They forsook the Lord and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.
Parallel translations
- WEB They abandoned Yahweh, and served Baal and the Ashtaroth.
- KJV And they forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtaroth.
- BSB for they forsook Him 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 10:6The children of Israel again did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, and served the Baals, the Ashtaroth, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines. They abandoned Yahweh, and didn’t serve him.
- Ps 106:36They served their idols, which became a snare to them.
- Judg 3:7The children of Israel did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, and forgot Yahweh their God, and served the Baals and the Asheroth.
- 1 Cor 10:20–22But I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God, and I don’t desire that you would have fellowship with demons.
- Judg 2:11The children of Israel did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, and served the Baals.
- 1 Sam 31:10They put his armor in the house of the Ashtaroth, and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth Shan.
- 2 Kgs 23:13The king defiled the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mountain of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon.
- 1 Kgs 11:33because that they have forsaken me, and have worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of the children of Ammon. They have not walked in my ways, to do that which is right in my eyes, and to keep my statutes and my ordinances, as David his father did.
- 1 Cor 8:5For though there are things that are called “gods”, whether in the heavens or on earth; as there are many “gods” and many “lords”;
- 1 Kgs 11:5For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, 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.