They abandoned the Lord and worshiped Baal and the Ashtars. ¹ 

After Gideon died, the Israelites again prostituted themselves to the Baals. They made Baal-Berith ¹  their god.

The Israelites did evil before ¹  the Lord by worshiping ²  the Baals.

That very day Gideon’s father named him Jerub-Baal, ¹  because he had said, “Let Baal fight with him, for it was his altar that was pulled down.”

Then Jerub-Baal son of Joash went home and settled down. ¹ 

The Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight. ¹  They forgot the Lord their God and worshiped the Baals and the Asherahs. ² 

The Israelites cried out for help to the Lord: “We have sinned against you. We abandoned our God and worshiped ¹  the Baals.”

They paid him seventy silver shekels out of the temple of Baal-Berith. Abimelech then used the silver to hire some lawless, dangerous ¹  men as his followers. ² 

But Joash said to all those who confronted him, ¹  “Must you fight Baal’s battles? ²  Must you rescue him? Whoever takes up his cause ³  will die by morning! ⁴  If he really is a god, let him fight his own battles! ⁵  After all, it was his altar that was pulled down.” ⁶ 

He went to his father’s home in Ophrah and murdered his half-brothers, ¹  the seventy legitimate ²  sons of Jerub-Baal, on one stone. Only Jotham, Jerub-Baal’s youngest son, escaped, ³  because he hid.

When the men of the city got up the next morning, they saw ¹  the Baal altar pulled down, the nearby Asherah pole cut down, and the second bull sacrificed on the newly built altar.

The men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son, so we can execute him! ¹  He pulled down the Baal altar and cut down the nearby Asherah pole.”

These were the nations: ¹  the five lords of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites living in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal Hermon to Lebo-Hamath. ² 

¹  All the men of Israel got up from their places and took their positions at Baal Tamar, while the Israelites hiding in ambush jumped out of their places west of Gibeah.

They did not treat ¹  the family of Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) fairly in return for all the good he had done for Israel.

So if you have shown loyalty and integrity to Jerub-Baal and his family ¹  today, then may Abimelech bring you happiness and may you bring him happiness! ² 

God also repaid the men of Shechem for their evil deeds. The curse spoken by Jotham son of Jerub-Baal fell ¹  on them.

That night the Lord said to him, “Take the bull from your father’s herd, as well as a second bull, one that is seven years old. ¹  Pull down your father’s Baal altar and cut down the nearby Asherah pole.

The Israelites again did evil in the Lord’s sight. ¹  They worshiped ²  the Baals and the Ashtars, ³  as well as the gods of Syria, Sidon, ⁴  Moab, the Ammonites, and the Philistines. ⁵  They abandoned the Lord and did not worship ⁶  him.

Now Abimelech son of Jerub-Baal went to Shechem to see his mother’s relatives. ¹  He said to them and to his mother’s entire extended family, ²