And the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals.
Parallel translations
- WEB The children of Israel did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, and served the Baals.
- KJV And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim:
- NKJV Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served the Baals;
- NASB Then the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals,
- NLT The Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight and served the images of Baal.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Israel does evil in the LORD's sight and serves the Baals. It matters as the opening of the tragic cycle of sin that defines Judges.
Overview
The ignorant generation turns to the Baals, the Canaanite fertility gods, doing evil before Yahweh. This phrase will recur throughout the book as the trigger of each cycle. Israel's idolatry shows the heart's drift from the living God, the very condition the gospel addresses by turning sinners back to the true God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 19
- Judg 6:1Again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD; so He delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years,
- Judg 10:6And again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD. They served the Baals, the Ashtoreths, the gods of Aram, Sidon, and Moab, and the gods of the Ammonites and Philistines. Thus they forsook the LORD and did not serve Him.
- Judg 3:7So the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD; they forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs.
- Judg 4:1After Ehud died, the Israelites again did evil in the sight of the LORD.
- Judg 8:33And as soon as Gideon was dead, the Israelites turned and prostituted themselves with the Baals, and they set up Baal-berith as their god.
- 1 Kgs 18:18“I have not troubled Israel,” Elijah replied, “but you and your father’s house have, for you have forsaken the commandments of the LORD and have followed the Baals.
- Judg 13:1Again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD, so He delivered them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.
- 1 Sam 7:4So the Israelites put away the Baals and Ashtoreths and served only the LORD.
- Judg 3:12Once again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD. So He gave Eglon king of Moab power over Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the LORD.
- Judg 10:10Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD, saying, “We have sinned against You, for we have indeed forsaken our God and served the Baals.”
- Jer 2:23“How can you say, ‘I am not defiled; I have not run after the Baals’? Look at your behavior in the valley; acknowledge what you have done. You are a swift young she-camel galloping here and there,
- 2 Chr 28:2Instead, he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and even made cast images of the Baals.
- 2 Chr 33:2–3And he did evil in the sight of the LORD by following the abominations of the nations that the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.
- Jer 9:14Instead, they have followed the stubbornness of their hearts and gone after the Baals, as their fathers taught them.”
- 2 Chr 33:6He sacrificed his sons in the fire in the Valley of Hinnom. He practiced sorcery, divination, and witchcraft, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did great evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger.
- Ezra 8:12from the descendants of Azgad, Johanan son of Hakkatan, and with him 110 men;
- Gen 38:7But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD; so the LORD put him to death.
- Gen 13:13But the men of Sodom were wicked, sinning greatly against the LORD.
- Hos 2:13–17I will punish her for the days of the Baals when she burned incense to them, when she decked herself with rings and jewelry, and went after her lovers. But Me she forgot,” declares the LORD.
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Christ at the center
Israel's cycle of sin and rescue through flawed deliverers cries out for a Savior who never fails — the true and final Judge and Deliverer who saves his people not for a season but forever.
How Judges 2:11 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.