Judges 2
1 And an angel of the Lord went up from Galgal to the [place of] weeping, and to Baethel, and to the house of Israel, and said to them, Thus says the Lord, I brought you up out of Egypt, and I brought you into the land which I sware to your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant that I have made with you.
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 shall make no covenant with them that dwell in this land, neither shall you worship their gods; but you shall destroy their graven images, you shall pull down their altars: but you listened not to my voice, for you did these things.
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 I said, I will not drive them out from before you, but they shall be for a distress to you, and their gods shall be to you for an offense.
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 And it came to pass when the angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice, and wept.
After the angel of the Lord had explained this to all the Israelites, the people wept out loud.
5 And they named the name of that place Weepings; and they sacrificed there to the Lord.
That's why they named the place Bokim, and they presented sacrifices there to the Lord.
6 And Joshua dismissed the people, and they went every man to his inheritance, to inherit the land.
After Joshua had dismissed the people, the Israelites went to take possession of the land, each to their allotted land.
7 And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that lived many days with Joshua, as many as knew all the great work of the Lord, what things he had wrought in 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 Joshua the son of Naue, the servant of the Lord, died, 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 buried him in the border of his inheritance, in Thamnathares, in mount Ephraim, on the north of the mountain of Gaas.
They buried him in Timnath-heres in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash, the land he had been allocated.
10 And all that generation were laid to their fathers: and another generation rose up after them, who knew not the Lord, nor yet the work which he wrought in 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 wrought evil before the Lord, and served Baalim.
The Israelites did what was evil in the Lord's sight, and they worshiped the Baals.
12 And they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and walked after other gods, of the gods of the nations round about them; and they worshipped them.
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 provoked the Lord, and forsook him, and served Baal and the Astartes.
They deserted the Lord and worshiped Baal and Ashtaroth idols.
14 And the Lord was very angry with Israel; and he gave them into the hands of the spoilers, and they spoiled them; and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, and they could not any longer resist their enemies,
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 among whoever they went; and the hand of the Lord was against them for evil, as the Lord spoke, and as the Lord sware to them; and he greatly afflicted 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 And the Lord raised up judges, and the Lord save them out of the hands of them that spoiled them: and yet they listened not to the judges,
Then the Lord provided them with judges, who saved them from their invaders.
17 for they went a whoring after other gods, and worshipped them; and they turned quickly out of the way in which their fathers walked to listen to the words of the Lord; they did not 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 because the Lord raised them up judges, so the Lord was with the judge, and saved them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the Lord was moved at their groaning by reason of them that besieged them and afflicted 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 And it came to pass when the judge died, that they went back, and again corrupted [themselves] worse than their fathers to go after other gods to serve them an to worship them: they abandoned not their devices nor their stubborn 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 Lord was very angry with Israel, and said, Forasmuch as this nation has forsaken my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and has not listened 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 therefore I will not any more cast out a man of the nations before their face, which Joshua the son of Naue left in the land. And [the Lord] left [them],
from now on I won't drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died.
22 to prove Israel with them, whether they would keep the way of the Lord, to walk in it, as their fathers kept it, or no.
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 will leave these nations, so as not to cast them out suddenly; and he delivered them not into the hand 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.
