⁷ Above all, be strong and very courageous to observe carefully the whole instruction my servant Moses commanded you.^(A) Do not turn from it to the right or the left, so that you will have success wherever you go.

⁶ “Be very strong^(A) and continue obeying all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, so that you do not turn from it to the right or left

⁵⁸ so that he causes us to be devoted^[a] to him,^(A) to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commands, statutes, and ordinances, which he commanded our ancestors.

¹⁵ They rejected his statutes and his covenant he had made with their ancestors^(A) and the warnings he had given them. They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves,^(B) following the surrounding nations the Lord had commanded them not to imitate.^(C)

⁷ Our guilt has been terrible from the days of our ancestors until the present. Because of our iniquities we have been handed over, along with our kings and priests, to the surrounding kings, and to the sword, captivity, plundering, and open shame,^(A) as it is today.

Judgment on Judah

⁴ The Lord says:

⁸ “You, on the other hand, have turned from the way.^(A) You have caused many to stumble^(B) by your instruction. You have violated^[a] the covenant of Levi,” says the Lord of Armies.