neither the people of Israel nor their kings will ever again disgrace my holy name by worshiping other gods or by burying the corpses of their dead kings.

Now they must stop worshiping other gods and remove the corpses of their kings. If they do, I will live among them forever."

The LORD said, "Sing for joy, people of Jerusalem! I am coming to live among you!"

At that time many nations will come to the LORD and become his people. He will live among you, and you will know that he has sent me to you.

Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood live in me, and I live in them.

But you do not live as your human nature tells you to; instead, you live as the Spirit tells you to---if, in fact, God's Spirit lives in you. Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

If the Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from death, lives in you, then he who raised Christ from death will also give life to your mortal bodies by the presence of his Spirit in you.

and I pray that Christ will make his home in your hearts through faith. I pray that you may have your roots and foundation in love,

Through the power of the Holy Spirit, who lives in us, keep the good things that have been entrusted to you.

No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in union with us, and his love is made perfect in us.

If we declare that Jesus is the Son of God, we live in union with God and God lives in union with us.

I heard a loud voice speaking from the throne: "Now God's home is with people! He will live with them, and they shall be his people. God himself will be with them, and he will be their God.

"I will keep my promise to you and to your descendants in future generations as an everlasting covenant. I will be your God and the God of your descendants.

I will give to you and to your descendants this land in which you are now a foreigner. The whole land of Canaan will belong to your descendants forever, and I will be their God."

I will give them the desire to know that I am the LORD. Then they will be my people, and I will be their God, because they will return to me with all their heart.

The new covenant that I will make with the people of Israel will be this: I will put my law within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

Then they will be my people, and I will be their God.

Then they will keep my laws and faithfully obey all my commands. They will be my people, and I will be their God.

Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors. You will be my people, and I will be your God.

I will make a covenant with them that guarantees their security forever. I will establish them and increase their population, and will see to it that my Temple stands forever in their land.

I will live there with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people.

I will establish my people in the land and make them prosper. I will show love to those who were called "Unloved," and to those who were called "Not-My-People" I will say, "You are my people," and they will answer, "You are our God."

and will bring them back from east and west to live in Jerusalem. They will be my people, and I will be their God, ruling over them faithfully and justly.

And I will test the third that survives and will purify them as silver is purified by fire. I will test them as gold is tested. Then they will pray to me, and I will answer them. I will tell them that they are my people, and they will confess that I am their God."

And in the very place where they were told, 'You are not my people,' there they will be called the children of the living God."

Now, this is the covenant that I will make with the people of Israel in the days to come, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

Those who win the victory will receive this from me: I will be their God, and they will be my children.