6-8 And then the People of Israel went back to doing evil in God’s sight. They worshiped the Baal gods and Ashtoreth goddesses: gods of Aram, Sidon, and Moab; gods of the Ammonites and the Philistines. They just walked off and left God, quit worshiping him. And God exploded in hot anger at Israel and sold them off to the Philistines and Ammonites, who, beginning that year, bullied and battered the People of Israel mercilessly. For eighteen years they had them under their thumb, all the People of Israel who lived east of the Jordan in the Amorite country of Gilead.

Then the Ammonites crossed the Jordan to go to war also against Judah, Benjamin, and Ephraim. Israel was in a bad way!

10 The People of Israel cried out to God for help: “We’ve sinned against you! We left our God and worshiped the Baal gods!”

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who that year shattered and crushed them. For eighteen years they oppressed all the Israelites on the east side of the Jordan in Gilead,(A) the land of the Amorites. The Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah,(B) Benjamin and Ephraim;(C) Israel was in great distress. 10 Then the Israelites cried(D) out to the Lord, “We have sinned(E) against you, forsaking our God and serving the Baals.”(F)

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