Judah also did not keep the commandments of the LORD their God but walked in the customs that Israel had done — the verse clarifies that Judah's spiritual condition is similarly compromised: Judah also failed to keep divine commandments and adopted Israel's practices. Yet Judah's case is distinguished in verse 18: despite equal apostasy, Judah is not deported but retained. This theological asymmetry—Judah survives despite equal apostasy—suggests that the Davidic covenant provides Judah with a reprieve unavailable to Israel. The northern kingdom, built on schismatic rejection of the Davidic promise, lacks this covenantal reserve.

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