Judges 2:6-3

Holman Christian Standard Bible

Joshua’s Death

⁶ Joshua sent the people away, and the Israelites went to take possession of the land, each to his own inheritance.^{(A) 7} The people worshiped the Lord throughout Joshua’s lifetime and during the lifetimes of the elders who outlived^[a] Joshua. They had seen all the Lord’s great works^(B) He had done for Israel.

⁸ Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110. ⁹ They buried him in the territory of his inheritance, in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim,^(C) north of Mount Gaash. ¹⁰ That whole generation was also gathered to their ancestors. After them another generation rose up who did not know the Lord^(D) or the works He had done for Israel.

¹¹ The Israelites did what was evil in the Lord’s sight.^(E) They worshiped the Baals^{(F) 12} and abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt. They went after other gods from the surrounding peoples^(G) and bowed down to them. They infuriated the Lord,^{(H) 13} for they abandoned Him and worshiped Baal and the Ashtoreths.^(I)

¹⁴ The Lord’s anger burned against Israel, and He handed them over to marauders who raided them. He sold^(J) them to^[b] the enemies around them, and they could no longer resist their enemies. ¹⁵ Whenever the Israelites went out, the Lord^[c] was against them^(K) and brought disaster on them, just as He had promised and sworn to them.^(L) So they suffered greatly.

¹⁶ The Lord raised up^(M) judges, who saved them from the power of their marauders, ¹⁷ but they did not listen to their judges. Instead, they prostituted^(N) themselves with other gods, bowing down to them. They quickly turned from the way^(O) of their fathers, who had walked in obedience to the Lord’s commands. They did not do as their fathers did. ¹⁸ Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for the Israelites, the Lord was with^(P) him and saved the people from the power of their enemies while the judge was still alive.^[d] The Lord was moved to pity whenever they groaned because of those who were oppressing and afflicting them. ¹⁹ Whenever the judge died, the Israelites would act even more corruptly^(Q) than their fathers, going after other gods to worship and bow down to them. They did not turn from their evil practices or their obstinate^(R) ways.

²⁰ The Lord’s anger burned against Israel, and He declared, “Because this nation has violated My covenant^(S) that I made with their fathers^(T) and disobeyed Me, ²¹ I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left^(U) when he died.^{(V) 22} I did this to test Israel and to see whether they would keep the Lord’s way^(W) by walking in it, as their fathers had.”^{(X) 23} The Lord left these nations and did not drive them out immediately. He did not hand them over to Joshua.

The Lord Tests Israel

3 These are the nations the Lord left in order to test Israel, since the Israelites had fought none of these in^[e] any of the wars with Canaan.^{(Y) 2} This was to teach the future generations of the Israelites how to fight in battle, especially those who had not fought before.^{[f] 3} These nations included: the five rulers^(Z) of the Philistines^(AA) and all of the Canaanites, the Sidonians,^(AB) and the Hivites^(AC) who lived in the Lebanese mountains^[g] from Mount Baal-hermon as far as the entrance to Hamath.^{[h] 4} The Lord left them to test Israel, to determine if they would keep the Lord’s commands He had given their fathers through^[i] Moses.^{(AD) 5} But they settled among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. ⁶ The Israelites took their daughters as wives for themselves, gave their own daughters to their sons, and worshiped their gods.^(AE)