7 For ^aso it was that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and they had ^bfeared other gods,  ‡

8 and ^ahad walked in the statutes of the nations whom the Lord had cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made.  ‡

14 Nevertheless they would not hear, but ^astiffened their necks, like the necks of their fathers, who ^bdid not believe in the Lord their God.  ‡

15 And they ^arejected His statutes ^band His covenant that He had made with their fathers, and His testimonies which He had testified against them; they followed ^cidols, ^dbecame idolaters, and went after the nations who were all around them, concerning whom the Lord had charged them that they should ^enot do like them.  ‡