In the fifty-second year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekah the son of Remaliah became king over Israel in Samaria, [and reigned] twenty years.

In those days the LORD began to send Rezin king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah against Judah.

"and say to him: 'Take heed, and be quiet; do not fear or be fainthearted for these two stubs of smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria, and the son of Remaliah.

'Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah have plotted evil against you, saying,

The head of Ephraim [is] Samaria, And the head of Samaria [is] Remaliah's son. If you will not believe, Surely you shall not be established." ' "

Manasseh [shall devour] Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh; Together they [shall be] against Judah. For all this His anger is not turned away, But His hand [is] stretched out still.

Then Abijah and his people struck them with a great slaughter; so five hundred thousand choice men of Israel fell slain.

And he went out to meet Asa, and said to him: "Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin. The LORD [is] with you while you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.

"You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who [are] all around you

'(for the LORD your God [is] a jealous God among you), lest the anger of the LORD your God be aroused against you and destroy you from the face of the earth.

" But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:

"The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them; and you shall become troublesome to all the kingdoms of the earth.

"All nations would say, 'Why has the LORD done so to this land? What does the heat of this great anger mean?'

'for they went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods that they did not know and that He had not given to them.

And the LORD said to Moses: "Behold, you will rest with your fathers; and this people will rise and play the harlot with the gods of the foreigners of the land, where they go [to be] among them, and they will forsake Me and break My covenant which I have made with them.

"Then My anger shall be aroused against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide My face from them, and they shall be devoured. And many evils and troubles shall befall them, so that they will say in that day, 'Have not these evils come upon us because our God [is] not among us?'

And He said: 'I will hide My face from them, I will see what their end [will be,] For they [are] a perverse generation, Children in whom [is] no faith.

"When you have transgressed the covenant of the LORD your God, which He commanded you, and have gone and served other gods, and bowed down to them, then the anger of the LORD will burn against you, and you shall perish quickly from the good land which He has given you."

"If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you, after He has done you good."

The destruction of transgressors and of sinners [shall be] together, And those who forsake the LORD shall be consumed.

The earth is also defiled under its inhabitants, Because they have transgressed the laws, Changed the ordinance, Broken the everlasting covenant.

Therefore the curse has devoured the earth, And those who dwell in it are desolate. Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, And few men [are] left.

Your own wickedness will correct you, And your backslidings will rebuke you. Know therefore and see that [it is] an evil and bitter [thing] That you have forsaken the LORD your God, And the fear of Me [is] not in you," Says the Lord GOD of hosts.

You have forsaken Me," says the LORD, "You have gone backward. Therefore I will stretch out My hand against you and destroy you; I am weary of relenting!