And they forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtaroth.
Parallel translations
- WEB They abandoned Yahweh, and served Baal and the Ashtaroth.
- BSB for they forsook Him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.
- NKJV They forsook the Lord and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.
- NASB They abandoned the Lord and served Baal and the Ashtaroth.
- NLT They abandoned the Lord to serve Baal and the images of Ashtoreth.
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
They abandon the LORD and serve Baal and the Ashtoreth. It matters as a stark summary of their idolatry.
Overview
The verse names the specific deities, Baal and the Ashtaroth, the male and female Canaanite gods of storm and fertility. The blunt repetition of 'abandoned the LORD' emphasizes the totality of their defection. Such worship involved immoral and degrading practices, showing how forsaking God leads to bondage rather than freedom.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Judg 10:6And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim, and Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Zidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsook the LORD, and served not him.
- Ps 106:36And they served their idols: which were a snare unto them.
- Judg 3:7And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and forgat the LORD their God, and served Baalim and the groves.
- 1 Cor 10:20–22But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils.
- Judg 2:11And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim:
- 1 Sam 31:10And they put his armour in the house of Ashtaroth: and they fastened his body to the wall of Bethshan.
- 2 Kgs 23:13And the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had builded for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile.
- 1 Kgs 11:33Because that they have forsaken me, and have worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the children of Ammon, and have not walked in my ways, to do that which is right in mine eyes, and to keep my statutes and my judgments, as did David his father.
- 1 Cor 8:5For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,)
- 1 Kgs 11:5For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 2:13 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.