They went off and worshiped other gods. They bowed down to them. They hadn’t known anything about those gods before. The Lord hadn’t given those gods to them.

去侍奉敬拜素不认识的别神，是耶和华所未曾给他们安排的。

去事奉别神，敬拜他们所不认识的神明，这是耶和华未曾允许的。

去事奉别神，敬拜他们所不认识的神明，这是耶和华未曾允许的。

去供奉、祭拜他们所不认识、并非耶和华所分派的神明。

去事奉别的神，向他们叩拜，就是他们不认识的神，也是耶和华没有给他们指定要拜的神；

去事奉敬拜素不認識的別神，是耶和華所未曾給他們安排的。

去事奉別神，敬拜他們所不認識的神明，這是耶和華未曾允許的。

去事奉別神，敬拜他們所不認識的神明，這是耶和華未曾允許的。

去供奉、祭拜他們所不認識、並非耶和華所分派的神明。

去事奉別的神，向他們叩拜，就是他們不認識的神，也是耶和華沒有給他們指定要拜的神；

去事奉敬拜別的神；這些神是他們素來不認識的，是永恆主所沒有分給他們去敬拜的；

奉事崇拜他神、素所未識、耶和華亦未嘗聽其服從者、

從他上帝而崇奉之、然他上帝彼所未識、耶和華亦未嘗姑聽其服事、

往奉事叩拜異邦之神、即素所不識之神、主未嘗命彼奉事者、

They went off and worshiped other gods and bowed down to them, gods they did not know, gods he had not given them.

and went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods whom they had not known and whom he had not allotted to them.

Instead, they turned away to serve and worship gods they had not known before, gods that were not from the Lord.

They began to serve other gods, bowing in worship to gods they had not known— gods that the LORD had not permitted them to worship.

And they went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods that they have not known and whom He had not assigned to them.

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 went and served other gods, and worshipped them, gods that they knew not, and that he had not given unto them:

They began to worship other gods, bowing down to gods they had not known— gods that the Lord had not permitted them to worship.

For they went and served other gods, and worshipped them, gods whom they knew not, and[ whom] he had not given unto them:

They went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods they did not know and that he did not permit them to worship.

and went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods that they didn’t know and that he had not given to them.

Tell the people,‘ Listen to the Lord’ s message, you kings of Judah and people of Jerusalem. The Lord who rules over all is the God of Israel. He says,“ Listen! I am going to bring trouble on Jerusalem. It will be so horrible that it will make the ears of everyone who hears about it ring.My people have deserted me. They have made this city a place where other gods are worshiped. They have burned incense to them here. They, their people of long ago and the kings of Judah had never known these gods. My people have also filled this place with the blood of those who aren’t guilty.They have built the high places where they worship Baal. There they sacrifice their children in the fire as offerings to Baal. That is something I did not command or talk about. It did not even enter my mind.So watch out!” announces the Lord.“ The days are coming when people will not call this place Topheth anymore. And they will not call it the Valley of Ben Hinnom either. Instead, they will call it the Valley of Death.“‘ “In this place I will make the plans of Judah and Jerusalem as useless as a broken jar. I will use their enemies to kill my people by swords. They will die at the hands of those who want to take their lives. I will give their dead bodies as food to the birds and the wild animals.I will completely destroy this city. I will make it a horrible thing. People will make fun of it. All those who pass by it will be shocked. They will laugh at its people because of all their wounds.I will make the people of this city eat their sons and daughters. And they will eat one another. They will do this because things will be so bad during the attack. The enemies who want to take their lives will bring all this trouble on them.” ’“ Jeremiah, break the jar while those who go with you are watching.Tell them,‘ Here is what the Lord who rules over all says.“ This potter’s jar is smashed and can’t be repaired. And I will smash this nation and this city. People will bury their dead in Topheth. But they will run out of room.Here is what I will do to Jerusalem and those who live here,” ’ announces the Lord.‘“ I will make this city like Topheth.The houses in Jerusalem will be made‘ unclean’ like Topheth. So will the houses of the kings of Judah. All these people burned incense on their roofs to all the stars. They poured out drink offerings to other gods.” ’ ”

They deserted the Lord, the God of their people. He had brought them out of Egypt. But now the Israelites served other gods and worshiped them. They served the gods of the nations that were around them. They made the Lord angrybecause they deserted him. They served Baal. They also served female gods that were named Ashtoreth.

