The Angel of the Lord at Bokim

2 The angel of the Lord^(A) went up from Gilgal^(B) to Bokim^(C) and said, “I brought you up out of Egypt^(D) and led you into the land I swore to give to your ancestors.^(E) I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you,^{(F) 2} and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land,^(G) but you shall break down their altars.^(H)’ Yet you have disobeyed^(I) me. Why have you done this? ³ And I have also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you;^(J) they will become traps^(K) for you, and their gods will become snares^(L) to you.’”

²⁰ Therefore the Lord was very angry^(A) with Israel and said, “Because this nation has violated the covenant^(B) I ordained for their ancestors and has not listened to me, ²¹ I will no longer drive out^(C) before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died. ²² I will use them to test^(D) Israel and see whether they will keep the way of the Lord and walk in it as their ancestors did.” ²³ The Lord had allowed those nations to remain; he did not drive them out at once by giving them into the hands of Joshua.^(E)

3 These are the nations the Lord left to test^(F) all those Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars in Canaan ² (he did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not had previous battle experience): ³ the five^(G) rulers of the Philistines,^(H) all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites^(I) living in the Lebanon mountains from Mount Baal Hermon^(J) to Lebo Hamath.^{(K) 4} They were left to test^(L) the Israelites to see whether they would obey the Lord’s commands, which he had given their ancestors through Moses.