Religious Conditions During the Time of the Judges

2 The Angel of the Lord^[a] went up from Gilgal to Bokim, and he said, “I brought you up out of Egypt, and I brought you to the land that I swore to give to your fathers. I said, ‘I will not break my covenant with you, forever. ² As for you, do not make a covenant with the people living in this land. You must tear down their altars.’ But you did not listen to my voice. What is this you have done? ³ So I say, ‘I will not drive them out before you, but they will be traps for you, and their gods will be a snare to you.’”

⁴ When the Angel of the Lord spoke these things to all the people of Israel, the people lifted up their voices and wept loudly. ⁵ They named that place Bokim,^[b] and they sacrificed to the Lord there.

⁶ When Joshua dismissed the people, each of the descendants of Israel went to his own inheritance to take possession of the land. ⁷ The people served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, those who had seen all the great deeds that the Lord had done for Israel.

⁸ Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of one hundred ten years. ⁹ They buried him within the borders of his inheritance, in Timnath Heres,^[c] in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Ga’ash.

The Cycle

¹⁰ After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them, who did not know the Lord or the deeds that he had done for Israel. ¹¹ The people of Israel committed evil in the eyes of the Lord. They served the Baals, ¹² and 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. They bowed down to them, and they angered the Lord. ¹³ They abandoned the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtartes.^[d]

¹⁴ So the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and he delivered them into the hand of raiders, who plundered them. He sold them into the hand of their enemies around them, and they were not able to stand up in the face of their enemies. ¹⁵ Whenever the men of Israel went out, the hand of the Lord was against them to bring disaster on them, just as the Lord had said to them and just as the Lord had sworn to them. So they were greatly distressed.

¹⁶ Nevertheless, the Lord raised up judges,^[e] who saved them from the hand of those who plundered them, ¹⁷ but they did not listen even to the judges! Instead, they prostituted themselves to other gods and bowed down to them. They quickly turned from the way in which their fathers, who had obeyed the commands of the Lord, had once walked. This generation did not act the same way their fathers had acted.

¹⁸ Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for them, the Lord was with that judge and saved them from their enemies during all the days of that judge, because the Lord had compassion when he heard their groaning under their tormenters and oppressors.

¹⁹ But then, after the death of the judge, Israel would turn back and become more corrupt than their fathers by going after other gods, by serving them, and by worshipping them. They refused to let go of their practices and their shameless ways.

²⁰ So the anger of the Lord burned against Israel. He said, “Because this nation has violated my covenant, which I commanded to their fathers, and because they did not obey my voice, ²¹ I will no longer drive out from among them a single one of the nations that Joshua left unconquered when he died. ²² I will do this in order to test Israel by means of them. Will Israel keep the way of the Lord and walk upon it as their fathers kept it, or not?” ²³ So the Lord gave those nations a reprieve, and he did not drive them out quickly. He did not hand them over to Joshua.