Judges 2
New American Standard Bible
Israel Rebuked
2 Now (A)the angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to (B)Bochim. And he said, “(C)I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land which I have sworn to your fathers; and I said, ‘(D)I will never break My covenant with you, 2 and as for you, (E)you shall not make a covenant with the inhabitants of this land; (F)you shall tear down their altars.’ But you have not [a]obeyed Me; what is this thing that you have done? 3 Therefore I also said, ‘(G)I will not drive them out from you; but they will [b]become (H)like thorns in your sides, and their gods will be a snare to you.’” 4 Now when the angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the sons of Israel, the people raised their voices and wept. 5 So they named that place [c]Bochim; and there they sacrificed to the Lord.
Joshua Dies
6 (I)When Joshua had dismissed the people, the sons of Israel went, each one to his inheritance, to take possession of the land. 7 The people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who [d]survived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of the Lord which He had done for Israel. 8 Then Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110. 9 And they buried him in the territory of (J)his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. 10 All that generation also were gathered to their fathers; and another generation rose up after them who (K)did not know the Lord, nor even the work which He had done for Israel.
Israel Serves the Baals
11 Then the sons of Israel did (L)evil in the sight of the Lord and [e]served the (M)Baals, 12 and (N)they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they followed other gods from the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them; so they provoked the Lord to anger. 13 They abandoned the Lord and (O)served Baal and the Ashtaroth. 14 (P)Then the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and He handed them over to plunderers, and they plundered them; and (Q)He sold them into the hands of their enemies around them, so that they could no longer stand [f]against their enemies. 15 Wherever they went, the hand of the Lord was against them for [g]evil, as the Lord had spoken and (R)just as the Lord had sworn to them, so that they were severely distressed.
16 (S)Then the Lord raised up judges [h]who saved them from the hands of those who plundered them. 17 Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they [i]committed infidelity with other gods and bowed down to them. They turned aside quickly from the way (T)in which their fathers had walked in obeying the commandments of the Lord; they did not do the same as their fathers. 18 And when the Lord raised up judges for them, (U)the Lord was with the judge and saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the Lord was (V)moved to pity by their groaning because of those who tormented and oppressed them. 19 But it came about, when the judge died, that they would turn back and act more corruptly than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them and bow down to them; they did not abandon their practices or their obstinate ways. 20 (W)So the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and He said, “Because this nation has violated My covenant which I commanded their fathers, and has not listened to My voice, 21 (X)I in turn will no longer drive out from them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died, 22 in order to (Y)test Israel by them, whether they will keep the way of the Lord to walk in it as their fathers [j]did, or not.” 23 So the Lord allowed those nations to remain, not driving them out quickly; and He did not hand them over to Joshua.
Footnotes
- Judges 2:2 Lit listened to My voice
- Judges 2:3 Some ancient mss become adversaries to you and
- Judges 2:5 I.e., weepers
- Judges 2:7 Lit prolonged days after
- Judges 2:11 Or worshiped
- Judges 2:14 Lit before
- Judges 2:15 Or misfortune
- Judges 2:16 Lit and they
- Judges 2:17 I.e., against God
- Judges 2:22 Lit kept
Judges 2
English Standard Version
Israel's Disobedience
2 Now the angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to (A)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, (B)‘I will never break my covenant with you, 2 (C)and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; (D)you shall break down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed my voice. What is this you have done? 3 So now I say, (E)I will not drive them out before you, but they shall become (F)thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you.” 4 As soon as the angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the people of Israel, the people lifted up their voices and wept. 5 And they called the name of that place Bochim.[a] And they sacrificed there to the Lord.
The Death of Joshua
6 When Joshua dismissed the people, the people of Israel went each to his inheritance to take possession of the land. 7 (G)And 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 work that the Lord had done for Israel. 8 And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110 years. 9 And they buried him within the boundaries of (H)his inheritance in Timnath-heres, (I)in the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gaash. 10 And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.
Israel's Unfaithfulness
11 (J)And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals. 12 (K)And they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. (L)They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and (M)bowed down to them. (N)And they provoked the Lord to anger. 13 They abandoned the Lord (O)and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. 14 (P)So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he (Q)gave them over to plunderers, who plundered them. (R)And he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies, (S)so that they could no longer withstand their enemies. 15 Whenever they marched out, the hand of the Lord was against them for harm, as the Lord had warned, (T)and as the Lord had sworn to them. And they were in terrible distress.
