The days of punishment have come; The days of recompense have come. Israel knows! The prophet [is] a fool, The spiritual man [is] insane, Because of the greatness of your iniquity and great enmity.

They are 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 for punishment, I will visit punishment upon them for their sin."

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

" 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 separated themselves [to that] shame; They became an abomination like the thing they loved.

When Ephraim spoke, trembling, He exalted [himself] in Israel; But when he offended through Baal [worship,] he died.

Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served the Baals;

They forsook the LORD and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.

So the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD. They forgot the LORD their God, and served the Baals and Asherahs.

Then the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served the Baals and the Ashtoreths, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the people of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines; and they forsook the LORD 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 worshiped him.

Then he set up an altar for Baal in the temple 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 the LORD and have followed 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 the LORD; but Baal's prophets [are] four hundred and fifty men.

"Then you call on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD; and the God who answers by fire, He is God." So all the people answered and said, "It is well spoken."

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 the LORD [that was] broken down.

Then with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD; 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, "LORD 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 the LORD fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, 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 executed them there.

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

Thus Jehu destroyed Baal from Israel.

For he rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; he raised up altars for Baal, and made a wooden image, as Ahab king of Israel had done; and he worshiped all the host of heaven and served them.

[As] they called them, So they went from them; They sacrificed to the Baals, And burned incense to carved images.

"Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, 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 worthless idols. And they have caused themselves to stumble in their ways, [From] the ancient paths, To walk in pathways and not on a 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.

"The sound of a carefree multitude [was] with her, and Sabeans [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 played the harlot; 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.'

She will chase her lovers, But not overtake them; Yes, she will seek them, but not find [them.] Then she will say, 'I will go and return to my first husband, For then [it was] better for me than now.'

"How can you say, 'I am not polluted, I have not gone after the Baals'? See your way in the valley; Know what you have done: [You are] a swift dromedary breaking loose in her ways,

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

"[then] beware, lest you forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.

" Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command 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 God who fathered you.

So the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD. They forgot the LORD their God, and served the Baals and Asherahs.

"And when they forgot the LORD 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 God; And the hope of the hypocrite 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 God their Savior, 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 stronghold, Therefore you will plant pleasant plants And set out foreign seedlings;

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," says the Lord GOD.

"Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: 'Because you have forgotten Me and cast Me behind your back, Therefore you shall bear the [penalty] [Of] your lewdness and your harlotry.' "