⁹ The Israelites secretly did things against the Lord their God that were not right. From watchtower to fortified city^(A) they built themselves high places in all their towns. ¹⁰ They set up sacred stones^(B) and Asherah poles^(C) on every high hill and under every spreading tree.^{(D) 11} At every high place they burned incense, as the nations whom the Lord had driven out before them had done. They did wicked things that aroused the Lord’s anger. ¹² They worshiped idols,^(E) though the Lord had said, “You shall not do this.”^{[a] 13} The Lord warned^(F) Israel and Judah through all his prophets and seers:^(G) “Turn from your evil ways.^(H) Observe my commands and decrees, in accordance with the entire Law that I commanded your ancestors to obey and that I delivered to you through my servants the prophets.”^(I)

¹⁴ But they would not listen and were as stiff-necked^(J) as their ancestors, who did not trust in the Lord their God. ¹⁵ They rejected his decrees and the covenant^(K) he had made with their ancestors and the statutes he had warned them to keep. They followed worthless idols^(L) and themselves became worthless.^(M) They imitated the nations^(N) around them although the Lord had ordered them, “Do not do as they do.”

¹⁶ They forsook all the commands of the Lord their God and made for themselves two idols cast in the shape of calves,^(O) and an Asherah^(P) pole. They bowed down to all the starry hosts,^(Q) and they worshiped Baal.^{(R) 17} They sacrificed^(S) their sons and daughters in the fire. They practiced divination and sought omens^(T) and sold^(U) themselves to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his anger.

¹⁸ So the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them from his presence.^(V) Only the tribe of Judah was left, ¹⁹ and even Judah did not keep the commands of the Lord their God. They followed the practices Israel had introduced.^{(W) 20} Therefore the Lord rejected all the people of Israel; he afflicted them and gave them into the hands of plunderers,^(X) until he thrust them from his presence.^(Y)

²¹ When he tore^(Z) Israel away from the house of David, they made Jeroboam son of Nebat their king.^(AA) Jeroboam enticed Israel away from following the Lord and caused them to commit a great sin.^{(AB) 22} The Israelites persisted in all the sins of Jeroboam and did not turn away from them ²³ until the Lord removed them from his presence,^(AC) as he had warned^(AD) through all his servants the prophets. So the people of Israel were taken from their homeland^(AE) into exile in Assyria, and they are still there.

¹³ He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him take an oath^(A) in God’s name. He became stiff-necked^(B) and hardened his heart and would not turn to the Lord, the God of Israel. ¹⁴ Furthermore, all the leaders of the priests and the people became more and more unfaithful,^(C) following all the detestable practices of the nations and defiling the temple of the Lord, which he had consecrated in Jerusalem.

The Fall of Jerusalem^(D)(E)

¹⁵ The Lord, the God of their ancestors, sent word to them through his messengers^(F) again and again,^(G) because he had pity on his people and on his dwelling place. ¹⁶ But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his words and scoffed^(H) at his prophets until the wrath^(I) of the Lord was aroused against his people and there was no remedy.^{(J) 17} He brought up against them the king of the Babylonians,^[a](K) who killed their young men with the sword in the sanctuary, and did not spare young men^(L) or young women, the elderly or the infirm.^(M) God gave them all into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar.^{(N) 18} He carried to Babylon all the articles^(O) from the temple of God, both large and small, and the treasures of the Lord’s temple and the treasures of the king and his officials. ¹⁹ They set fire^(P) to God’s temple^(Q) and broke down the wall^(R) of Jerusalem; they burned all the palaces and destroyed^(S) everything of value there.^(T)

²⁰ He carried into exile^(U) to Babylon the remnant, who escaped from the sword, and they became servants^(V) to him and his successors until the kingdom of Persia came to power. ²¹ The land enjoyed its sabbath rests;^(W) all the time of its desolation it rested,^(X) until the seventy years^(Y) were completed in fulfillment of the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah.