²⁵ Then people will answer, ‘It is because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, which he had made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt. ²⁶ They began to serve other gods, bowing in worship to gods they had not known^(A)—gods that the Lord had not permitted them to worship.^{(B) 27} Therefore the Lord’s anger burned against this land, and he brought every curse written in this book on it.