Judges 2
1 And the Messenger of YHWH goes up from Gilgal to Bochim,
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:
2 and says, “I cause you to come up out of Egypt, and bring you into the land which I have sworn to your fathers, and say, I do not break My covenant with you for all time; and you make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land—you break down their altars; and you have not listened to My voice—what [is] this you have done?
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?
3 And I have also said, I do not cast them out from your presence, and they have been for adversaries to you, and their gods are for a snare to you.”
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.
4 And it comes to pass, when the Messenger of YHWH speaks these words to all the sons of Israel, that the people lift up their voice and weep,
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.
5 and they call the name of that place Bochim, and sacrifice to YHWH there.
And they gave that place the name of Bochim, and made offerings there to the Lord.
6 And Joshua sends the people away, and the sons of Israel go, each to his inheritance, to possess the land;
And Joshua let the people go away, and the children of Israel went, every man to his heritage, to take the land for themselves.
7 and the people serve YHWH all [the] days of Joshua, and all [the] days of [the] elderly who prolonged days after Joshua, who saw all the great work of YHWH which He did to Israel.
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.
8 And Joshua son of Nun, servant of YHWH, dies, a son of one hundred and ten years,
And death came to Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, he being a hundred and ten years old.
9 and they bury him in the border of his inheritance, in Timnath-Heres, in the hill-country of Ephraim, on the north of Mount Gaash;
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.
10 and all that generation have also been gathered to their fathers, and another generation rises after them who have not known YHWH, and even the work which He has done to Israel.
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.
11 And the sons of Israel do evil in the eyes of YHWH, and serve the Ba‘alim,
And the children of Israel did evil in the eyes of the Lord and became servants to the Baals;
12 and forsake YHWH, God of their fathers, who brings them out from the land of Egypt, and go after other gods (of the gods of the peoples who [are] around them), and bow themselves to them, and provoke YHWH,
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.
13 indeed, they forsake YHWH, and do service to Ba‘al and to Ashtaroth.
And they gave up the Lord, and became the servants of Baal and the Astartes.
14 And the anger of YHWH burns against Israel, and He gives them into the hand of spoilers, and they spoil them, and He sells them into the hand of their surrounding enemies, and they have not been able to stand before their enemies anymore;
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.
15 in every [place] where they have gone out, the hand of YHWH has been against them for calamity, as YHWH has spoken, and as YHWH has sworn to them, and they are greatly distressed.
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.
16 And YHWH raises up judges, and they save them from the hand of their spoilers;
Then the Lord gave them judges, as their saviours from the hands of those who were cruel to them.
17 and they have also not listened to their judges, but have gone whoring after other gods, and bow themselves to them; they have turned aside [with] haste out of the way [in] which their fathers walked to obey the commands of YHWH—they have not done so.
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.
18 And when YHWH raised up judges for them—then YHWH was with the judge, and saved them out of the hand of their enemies all [the] days of the judge; for YHWH sighs, because of their groaning from the presence of their oppressors, and of those thrusting them away.
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.
19 And it has come to pass, when the judge dies—they turn back and have done corruptly above their fathers, to go after other gods, to serve them, and to bow themselves to them; they have not fallen from their doings, and from their stiff way.
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.
20 And the anger of YHWH burns against Israel, and He says, “Because that this nation has transgressed My covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not listened to My voice—
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;
21 I also do not continue to dispossess any from before them of the nations which Joshua has left when he dies,
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;
22 in order to try Israel by them, whether they are keeping the way of YHWH, to go in it, as their fathers kept [it], or not.”
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.
23 And YHWH leaves these nations, so as not to dispossess them quickly, and did not give them into the hand of Joshua.
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.
