⁶ And when ^(A)Joshua had dismissed the people, the children of Israel went each to his own inheritance to possess the land.

Death of Joshua^(B)

^7 (C)So the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord which He had done for Israel. ⁸ Now ^(D)Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died when he was one hundred and ten years old. ^9 (E)And they buried him within the border of his inheritance at ^(F)Timnath Heres, in the mountains of Ephraim, on the north side of Mount Gaash. ¹⁰ When all that generation had ^[a]been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who ^(G)did not know the Lord nor the work which He had done for Israel.

Israel’s Unfaithfulness

¹¹ Then the children of Israel did ^(H)evil in the sight of the Lord, and served the Baals; ¹² and they ^(I)forsook the Lord God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt; and they followed ^(J)other gods from among the gods of the people who were all around them, and they ^(K)bowed down to them; and they provoked the Lord to anger. ¹³ They forsook the Lord ^(L)and served ^[b]Baal and the ^[c]Ashtoreths. ^14 (M)And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel. So He ^(N)delivered them into the hands of plunderers who despoiled them; and ^(O)He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, so that they ^(P)could no longer stand before their enemies. ¹⁵ Wherever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for calamity, as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had ^(Q)sworn to them. And they were greatly distressed.

¹⁶ Nevertheless, ^(R)the Lord raised up judges who delivered them out of the hand of those who plundered them. ¹⁷ Yet they would not listen to their judges, but they ^(S)played the harlot with other gods, and bowed down to them. They turned quickly from the way in which their fathers walked, in obeying the commandments of the Lord; they did not do so. ¹⁸ And when the Lord raised up judges for them, ^(T)the Lord was with the judge and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; ^(U)for the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed them and harassed them. ¹⁹ And it came to pass, ^(V)when the judge was dead, that they reverted and behaved more corruptly than their fathers, by following other gods, to serve them and bow down to them. They did not cease from their own doings nor from their stubborn way.

²⁰ Then the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel; and He said, “Because this nation has ^(W)transgressed My covenant which I commanded their fathers, and has not heeded My voice, ²¹ I also will no longer drive out before them any of the nations which Joshua ^(X)left when he died, ²² so ^(Y)that through them I may ^(Z)test Israel, whether they will keep the ways of the Lord, to walk in them as their fathers kept them, or not.” ²³ Therefore the Lord left those nations, without driving them out immediately; nor did He deliver them into the hand of Joshua.

Elimelech’s Family Goes to Moab

1 Now it came to pass, in the days when ^(A)the judges ^[a]ruled, that there was ^(B)a famine in the land. And a certain man of ^(C)Bethlehem, Judah, went to ^[b]dwell in the country of ^(D)Moab, he and his wife and his two sons. ² The name of the man was Elimelech, the name of his wife was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion—^(E)Ephrathites of Bethlehem, Judah. And they went ^(F)to the country of Moab and remained there. ³ Then Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died; and she was left, and her two sons. ⁴ Now they took wives of the women of Moab: the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth. And they ^[c]dwelt there about ten years. ⁵ Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died; so the woman survived her two sons and her husband.