The people of Israel forgot the LORD their God; they sinned against him and worshiped the idols of Baal and Asherah.

So the LORD became angry with Israel and let King Cushan Rishathaim of Mesopotamia conquer them. They were subject to him for eight years.

So the LORD became angry with the Israelites, and let the Philistines and the Ammonites conquer them.

then in my anger I will turn on you and again make your punishment seven times worse than before.

And now you have taken your ancestors' place, a new generation of sinful people ready to bring down the fierce anger of the LORD on Israel again.

"If you do evil and reject the LORD, he will bring on you disaster, confusion, and trouble in everything you do, until you are quickly and completely destroyed.

"If you do not obey faithfully all of God's teachings that are written in this book and if you do not honor the wonderful and awesome name of the LORD your God,

Make sure that there is no one here today who hears these solemn demands and yet convinces himself that all will be well with him, even if he stubbornly goes his own way. That would destroy all of you, good and evil alike.

The LORD will not forgive such a man. Instead, the LORD's burning anger will flame up against him, and all the disasters written in this book will fall on him until the LORD has destroyed him completely.

When that happens, I will become angry with them; I will abandon them, and they will be destroyed. Many terrible disasters will come upon them, and then they will realize that these things are happening to them because I, their God, am no longer with them.

And I will refuse to help them then, because they have done evil and worshiped other gods.

But they made fun of God's messengers, ignoring his words and laughing at his prophets, until at last the LORD's anger against his people was so great that there was no escape.

So the LORD was angry with his people; he was disgusted with them.

They were oppressed by their enemies and were in complete subjection to them.

The LORD rejected all the Israelites, punishing them and handing them over to cruel enemies until at last he had banished them from his sight.

In those days no one could come and go in safety, because there was trouble and disorder in every land.

So the LORD became angry with Israel and let King Cushan Rishathaim of Mesopotamia conquer them. They were subject to him for eight years.

So the LORD let them be conquered by Jabin, a Canaanite king who ruled in the city of Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived at Harosheth-of-the-Gentiles.

You sold your own people for a small price as though they had little value.

The LORD says, "Do you think I sent my people away like a man who divorces his wife? Where, then, are the papers of divorce? Do you think I sold you into captivity like a man who sells his children as slaves? No, you went away captive because of your sins; you were sent away because of your crimes.

(SEE 1:18)

The Amorites forced the people of the tribe of Dan into the hill country and did not let them come down to the plain.

You will stumble over one another when no one is chasing you, and you will be unable to fight against any enemy.

Why were a thousand defeated by one, and ten thousand by only two? The LORD, their God, had abandoned them; their mighty God had given them up.

This is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies. They retreat from them because they themselves have now been condemned to destruction! I will not stay with you any longer unless you destroy the things you were ordered not to take!

Get up! Purify the people and get them ready to come before me. Tell them to be ready tomorrow, because I, the LORD God of Israel, have this to say: 'Israel, you have in your possession some things that I ordered you to destroy! You cannot stand against your enemies until you get rid of these things!'

But now you have rejected us and let us be defeated; you no longer march out with our armies.

You made us run from our enemies, and they took for themselves what was ours.

Even if you defeat the whole Babylonian army, so that only wounded men are left, lying in their tents, they would still get up and burn this city to the ground."