Judges 2

¹Now the angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bochim . And he said , I brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers . I said , I will never break my covenant with you,

²and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land ; you shall break down their altars . But you have not obeyed my voice . What is this you have done ?

³So now I say , I will not drive them out before you, but they shall become thorns in your sides , and their gods shall be a snare to you.

⁴As soon as the angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the people of Israel , the people lifted up their voices and wept .

⁵And they called the name of that place Bochim . And they sacrificed there to the Lord.

⁶When Joshua dismissed the people , the people of Israel went each to his inheritance to take possession of the land .

⁷And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua , and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua , who had seen all the great work that the Lord had done for Israel .

⁸And Joshua the son of Nun , the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110 years .

⁹And they buried him within the boundaries of his inheritance in Timnath-heres , in the hill country of Ephraim , north of the mountain of Gaash .

¹⁰And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers . And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel .

¹¹And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals .

¹²And they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers , who had brought them out of the land of Egypt . They went after other gods , from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked the Lord to anger .

¹³They abandoned the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth .

¹⁴So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel , and he gave them over to plunderers , who plundered them. And he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies , so that they could no longer withstand their enemies .

¹⁵Whenever they marched out , the hand of the Lord was against them for harm , as the Lord had warned , and as the Lord had sworn to them. And they were in terrible distress .

¹⁶Then the Lord raised up judges , who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them.

¹⁷Yet they did not listen to their judges , for they whored after other gods and bowed down to them. They soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked , who had obeyed the commandments of the Lord, and they did not do so .

¹⁸Whenever the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge , and he saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge . For the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who afflicted and oppressed them.

¹⁹But whenever the judge died , they turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers , going after other gods , serving them and bowing down to them. They did not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways .

²⁰So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel , and he said , Because this people have transgressed my covenant that I commanded their fathers and have not obeyed my voice ,

²¹I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations that Joshua left when he died ,

²²in order to test Israel by them, whether they will take care to walk in the way of the Lord as their fathers did , or not .

²³So the Lord left those nations , not driving them out quickly , and he did not give them into the hand of Joshua .