The Lord Raises Up Judges
16 (U)Then the Lord raised up judges, (V)who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them. 17 Yet they did not listen to their judges, for (W)they whored after other gods and bowed down to them. (X)They soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the Lord, and they did not do so. 18 Whenever the Lord raised up judges for them, (Y)the Lord was with the judge, and he saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. (Z)For the Lord was moved to pity by (AA)their groaning because of those who afflicted and oppressed them. 19 But (AB)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. 20 (AC)So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he said, “Because this people (AD)have transgressed my covenant that I commanded their fathers and have not obeyed my voice, 21 (AE)I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations that Joshua left when he died, 22 in order (AF)to test Israel by them, whether they will take care to walk in the way of the Lord as their fathers did, or not.” 23 So the Lord left those nations, not driving them out quickly, and he did not give them into the hand of Joshua.
Footnotes
- Judges 2:5 Bochim means weepers
Judges 2
EasyEnglish Bible
The Israelites do not obey God
2 The angel of the Lord went from Gilgal to Bokim. He said, ‘I have brought you out from Egypt. I brought you here to this land that I promised to give to your ancestors. I said that I would always do for you what I promised in my Covenant. 2 I told you not to make any agreement with the people who live in this land. I told you to destroy the altars where they worship their gods. But you have not done as I told you. Why have you not obeyed me? 3 So now I tell you, I will not chase the Canaanites away so that you can take their land. Instead, they will cause trouble for you. Their false gods will cause you to turn away from me.’
4 When the Lord's angel had said this, the Israelites began to weep loudly. 5 They called that place Bokim.[a] They offered sacrifices to the Lord there.
Joshua dies
6 Joshua sent the people away. Each Israelite tribe went to take the part of the land that would belong to them.[b] 7 The Israelites continued to serve the Lord while Joshua and the old men were still alive. Joshua and those men had seen the great things that the Lord had done to help Israel.
8 Then the Lord's servant Joshua, the son of Nun, died at 110 years old. 9 The people buried him in the land that had been given to his family. That was at Timnath Heres, in Ephraim's hill country, on the north side of Gaash mountain.
A new generation turns away from the Lord
10 All the people of Joshua's generation died. The younger people no longer served the Lord. They themselves had not seen the great things that he had done to help Israel. 11 The Israelites did things that the Lord saw were evil. They worshipped the idols of Baal. 12 They turned away from the Lord God that their ancestors had worshipped. He was the one who had brought them safely out of Egypt. Instead, they served the false gods of the people who lived near them. They worshipped those gods and the Lord became very angry. 13 They turned away from the Lord and they worshipped the idols of Baal and Ashtoreth instead.
14 The Lord was very angry with the Israelites and he punished them. He sent robbers to attack them and take their animals and their food. He put them under the power of their enemies who lived around them. They were not strong enough to fight against their enemies. 15 When the Israelites went to fight against their enemies, the Lord turned against them. He punished them, as he said he would do. So the Israelites were in great trouble.
God chooses leaders for his people
16 After that, the Lord chose judges to lead his people. These leaders rescued the Israelites from their enemies who were robbing them. 17 But the people did not obey their leaders. They refused to serve the Lord faithfully. Instead, they worshipped false gods. They did not live in the way that their ancestors had lived. Their ancestors had obeyed the Lord's commands, but they refused to obey him.
18 Every time that the Lord chose a judge to lead them, the Lord helped the leader to rescue them from their enemies. While the leader was still alive, the Lord was kind to them. When the Israelites called out to the Lord for help, he was sorry for them. He saw the cruel things that their enemies were doing to give them pain.
19 But when the leader died, the people would stop serving the Lord. They would do even more wicked things than their fathers had done. They would serve false gods and they would worship them. They refused to stop doing the wicked things that they wanted to do.
20 Because of this, the Lord became very angry with the Israelites. He said, ‘This nation of my people has not obeyed the covenant that I made with their ancestors. 21 So I will not chase out the nations that are still living in the land. They are the people who were still there when Joshua died. 22 I will use those nations to test the Israelites. I will see if my people will live carefully, in the way that I have shown them. That is the way that their ancestors lived.’
23 So the Lord let some of the Canaanite nations continue to live in the land. He did not chase them all away. He did not put them all under Joshua's power.
Footnotes
- 2:5 ‘Bokim’ means ‘people who weep’.
- 2:6 Joshua and the Israelite leaders had decided which parts of the land would belong to each tribe. See Joshua 13—21.
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