Israel’s Disobedience
1Now the angel of theLord went up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, “I brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you,2and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall break down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed my voice. What is this you have done?3So now I say, I will not drive them out before you, but they shall become thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you.”4As soon as the angel of theLord spoke these words to all the people of Israel, the people lifted up their voices and wept.5And they called the name of that place Bochim.a And they sacrificed there to theLord.
The Death of Joshua
6When Joshua dismissed the people, the people of Israel went each to his inheritance to take possession of the land.7And the people served theLord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that theLord had done for Israel.8And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of theLord, died at the age of 110 years.9And they buried him within the boundaries of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gaash.10And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know theLord or the work that he had done for Israel.
Israel’s Unfaithfulness
11And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of theLord and served the Baals.12And they abandoned theLord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked theLord to anger.13They abandoned theLord and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth.14So the anger of theLord was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers, who plundered them. And he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies.15Whenever they marched out, the hand of theLord was against them for harm, as theLord had warned, and as theLord had sworn to them. And they were in terrible distress.
TheLord Raises Up Judges
16Then theLord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them.17Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they whored after other gods and bowed down to them. They soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of theLord, and they did not do so.18Whenever theLord raised up judges for them, theLord was with the judge, and he saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. For theLord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who afflicted and oppressed them.19But whenever the judge died, they turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them. They did not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways.20So the anger of theLord was kindled against Israel, and he said, “Because this people have transgressed my covenant that I commanded their fathers and have not obeyed my voice,21I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations that Joshua left when he died,22in order to test Israel by them, whether they will take care to walk in the way of theLord as their fathers did, or not.”23So theLord left those nations, not driving them out quickly, and he did not give them into the hand of Joshua.
Footnotes:
a5Bochim meansweepers
