The days of visitation have come; the days of retribution have come. Israel shall know. The prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is insane, because of the greatness of your iniquity and your great hatred.

They have deeply corrupted, as in the days of Gibeah. He will remember their iniquity; He will punish their sins.

Now therefore, go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, My Angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will punish them for their sin.

Therefore thus says Jehovah the God of Israel, against the shepherds who feed My people, You have scattered My flock, and have driven them away, and have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your doings, says Jehovah.

I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness. I saw your fathers as the firstfruits on the fig tree in its first season. But they went to Baal-peor and set themselves apart to that shameful thing. And they became an abomination like that which they loved.

When Ephraim spoke, trembling, he was lifted up in Israel. But when he trespassed through Baal, he died.

And the children of Israel did evil in the eyes of Jehovah, and served the Baals;

They forsook Jehovah and served Baal and Ashtaroth.

And the children of Israel did evil in the eyes of Jehovah. They forgot Jehovah their God, and served the Baals and groves.

And the children of Israel again did evil in the eyes of Jehovah, and served the Baals and Ashtaroth, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines; and they forsook Jehovah and did not serve Him.

And it came to pass, as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians; and he went and served Baal and bowed down to him.

And he set up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria.

And he answered, I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father's house have, in that you have forsaken the commandments of Jehovah and have gone after the Baals.

So Ahab sent for all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together on Mount Carmel.

Then Elijah said to the people, I alone am left a prophet of Jehovah; but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men.

Then you call on the name of your gods, and I will call upon the name of Jehovah; and the god who answers by fire, He is God. So all the people answered and said, The word is good.

So they took the bull which was given them, and they prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even till noon, saying, O Baal, hear us! But there was no voice; no one answered. Then they leaped about the altar which they had made.

So they cried aloud, and cut themselves, as was their custom, with knives and lances, until the blood gushed out on them.

Then Elijah said to all the people, Come near to me. So all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of Jehovah that was broken down.

And with the stones he built an altar in the name of Jehovah; and he made a trench around the altar large enough to hold two seahs of seed.

Then he said, Do it a second time, and they did it a second time; and he said, Do it a third time, and they did it a third time.

And it came to pass, at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, Jehovah the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your Word.

Then the fire of Jehovah fell and consumed the burnt offering, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench.

And Elijah said to them, Seize the prophets of Baal! Do not let one of them escape! So they seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the Brook Kishon and slaughtered them there.

Now Ahaziah fell through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria, and was ill; so he sent messengers and said to them, Go, inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I shall recover from this sickness.

Thus Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel.

For he rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; he raised up altars for Baal, and made a grove, as Ahab king of Israel had done; and he bowed down to all the host of the heavens and served them.

As they called to them, so they went from them. They sacrificed to the Baals, and burned incense to graven images.

Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know;

For according to the number of your cities were your gods, O Judah. And according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem you have set up altars to that shameful thing, altars to burn incense to Baal.

Because My people have forgotten Me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused themselves to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in byways, and not in the highway,

Furthermore you sent for men to come from afar, to whom a messenger was sent; and there they came. And you washed yourself for them, painted your eyes, and adorned yourself with ornaments.

And the sound of a multitude at ease was with her, and drunkards were brought from the wilderness with men of the common sort, who put bracelets on their wrists and beautiful crowns on their heads.

For their mother has prostituted herself; she who conceived them has behaved shamefully. For she said, I will go after my lovers who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my linen, my oil and my drink.

And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not reach to them. And she shall seek them, but shall not find them. Then she shall say, I will go and return to my first husband, for then it was better with me than now.

How can you say, I am not defiled; I have not gone after the Baals? See your way in the valley, know what you have done! You are a swift camel crisscrossing its ways.

Withhold your foot from being bare, and your throat from thirst. But you said, There is no hope. No! For I have loved strangers, and after them I will go.

then be on guard that you not forget Jehovah who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.

Beware that you do not forget Jehovah your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I am commanding you today,

and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold are multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied;

Of the Rock who begot you, you are unmindful, and have forgotten the Mighty God who brought you forth.

And the children of Israel did evil in the eyes of Jehovah. They forgot Jehovah their God, and served the Baals and groves.

And when they forgot Jehovah their God, He sold them into the hand of Sisera, commander of the army of Hazor, into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab; and they fought against them.

So are the paths of all who forget the Mighty God; and the hope of the ungodly shall perish,

and forgot His works and His wonders that He had shown them.

They soon forgot His works; they did not wait for His counsel,

They forgot the Mighty God their Deliverer, who had done great things in Egypt,

Because you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and have not been mindful of the Rock of your strength, therefore you shall plant pleasant plants and shall set strange shoots.

Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet My people have forgotten Me days without number.

In you they take bribes to shed blood; you take usury and increase; you have made profit from your neighbors by extortion, and have forgotten Me, declares the Lord Jehovah.

Therefore thus says the Lord Jehovah: Because you have forgotten Me and cast Me behind your back, therefore you shall bear the penalty of your lewdness and your harlotry.