Judges 10:13

But you have forsaken Me and served other gods, so I will no longer save you.

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — God addresses Israel through a prophetic voice immediately after their repeated cries for deliverance from foreign oppressors. The speech follows a direct rhetorical question about past rescues and precedes a command to appeal to their chosen deities.

The words — The Hebrew עֲזַבְתֶּם ('azavtem) literally means "you have forsaken," paired with וַתַּעַבְדוּ (vata'avadu), "you have served," which together state the factual sequence of covenant abandonment. The conjunction לָכֵן (lakhen) = "therefore" introduces the resulting divine refusal to intervene.

The thread — The identical pattern of leaving God for foreign gods appears in Judges 2:12 and is restated in Jeremiah 2:13, where the same dual failure is described as exchanging a living source for broken vessels.

Why it lands — The text states that rescue is withdrawn when covenant loyalty is replaced by idolatry, requiring the reader to recognize that repeated appeals cannot override a declared cessation of deliverance. It demands a clear-eyed assessment of cause and effect without offering comfort for continued rebellion.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

וְאַתֶּם֙ve./'a.Temand/ you עֲזַבְתֶּ֣ם'a.zav.Temyou have forsaken אוֹתִ֔י'o.T/i<obj.>/ me וַתַּעַבְד֖וּva./ta.'av.Duand/ you have served אֱלֹהִ֣ים'E.lo.Himgods אֲחֵרִ֑ים'a.che.Rimother לָכֵ֥ןla./Khen<to>/ therefore לֹֽא־lo'-not אוֹסִ֖יף'o.SifI will repeat לְהוֹשִׁ֥יעַle./ho.Shi.a'to/ deliver אֶתְכֶֽם׃'et./Khem<obj.>/ you

King James Version

Yet ye have forsaken me, and served other gods: wherefore I will deliver you no more.

Cross-references

Jeremiah 2:13 “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living water, and they have dug their own cisterns—broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
1 Chronicles 28:9 As for you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve Him wholeheartedly and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands the intent of every thought. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.
Judges 2:12 Thus they forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they followed after various gods of the peoples around them. They bowed down to them and provoked the LORD to anger,
Jonah 2:8 Those who cling to worthless idols forsake His loving devotion.
Deuteronomy 32:15 But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked—becoming fat, bloated, and gorged. He abandoned the God who made him and scorned the Rock of his salvation.