Judges 2:16-3:7
International Children’s Bible
God Chooses Judges
16 Then the Lord chose leaders called judges.[a] These leaders saved the people of Israel from the robbers. 17 But the Israelites did not listen to their judges. They were not faithful to God. They followed other gods instead. In the past the people of Israel obeyed the Lord’s commands. But now the Israelites stopped obeying the Lord. 18 Many times the enemies of Israel hurt the Israelites. So the Israelites would cry for help. And each time the Lord felt sorry for them. Each time he sent a judge to save them from their enemies. The Lord was with those judges. 19 But when each judge died, the Israelites again sinned and worshiped the false gods. They became worse than their ancestors. The Israelites were very stubborn; they refused to change their evil ways.
20 So the Lord became angry with the Israelites. He said, “These people have broken the agreement I made with their ancestors. They have not listened to me. 21 So I will no longer defeat the nations who were left when Joshua died. 22 I will use those nations to test Israel. I will see if Israel keeps the Lord’s commands as their ancestors did.” 23 In the past the Lord had permitted those nations to stay in the land. He did not quickly force them out. He did not help Joshua’s army defeat them.
3 These are the nations the Lord did not force to leave. He wanted to test the Israelites who had not fought in the wars to take Canaan. 2 The only reason the Lord left those nations in the land was to teach the descendants of the Israelites. He wanted to teach the people who had not fought in those wars how to fight. 3 These are the nations: the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the people of Sidon and the Hivites. The Hivites lived in the Lebanon mountains from Mount Baal Hermon to Lebo Hamath. 4 Those nations were in the land to test the Israelites. The Lord wanted to see if Israel would obey the commands he had given to their ancestors by Moses.
5 The people of Israel lived with the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 6 The Israelites began to marry the daughters of those people. And the Israelites allowed their daughters to marry the sons of those people. Israel served the gods of those people.
Othniel, the First Judge
7 The people of Israel did what the Lord said was wrong. They forgot about the Lord their God. Instead, they served the idols of Baal and Asherah.
Footnotes
- 2:16 judges They were not judges in courts of law, but leaders of the people in times of emergency.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.
