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Psalm 106:36
They served their idols, which became a snare to them.
34They didn’t destroy the peoples, as the LORD commanded them,
35but mixed themselves with the nations, and learned their works.
36They served their idols, which became a snare to them.
37Yes, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons.
38They shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan. The land was polluted with blood.
Notice
The snare in Israel’s story exposes the danger of serving idols: devotion to them caught God’s people in practices that shed innocent blood.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What does the word “served” suggest about the hold these idols had on Israel?
Write on thisHow do the following verses about sacrificing children shape your reading of the word “snare”?
Write on thisWhere, if anywhere, do you see a rival to God gaining your obedience?
Write on thisConnect
Where else Scripture says this
12 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.
This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Judges 2:3Therefore I also said, ‘I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be in your sides, and their gods will be a snare to you.’”Judges warns that the nations’ gods will become a snare; the psalm recounts that snare taking hold through Israel’s service to idols.
Exodus 23:33They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me, for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”Exodus warns that serving the nations’ gods will become a snare, the same consequence the psalm records.
Deuteronomy 7:16You shall consume all the peoples whom the LORD your God shall deliver to you. Your eye shall not pity them. You shall not serve their gods; for that would be …Deuteronomy forbids serving the nations’ gods because they would become a snare; the psalm describes Israel doing so.
Judges 2:13They abandoned the LORD, and served Baal and the Ashtaroth.Both describe service to idols, with Judges naming Baal and the Ashtaroth and stating that Israel abandoned the LORD.
Judges 10:6The children of Israel again did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, and served the Baals, the Ashtaroth, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods …Judges names the many gods Israel served in abandoning the LORD; the psalm describes service to idols as a snare.
Psalm 78:58For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their engraved images.Both recount Israel’s involvement with idols; Psalm 78 names God’s anger and jealousy, while Psalm 106 names the snare.
Judges 2:12–15They abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the peoples who were …Both describe Israel turning to the gods of surrounding peoples, with Judges naming their bowing down and the psalm their service.
Exodus 34:12Be careful, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be for a snare among you;Both use the word snare for danger tied to the land’s inhabitants, though Exodus names covenants and the psalm names idols.
Ezekiel 16:15–63“‘“But you trusted in your beauty, and played the prostitute because of your renown, and poured out your prostitution on everyone who passed by. It was his.The shared thread is misplaced devotion: Ezekiel describes trust in beauty and prostitution, while the psalm names service to idols.
2 Chronicles 33:2–9He did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight, after the abominations of the nations whom the LORD cast out before the children of Israel.Both connect wrongdoing among God’s people with adopting the practices of the nations in the land.
Joshua 23:13know for a certainty that the LORD your God will no longer drive these nations from out of your sight; but they shall be a snare and a trap to you, a scourge …Joshua warns that the remaining nations will become a snare and trap; the psalm describes their idols becoming a snare.
2 Kings 17:8–11and walked in the statutes of the nations whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they made.Kings describes following the nations’ statutes; the psalm’s surrounding verses describe learning their works and serving their idols.
Where this verse fits
Temptation. guilt and confession. sermon or Bible study notes.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
You do not have to soften this warning. The verses that follow name the killing of children; the snare of idolatry reaches beyond those who serve it.
Now put it in your words.
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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).