¹³ So the Lord made sure that every prophet warned Israel and Judah with these words: “I, the Lord, command you to stop doing sinful things and start obeying my laws and teachings! I gave them to your ancestors, and I told my servants the prophets to repeat them to you.”

¹⁴ But the Israelites would not listen; they were as stubborn as their ancestors who had refused to worship the Lord their God. ¹⁵ They ignored the Lord's warnings and commands, and they rejected the solemn agreement he had made with their ancestors. They worshiped worthless idols and became worthless themselves. The Lord had told the Israelites not to do the things that the foreign nations around them were doing, but Israel became just like them.

^16 (A) The people of Israel disobeyed all the commands of the Lord their God. They made two gold statues of calves and set up a sacred pole for Asherah; they also worshiped the stars and the god Baal. ^17 (B) They used magic and witchcraft and even sacrificed their own children. The Israelites were determined to do whatever the Lord hated. ¹⁸ The Lord became so furious with the people of Israel that he allowed them to be carried away as prisoners.

Only the people living in Judah were left,

¹⁵ But the Lord God felt sorry for his people, and instead of destroying the temple, he sent prophets who warned the people over and over about their sins.

¹⁶ But the people only laughed and insulted these prophets. They ignored what the Lord God was trying to tell them, until he finally became so angry that nothing could stop him from punishing Judah and Jerusalem.