Bible Strands
Judges 8:33
And as soon as Gideon was dead, the Israelites turned and prostituted themselves with the Baals, and they set up Baal-berith as their god.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Immediately after Gideon dies and is buried in Ophrah, the Israelites abandon their covenant loyalty and establish Baal-berith as their deity.
The words — וַ/יָּשׁ֙וּבוּ֙ (va/i.ya.Shu.vu) indicates a reversal of direction, and וַ/יִּזְנ֖וּ (va/i.yiz.Nu) carries the literal sense of acting as prostitutes to describe their covenant unfaithfulness.
The thread — This immediate post-leadership apostasy pattern appears in Judges 2:19, and the specific institutionalization of Baal-berith is documented in Judges 9:4 and Judges 9:46.
Why it lands — The text demands the reader note that national covenant fidelity collapses the moment the judge dies, directly precipitating the failure to remember the LORD recorded in Judges 8:34.
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
King James Version
And it came to pass, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel turned again, and went a whoring after Baalim, and made Baal–berith their god.
Cross-references
- Judges 9:4 So they gave him seventy shekels of silver from the temple of Baal-berith, with which Abimelech hired some worthless and reckless men to follow him.
- Judges 2:19 But when the judge died, the Israelites became even more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods to serve them and bow down to them. They would not give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.
- Judges 9:46 On hearing of this, all the leaders in the tower of Shechem entered the inner chamber of the temple of El-berith.
- Judges 2:17 Israel, however, did not listen to their judges. Instead, they prostituted themselves with other gods and bowed down to them. They quickly turned from the way of their fathers, who had walked in obedience to the LORD’s commandments; they did not do as their fathers had done.
- Judges 8:27 From all this Gideon made an ephod, which he placed in Ophrah, his hometown. But soon all Israel prostituted themselves by worshiping it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his household.
- Exodus 34:15 Do not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you, and you will eat their sacrifices.
- 2 Chronicles 24:17 After the death of Jehoiada, however, the officials of Judah came and paid homage to the king, and he listened to them.
- Jeremiah 3:9 Indifferent to her own infidelity, Israel had defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees.
- Joshua 24:31 Israel had served the LORD throughout the days of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had experienced all the works that the LORD had done for Israel.
- Judges 2:7 And the people served the LORD throughout the days of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him, who had seen all the great works that the LORD had done for Israel.