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Judges 2

Israel’s Disobedience

1 Now the angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to ^aBochim. 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, ^b‘I will never break my covenant with you, 2 ^cand you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; ^dyou shall break down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed my voice. What is this you have done? 3 So now I say ^eI will not drive them out before you, but they shall become ^fthorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you.” 4 As soon as the angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the people of Israel, the people lifted up their voices and wept. 5 And they called the name of that place Bochim. ^{▼

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Bochim means weepers} And they sacrificed there to the Lord.

The Death of Joshua

6 When Joshua dismissed the people, the people of Israel went each to his inheritance to take possession of the land. 7 ^hAnd 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. 8 And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110 years. 9 And they buried him within the boundaries of ⁱhis inheritance in Timnath-heres, ^jin the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gaash. 10 And 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.

Israel’s Unfaithfulness

11 ^kAnd the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals. 12 ^lAnd they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. ^mThey went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and ⁿbowed down to them. ^oAnd they provoked the Lord to anger. 13 They abandoned the Lord ^pand served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. 14 ^qSo the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he ^rgave them over to plunderers, who plundered them. ^sAnd he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies ^tso that they could no longer withstand their enemies. 15 Whenever they marched out, the hand of the Lord was against them for harm, as the Lord had warned ^uand as the Lord had sworn to them. And they were in terrible distress.

The Lord Raises Up Judges

16 ^vThen the Lord raised up judges ^wwho saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them. 17 Yet they did not listen to their judges, for ^xthey whored after other gods and bowed down to them. ^yThey 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. 18 Whenever the Lord raised up judges for them, ^zthe Lord was with the judge, and he saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. ^aaFor the Lord was moved to pity by ^abtheir groaning because of those who afflicted and oppressed them. 19 But ^acwhenever 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. 20 ^adSo the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he said, “Because this people ^aehave transgressed my covenant that I commanded their fathers and have not obeyed my voice, 21 ^afI will no longer drive out before them any of the nations that Joshua left when he died, 22 in order ^agto test Israel by them, whether they will take care to walk in the way of the Lord as their fathers did, or not.” 23 So the Lord left those nations, not driving them out quickly, and he did not give them into the hand of Joshua.