War came to the city gates. Then God chose new leaders. But no shields or spears were seen anywhere. There weren’t any among 40,000 men in Israel.

The Lord who rules over all is the God of Israel. He said,“ You saw all the trouble I brought on Jerusalem. I also brought it on all the towns in Judah. Today they lie there deserted and destroyed.That’s because of the evil things their people did. They made me very angry. They burned incense to other gods. And they worshiped them. They and you and your people of long ago never knew those gods.Again and again I sent my servants the prophets. They said,‘ Don’t worship other gods! The Lord hates it!’But the people didn’t listen. They didn’t pay any attention. They didn’t turn from their sinful ways. They didn’t stop burning incense to other gods.So my burning anger was poured out. It blazed out against the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. It made them the dry and empty places they are today.”

All of this took place because the Israelites had sinned against the Lord their God. He had brought them up out of Egypt. He had brought them out from under the power of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. But they worshiped other gods.The Lord had driven out other nations to make room for Israel. But they followed the evil practices of those nations. They also followed the practices that the kings of Israel had started.The Israelites did things in secret against the Lord their God. What they did wasn’t right. They built high places for worship in all their towns. They built them at lookout towers. They also built them at cities that had high walls around them.They set up sacred stones. And they set up poles used to worship the female god named Asherah. They did that on every high hill and under every green tree.The Lord had driven out nations to make room for Israel. But the Israelites burned incense at every high place, just as those nations had done. The Israelites did evil things that made the Lord very angry.They worshiped statues of gods. They did it even though the Lord had said,“ Do not do that.”The Lord warned Israel and Judah through all his prophets and seers. He said,“ Turn from your evil ways. Keep my commands and rules. Obey every part of my Law. I commanded your people who lived long ago to obey it. And I gave it to you through my servants the prophets.”But the people wouldn’t listen. They were as stubborn as their people of long ago had been. Those people didn’t trust in the Lord their God.They refused to obey his rules. They broke the covenant he had made with them. They didn’t pay any attention to the rules he had warned them to keep. They worshiped worthless statues of gods. Then they themselves became worthless. They followed the example of the nations around them. They did it even though the Lord had ordered them not to. He had said,“ Do not do as they do.”They turned away from all the commands of the Lord their God. They made two statues of gods for themselves. The statues were shaped like calves. They made a pole used to worship the female god named Asherah. They bowed down to all the stars. And they worshiped the god named Baal.They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire. They practiced all kinds of evil magic. They gave up following God’s rules. They did only what was evil in the eyes of the Lord. All these things made him very angry.So the Lord was very angry with Israel. He removed them from his land. Only the tribe of Judah was left.

Then the Lord will scatter you among all the nations. He’ll spread you around from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship statues of gods made out of wood and stone. You and your people of long ago hadn’t known anything about those gods.

He did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord his God. He didn’t pay any attention to the message the Lord spoke through Jeremiah the prophet.Zedekiah also refused to remain under the control of King Nebuchadnezzar. The king had forced Zedekiah to make a promise in God’s name. But Zedekiah’s heart became very stubborn. He wouldn’t turn to the Lord, the God of Israel.And that’s not all. The people and all the leaders of the priests became more and more unfaithful. They followed all the practices of the nations. The Lord hated those practices. The people and leaders made the Lord’ s temple“ unclean.” The Lord had set the temple in Jerusalem apart in a special way for himself.The Lord, the God of Israel, sent word to his people through his messengers. He sent it to them again and again. He took pity on his people. He also took pity on the temple where he lived.But God’s people made fun of his messengers. They hated his words. They laughed at his prophets. Finally the Lord’ s great anger was stirred up against his people. Nothing could save them.The Lord brought the king of the Babylonians against them. The Babylonian army killed their young people with their swords at the temple. They didn’t spare young men or young women. They didn’t spare the old people or weak people either. God handed all of them over to Nebuchadnezzar.