2 Chronicles 24:18

24:18 They abandoned the temple of the Lord God of their ancestors, ¹  and worshiped ²  the Asherah poles and idols. Because of this sinful activity, God was angry with Judah and Jerusalem.

2 Chronicles 34:24-25

34:24 “This is what the Lord says: ‘I am about to bring disaster on this place and its residents, the details of which are recorded in the scroll which they read before the king of Judah. 34:25 This will happen because they have abandoned me and offered sacrifices ³  to other gods, angering me with all the idols they have made. ⁴  My anger will ignite against this place and will not be extinguished!’”

2 Chronicles 36:14-16

36:14 All the leaders of the priests and people became more unfaithful and committed the same horrible sins practiced by the nations. ⁵  They defiled the Lord’s temple which he had consecrated in Jerusalem.

The Babylonians Destroy Jerusalem

36:15 The Lord God of their ancestors ⁶  continually warned them through his messengers, ⁷  for he felt compassion for his people and his dwelling place. 36:16 But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his warnings, ⁸  and ridiculed his prophets. ⁹  Finally the Lord got very angry at his people and there was no one who could prevent his judgment. ¹⁰ 

Deuteronomy 28:15-20

Curses as Reversal of Blessings

28:15 “But if you ignore ¹¹  the Lord your God and are not careful to keep all his commandments and statutes I am giving you today, then all these curses will come upon you in full force: ¹²  28:16 You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the field. 28:17 Your basket and your mixing bowl will be cursed. 28:18 Your children ¹³  will be cursed, as well as the produce of your soil, the calves of your herds, and the lambs of your flocks. 28:19 You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out. ¹⁴ 

Curses by Disease and Drought

28:20 “The Lord will send on you a curse, confusing you and opposing you ¹⁵  in everything you undertake ¹⁶  until you are destroyed and quickly perish because of the evil of your deeds, in that you have forsaken me. ¹⁷ 

¹ tn Heb “fathers” (also in v. 24).

² tn Heb “served.”

³ tn Or “burned incense.”

⁴ tn Heb “angering me with all the work of their hands.” The present translation assumes this refers to idols they have manufactured (note the preceding reference to “other gods”). However, it is possible that this is a general reference to their sinful practices, in which case one might translate, “angering me by all the things they do.”

⁵ tn Heb “like the abominable practices of the nations.”

⁶ tn Heb “fathers.”

⁷ tn Heb “and the Lord God of their fathers sent against them by the hand of his messengers, getting up early and sending.”

⁸ tn Heb “his words.”

⁹ tn All three verbal forms (“mocked,” “despised,” and “ridiculed”) are active participles in the Hebrew text, indicating continual or repeated action. They made a habit of rejecting God’s prophetic messengers.

¹⁰ tn Heb “until the anger of the Lord went up against his people until there was no healer.”

¹¹ tn Heb “do not hear the voice of.”

¹² tn Heb “and overtake you” (so NIV, NRSV); NAB, NLT “and overwhelm you.”

¹³ tn Heb “the fruit of your womb” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV).

¹⁴ sn See note on the similar expression in v. 6.

¹⁵ tn Heb “the curse, the confusion, and the rebuke” (NASB and NIV similar); NRSV “disaster, panic, and frustration.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “in all the stretching out of your hand.”

¹⁷ tc For the MT first person common singular suffix (“me”), the LXX reads either “Lord” (Lucian) or third person masculine singular suffix (“him”; various codices). The MT’s more difficult reading probably represents the original text.