Judges 2:13 Made Simple

KJV ORIGINAL

And they forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtaroth.

Close to the original. Clear modern English.

✦ MADE SIMPLE

They abandoned the LORD and worshiped Baal and Ashtaroth instead.

⚡ THE BOTTOM LINE

The Israelites turned away from God and chose to worship the false gods of the surrounding nations.

📚 Historical Context

In the book of Judges, which describes the period after Joshua led the Israelites into the Promised Land, the people of Israel repeatedly abandoned their covenant with God due to their interactions with the surrounding Canaanite cultures. They began adopting the worship of local deities like Baal, a god of storms and fertility, and Ashtaroth, a goddess associated with love and war, as they intermarried and settled among these nations. This pattern of unfaithfulness triggered a cycle of divine judgment, oppression by enemies, and eventual rescue by God-appointed judges.

Explore Similar Verses

1 Kings 11:33

Because they have abandoned me and worshiped Ashtoreth, the goddess of the people of Sidon, Chemosh, the god of the Moabites, and Milcom, the god of the Ammonites. They have not followed my ways or done what is right in my sight, and they have not kept my laws and commands like David his father did.

1 Kings 11:5

Solomon began worshipping Ashtoreth, the goddess of the people of Sidon, and Milcom, the detestable idol of the Ammonites.

Judges 10:6

The people of Israel did what was wrong in God's eyes again. They worshiped Baal and Ashtaroth, along with the gods of Syria, Sidon, Moab, the Ammonites, and the Philistines. They abandoned the LORD and stopped serving him.

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