Judges 2
1 And a messenger of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim, And he said, I caused you to go up out of Egypt, and I brought you unto the land which I had sworn unto your fathers; and I said, I will not break my covenant with you for ever.
Yahweh [appeared in the form of] an angel [and] went up from Gilgal to [a place that was later called] Bokim. He said [to the Israeli people], “I brought your [ancestors] up here from Egypt. I led them into this land that I solemnly promised to give to your ancestors. I said to them, ‘The agreement that I made with you, as for me, I will never (break it/say that it is ended).
2 But ye for your part shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; their altars shall ye throw down; but ye have not obeyed my voice: what is this ye have done?
But as for you, you must never make a peace agreement with the people who live in this land. You must tear down the altars [where they make sacrifices to idols].’ But you have not obeyed me.
3 And I also have said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be evil neighbors to you, and their gods shall become a snare unto you.
So now, I am telling you that I will not expel [your enemies] as you advance. They will be like thorns in your sides. And [they] will try to trap you [by making you worship] their idols.”
4 And it came to pass, when the messenger of the Lord spoke these words unto all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice, and wept.
After he told that to all the Israelis, the people cried loudly.
5 And they called the name of that place, Bochim; and they sacrificed there unto the Lord.
They called that place Bokim, [which means ‘weeping’]. There they offered sacrifices to Yahweh.
6 And when Joshua had let the people go, the children of Israel went every man unto his inheritance to take possession of the land.
After Joshua sent the Israeli people away, each group went to possess the land that had been allotted to them.
7 And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that lived many days after Joshua, who had seen all the great deeds of the Lord, which he had done for Israel.
They served Yahweh as long as Joshua was alive, and as long as the elders, those who had seen all the great things that Yahweh had done for Israel, were alive.
8 Then died Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, being one hundred and ten years old.
Then Yahweh’s servant Joshua died. He was 110 years old when he died.
9 And they buried him on the border of his inheritance in Timnath-cheres, in the mountain of Ephraim, on the north side of mount Ga'ash.
They buried his body in the area he had received [from Moses], at Timnath-Serah, in the area where the descendants of Ephraim lived, north of Gaash Mountain.
10 And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers; and there arose another generation after them, who knew not the Lord, and likewise not the deeds which he had done for Israel.
After all the people died who lived at the same time as Joshua [EUP], a group of people grew up who did not know Yahweh, and did not know what great things he had done for the Israeli people.
11 And the children of Israel did the evil in the eyes of the Lord, and served the Be'alim:
They did things that Yahweh said were very evil. They worshiped [idols that represented the god] Baal and the goddess Astarte. They worshiped [DOU] the various gods that the people-groups around them worshiped. They stopped worshiping Yahweh, the God their ancestors worshiped, the one who had brought their ancestors out of Egypt. That caused Yahweh to be very angry.
12 And they forsook the Lord the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they went after other gods, of the gods of the nations that were round about them, and they bowed themselves unto them, and incensed the Lord.
13 And they forsook the Lord, and served Baal and 'Ashtaroth.
14 And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he delivered them into the hand of spoilers who spoiled them, and he sold them into the hand of their enemies round about, and they were not able any longer to stand before their enemies.
So he allowed people from other groups to raid them and steal their crops and animals. They were no longer able to resist their enemies, and Yahweh allowed all their enemies around them to defeat them.
15 Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil, as the Lord had spoken, and as the Lord had sworn unto them: and they were greatly distressed.
Whenever the Israelis went to fight [their enemies], Yahweh [MTY] was opposing them, and allowed their enemies to defeat them, just as he had promised he would do. So the Israelis were greatly distressed.
16 And the Lord raised up judges, and they delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them.
Then Yahweh gave leaders to them. These leaders rescued the Israelis from the people who were raiding them.
17 But also unto their judges they did not hearken; but they went astray after other gods, and bowed themselves unto them: they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers had walked in, to obey the commandments of the Lord; they did not so.
But the Israelis still would not pay attention to their leaders. Instead, they went to the idols, [acting like] prostitutes [who gave themselves to men who were not their husbands] [MET], and they worshiped those idols. They were not like their ancestors. Their ancestors obeyed what Yahweh commanded, but their descendants quickly stopped behaving as their ancestors had behaved.
18 And when the Lord raised them up judges, then was the Lord with the judge, and he delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the Lord bethought himself because of their groaning by reason of those that oppressed them and ill-treated them.
Whenever Yahweh gave a leader to them, he helped that leader and enabled him to rescue the people from their enemies. He helped them like that as long as that leader was alive. Yahweh pitied them as they groaned because they were being oppressed and caused to suffer.
19 And it came to pass, when the judge died, that they returned, and became more corrupt than their fathers, in going after other gods to serve them, and to bow down unto them: they omitted nothing from their doings, and from their stubborn way.
But after that leader died, the people went back to behaving in ways even more evil than their ancestors had behaved. They worshiped other gods and bowed down to them and did all [LIT] the things that they thought those gods wanted them to do.
20 And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel; and he said, For the cause that this people have transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not hearkened unto my voice:
So Yahweh was very angry with the Israeli people. He said, “These people have disobeyed the agreement I made with their ancestors. They have not done what I told them to do.
21 So will I also for my part not drive out henceforth any man from before them out of the nations which Joshua left when he died;
So I will no longer expel the people-groups that Joshua left in this land when he died.
22 In order to prove through them the Israelites, whether they will keep the way of the Lord, to walk therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not.
I will use them to test the Israeli people to see whether they will do what I want them to do, as their ancestors did.”
23 And thus did the Lord leave these nations, so as not to drive them out speedily; and he delivered them not into the hand of Joshua.
Yahweh had allowed those people-groups to stay in that land. He did not expel them by allowing Joshua [and his men] to defeat them.
