6 Bible Verses about Backsliding, Israel Exanples

And all the community of the {Israelites} set out from the desert of Sin for their journeys according to the command of Yahweh, and they camped in Rephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink. And the people quarreled with Moses, and they said, "Give us water so that we can drink." And Moses said to them, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test Yahweh?" And the people thirsted for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, "Why {ever} did you bring us up from Egypt to kill me and my sons and my cattle with thirst?"read more.
And Moses cried out to Yahweh, saying, "What will I do with this people? A little longer and they will stone me." And Yahweh said to Moses, "Go on before the people and take with you [some] from the elders of Israel, and the staff with which you struck the Nile take in your hand, and go. Look, I [will be] standing before you there on the rock in Horeb, and you will strike the rock, and water will come out from it, and the people will drink." And Moses did so before the eyes of the elders of Israel. And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah because of the quarrel of the {Israelites} and because of their testing Yahweh [by] saying, "Is Yahweh in our midst or not?"

And the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, and the people gathered opposite Aaron, and they said to him, "Come, make for us gods who will go before us, because this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him." And Aaron said to them, "Take off the rings of gold that [are] on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring [it] to me." And all the people took off the rings of gold that [were] on their ears and brought [it] to Aaron.read more.
And he took from their hand, and he shaped it with a tool, and he made it a cast-image bull calf, and they said, "These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt." And Aaron saw, and he built an altar before it, and Aaron called, and he said, "A feast for Yahweh tomorrow." And they started early the next day, and they offered burnt offerings, and they presented fellowship offerings, and the people sat to eat and drink, and they rose up to revel. And Yahweh spoke to Moses, "Go, go down because your people behave corruptly, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt. They have turned aside quickly from the way that I commanded them; they have made for themselves a cast-image bull calf, and they bowed to it, and they sacrificed to it, and they said, 'These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.'" And Yahweh said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and, indeed, they [are] a stiff-necked people. And now leave me [alone] so that {my anger may blaze} against them, and let me destroy them, and I will make you into a great nation." And Moses {implored Yahweh} his God, and he said, "Why, Yahweh, should {your anger blaze} against your people whom you brought up from the land of Egypt with great power and with a strong hand? Why should [the] Egyptians {say}, 'With evil [intent] he brought them out to kill them in the mountains and wipe them from the face of the earth'? Turn from {your fierce anger} and relent concerning the disaster for your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by yourself, and you told them, 'I will multiply your offspring like the stars of the heavens, and all this land that I promised I will give to your offspring, and they will inherit [it] forever.'" And Yahweh relented concerning the disaster that he had {threatened} to do to his people. And Moses turned and went down from the mountain, and the two tablets of the testimony [were] in his hand, tablets written on their two sides; {on the front and on the back} they were written. And the tablets, they [were] the work of God; and the writing, it [was] the writing of God engraved on the tablets. And Joshua heard the sound of the people in their shouting, and he said to Moses, "A sound of war [is] in the camp." But he said, "There is not a sound of shouting of victory, and there is not a sound of shouting of defeat. I hear a sound of singing." {And} as he came near to the camp, he saw the bull calf and dancing, and {Moses became angry}, and he threw the tablets from his hand, and he broke them under the mountain. And he took the bull calf that they had made, and he burned [it] with the fire, and he crushed [it] until it became fine, and he scattered [it] on the surface of the water, and he made the {Israelites} drink. And Moses said to Aaron, "What did this people do to you that you brought on them [such] a great sin?" And Aaron said, "{Let not my lord become angry}. You yourself know the people, that {they are intent on evil}. And they said to me, 'Make for us gods who will go before us, because this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.' And I said to them, 'Whoever [has] gold, take [it] off.' And they gave [it] to me, and I threw it in the fire, and out came this bull calf." And Moses saw the people, that they [were] running wild because Aaron had allowed them to run wild, for a laughingstock among {their enemies}. And Moses stood at the entrance of the camp, and he said, "Whoever [is] for Yahweh, to me." And all the sons of Levi were gathered to him. And he said to them, "Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, 'Put each his sword on his side. Go {back and forth} from gate to gate in the camp, and kill, each his brother and each his friend and each his close relative.'" And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses, and from the people on that day about three thousand persons fell. And Moses said, "{You are ordained} today for Yahweh, because each [has been] against his son and against his brother and so bringing on you today a blessing." {And} the next day Moses said to the people, "You have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to Yahweh. Perhaps I can make atonement for your sin." And Moses returned to Yahweh, and he said, "Alas, this people has sinned a great sin and made for themselves gods of gold. And now if you will forgive their sin--and if not, please blot me from your scroll that you have written." And Yahweh said to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against me I will blot him from my scroll. And now go, lead the people to where I spoke to you. Look, my angel will go before you, and on the day [when] I punish I will punish them [for] their sin." And Yahweh afflicted the people because they had made the bull calf that Aaron had made.

