Judges 2
1 Now the angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, I took you out of Egypt, guiding you into the land which I gave by an oath to your fathers; and I said, My agreement with you will never be broken by me:
The angel of the Lord went from Gilgal to Bokim and told the people, “I led you out of the land of Egypt and brought you to this land that I promised to your forefathers, and I said I would never break the agreement I made with you.
2 And you are to make no agreement with the people of this land; you are to see that their altars are broken down: but you have not given ear to my voice: what have you done?
I also told you not to make any agreements with the people living in the land and to tear down their altars. But you refused to obey what I said. Why did you do this?
3 And so I have said, I will not send them out from before you; but they will be a danger to you, and their gods will be a cause of falling to you.
I also warned you, ‘I will not drive them out before you, and they will be snares for you, and their gods will be traps for you.’”
4 Now on hearing these words which the angel of the Lord said to all the children of Israel, the people gave themselves up to loud crying and weeping.
After the angel of the Lord had explained this to all the Israelites, the people wept out loud.
5 And they gave that place the name of Bochim, and made offerings there to the Lord.
That's why they named the place Bokim, and they presented sacrifices there to the Lord.
6 And Joshua let the people go away, and the children of Israel went, every man to his heritage, to take the land for themselves.
After Joshua had dismissed the people, the Israelites went to take possession of the land, each to their allotted land.
7 And the people were true to the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the responsible men who were still living after the death of Joshua, and had seen all the great work of the Lord which he had done for Israel.
The people continued to worship the Lord throughout Joshua's life, and throughout the lifetimes of the elders who outlived him, those who had seen all the wonderful things that the Lord had done for Israel.
8 And death came to Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, he being a hundred and ten years old.
Joshua, son of Nun, servant of the Lord, died at the age of one hundred and ten.
9 And they put his body in the earth in the land of his heritage in Timnath-heres, in the hill-country of Ephraim to the north of Mount Gaash.
They buried him in Timnath-heres in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash, the land he had been allocated.
10 And in time death overtook all that generation; and another generation came after them, having no knowledge of the Lord or of the things which he had done for Israel.
Once that generation had passed away, the generation that followed did not know the Lord, or what he had done for Israel.
11 And the children of Israel did evil in the eyes of the Lord and became servants to the Baals;
The Israelites did what was evil in the Lord's sight, and they worshiped the Baals.
12 And they gave up the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had taken them out of the land of Egypt, and went after other gods, the gods of the peoples round about them, worshipping them and moving the Lord to wrath.
They deserted the Lord, the God of their forefathers, who had led them out of Egypt. They followed other gods, bowing down in worship to the gods of the peoples around them, making the Lord angry.
13 And they gave up the Lord, and became the servants of Baal and the Astartes.
They deserted the Lord and worshiped Baal and Ashtaroth idols.
14 And the wrath of the Lord was burning against Israel, and he gave them up into the hands of those who violently took their property, and into the hands of their haters all round them, so that they were forced to give way before them.
Because the Lord was angry with Israel he handed them over to invaders who plundered them. He sold them to their enemies all around—enemies they could no longer resist.
15 Wherever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil, as the Lord had taken his oath it would be; and things became very hard for them.
Whenever Israel went into battle, the Lord fought against them and defeated them, just as he had warned them and as he had vowed he would do. They were in a great deal of trouble.
16 Then the Lord gave them judges, as their saviours from the hands of those who were cruel to them.
Then the Lord provided them with judges, who saved them from their invaders.
17 But still they would not give ear to their judges, but went after other gods and gave them worship; quickly turning from the way in which their fathers had gone, keeping the orders of the Lord; but they did not do so.
But even so, they refused to listen to their judges, and prostituted themselves by following other gods, bowing down in worship to them. They quickly abandoned the way their forefathers had followed, and they did not obey the Lord's commandments as their forefathers had.
18 And whenever the Lord gave them judges, then the Lord was with the judge, and was their saviour from the hands of their haters all the days of the judge; for the Lord was moved by their cries of grief because of those who were cruel to them.
When the Lord provided Israel with judges over Israel, he was with each judge and saved the people from their enemies during that judge's lifetime, because the Lord felt sorry for his people, who groaned under their oppressors and persecutors.
19 But whenever the judge was dead, they went back and did more evil than their fathers, going after other gods, to be their servants and their worshippers; giving up nothing of their sins and their hard-hearted ways.
But when the judge died, the people relapsed, and did worse things even than their forefathers, following other gods and worshiping them. They refused to give up what they were doing and held to their stubborn ways.
20 And the wrath of the Lord was burning against Israel, and he said, Because this nation has not been true to my agreement which I made with their fathers, and has not given ear to my voice;
As a result the Lord became angry with Israel and he told them, “Because this nation has broken the agreement I ordered their forefathers to obey, and has not paid attention to what I said,
21 From now on I will not go on driving out from before them any of the nations which at the death of Joshua were still living in this land;
from now on I won't drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died.
22 In order to put Israel to the test, and see if they will keep the way of the Lord, walking in it as their fathers did, or not.
This is in order to use them to test Israel to see if they will keep the way of the Lord and follow it as their forefathers did.”
23 So the Lord let those nations go on living in the land, not driving them out quickly, and did not give them up into the hands of Joshua.
This is the reason why the Lord allowed those nations to remain, and didn't immediately drive them out by handing them over to Joshua.
