Judges 2

Israel Rebuked

1Now 1the angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to 2Bochim. And he said, “3I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land which I have sworn to your fathers; and I said, ‘4I will never break My covenant with you, 2and as for you, 5you shall not make a covenant with the inhabitants of this land; 6you shall tear down their altars.’ But you have not 7obeyed Me; what is this thing that you have done? 3Therefore I also said, ‘8I will not drive them out from you; but they will 9become 10like thorns in your sides, and their gods will be a snare to you.’” 4Now when the angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the sons of Israel, the people raised their voices and wept. 5So they named that place 11Bochim; and there they sacrificed to the Lord.

Joshua Dies

612When Joshua had dismissed the people, the sons of Israel went, each one to his inheritance, to take possession of the land. 7The people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who 13survived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of the Lord which He had done for Israel. 8Then Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110. 9And they buried him in the territory of 14his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. 10All that generation also were gathered to their fathers; and another generation rose up after them who 15did not know the Lord, nor even the work which He had done for Israel.

Israel Serves the Baals

11Then the sons of Israel did 16evil in the sight of the Lord and 17served the 18Baals, 12and 19they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they followed other gods from the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them; so they provoked the Lord to anger. 13They abandoned the Lord and 20served Baal and the Ashtaroth. 1421Then the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and He handed them over to plunderers, and they plundered them; and 22He sold them into the hands of their enemies around them, so that they could no longer stand 23against their enemies. 15Wherever they went, the hand of the Lord was against them for 24evil, as the Lord had spoken and 25just as the Lord had sworn to them, so that they were severely distressed.

1626Then the Lord raised up judges 27who saved them from the hands of those who plundered them. 17Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they 28committed infidelity with other gods and bowed down to them. They turned aside quickly from the way 29in which their fathers had walked in obeying the commandments of the Lord; they did not do the same as their fathers. 18And when the Lord raised up judges for them, 30the Lord was with the judge and saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the Lord was 31moved to pity by their groaning because of those who tormented and oppressed them. 19But it came about, when the judge died, that they would turn back and act more corruptly than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them and bow down to them; they did not abandon their practices or their obstinate ways. 2032So the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and He said, “Because this nation has violated My covenant which I commanded their fathers, and has not listened to My voice, 2133I in turn will no longer drive out from them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died, 22in order to 34test Israel by them, whether they will keep the way of the Lord to walk in it as their fathers 35did, or not.” 23So the Lord allowed those nations to remain, not driving them out quickly; and He did not hand them over to Joshua.