And they {craved intensely} in the wilderness, and tested God in [the] desert. So he gave to them their request, but he sent leanness into their souls. And they were jealous of Moses in the camp, [and] of Aaron, the holy one of Yahweh.read more.
[The] earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, and it covered over the gang of Abiram. Also fire burned in their assembly; [the] flame devoured [the] wicked. They made a calf at Horeb and bowed down to a cast image. And [so] they exchanged their glory for an image of an ox that eats grass. They forgot God their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt, wonders in the land of Ham, awesome deeds by {the Red Sea}. So he said he would exterminate them, had not Moses, his chosen one, stood in the breach before him, to reverse his wrath from destroying [them]. Then they refused the desirable land; they did not believe his word, but grumbled in their tents. They did not obey the voice of Yahweh. So {he made an oath} against them, to make them drop in the wilderness, and to disperse their {descendants} among the nations and to scatter them among the lands. They also attached themselves to Baal of Peor, and they ate sacrifices offered to [the] dead. Thus they provoked to anger by their deeds, and a plague broke out among them. Then Phinehas stood up and intervened, and [so] the plague was stopped, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness {throughout all generations}. They also angered [God] at the waters of Meribah, and it went badly for Moses on account of them, because they rebelled against his Spirit, and he spoke thoughtlessly with his lips.

And Joshua son of Nun, servant of Yahweh, died {at the age of one hundred and ten years}. They buried him within the border of his inheritance in Timnah-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim north of Mount Gaash. Moreover, that entire generation was gathered to their ancestors, and another generation grew up after them who did not know Yahweh or the work he had done for Israel.read more.
The {Israelites} did evil in the eyes of Yahweh, and {they served} the Baals. They abandoned Yahweh the God of their ancestors, who brought them out from the land of Egypt. They {followed} other gods from the gods of the people who [were] around them; and they bowed down to them, and they provoked the anger of Yahweh. They abandoned Yahweh, and they served Baal and the Ashtaroth. So {the anger of Yahweh was kindled} against Israel, and he gave them into the hand of plunderers; and they plundered them, and he sold them into the hand of their enemies from all sides. They were unable to withstand their enemies any longer. {Whenever} they went out, the hand of Yahweh was against them to harm [them], just as Yahweh warned, and just as Yahweh had sworn to them. And {they were very distressed}. Then Yahweh raised up leaders, and they delivered them from the hand of their plunderers. But they did not listen to their leaders, but lusted after other gods and bowed down to them. They turned away quickly from the way that their ancestors went, who had obeyed the commandment of Yahweh; they did not do [as their ancestors]. And when Yahweh raised leaders for them, Yahweh was with the leader, and he delivered them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the leader, for Yahweh was moved by their groaning because of their persecutors and oppressors. But when the leader died they relapsed and acted corruptly, more than their ancestors, following other gods, serving them, and bowing down to them. They would not give up their deeds or their stubborn ways. {So the anger of Yahweh burned} against Israel, and he said, "Because this people transgressed my covenant that I commanded their ancestors, and have not obeyed my voice, I will not again drive out anyone from before them from the nations that Joshua left when he died, in order to test Israel whether or not they would observe the way of Yahweh, to walk in it just as their ancestors did." So Yahweh left those nations; he did not drive them out at once, and he did not give them into the hand of Joshua.

They did not exterminate the peoples, as Yahweh had commanded them, but they mingled with the nations and learned their works, and served their idols, which became a snare to them.read more.
They even sacrificed their sons and daughters to the demons, and they poured out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and [so] the land was defiled with the blood. And they became unclean by their works, and were unfaithful in their deeds. So Yahweh's anger burned against his people, and he abhorred his inheritance. Then he gave them into [the] hand of [the] nations, and those who hated them ruled over them. And their enemies oppressed them, and they were subdued under their hand. Many times he delivered them, but they rebelled in their counsel, and were brought low by their iniquity.

Did not King Solomon of Israel sin in this way? And among the many nations there was no king like him, and he was beloved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel. Yet the foreign women made even him sin.