Judges 2
1 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).
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.
2 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.
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.
3 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.”
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.
4 After he told that to all the Israelis, the people cried loudly.
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.
5 They called that place Bokim, [which means ‘weeping’]. There they offered sacrifices to Yahweh.
And they named the name of that place Weepings; and they sacrificed there to the Lord.
6 After Joshua sent the Israeli people away, each group went to possess the land that had been allotted to them.
And Joshua dismissed the people, and they went every man to his inheritance, to inherit the land.
7 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.
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.
8 Then Yahweh’s servant Joshua died. He was 110 years old when he died.
And Joshua the son of Naue, the servant of the Lord, died, a hundred and ten years old.
9 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.
And they buried him in the border of his inheritance, in Thamnathares, in mount Ephraim, on the north of the mountain of Gaas.
10 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.
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.
11 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.
And the children of Israel wrought evil before the Lord, and served Baalim.
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.
And they provoked the Lord, and forsook him, and served Baal and the Astartes.
14 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.
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,
15 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.
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.
16 Then Yahweh gave leaders to them. These leaders rescued the Israelis from the people who were raiding them.
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,
17 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.
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.
18 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.
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.
19 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.
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.
20 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.
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,
21 So I will no longer expel the people-groups that Joshua left in this land when he died.
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],
22 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.”
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.
23 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.
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.
