¹¹ So ·they [^Lthe sons/^Tchildren of Israel] did ·what the Lord said was wrong [^Levil in the eyes/sight of the Lord], and they worshiped the ·Baal idols [^LBaals; ^CBaal was the main god of the Canaanites, but had many local manifestations]. ¹² They ·quit following [abandoned] the Lord, the God of their ancestors who had brought them out of Egypt. They began to worship the gods of the people who lived around them, and that made the Lord angry. ¹³ The Israelites ·quit following [abandoned] the Lord and worshiped Baal and Ashtoreth. ¹⁴ The Lord was angry with the people of Israel, so he ·handed them over to [gave them into the hand of] ·robbers [raiders; plunderers] who took their possessions. He ·let their enemies who lived around them defeat them [^Lsold them into the hand of their enemies around them]; they could not ·protect themselves [resist/^Lstand before them]. ¹⁵ When the Israelites went out to fight, ·they always lost, because the Lord was not with them [^Lthe hand of the Lord was against them for harm/evil]. The Lord had sworn to them this would happen. So the Israelites ·suffered very much [were in great distress].

God Chooses Judges

¹⁶ Then the Lord ·chose leaders called [^Lraised up] ·judges [leaders; ^Cnot courtroom judges, but leaders who guided the nation through difficult times, sometimes as military commanders], ·who saved the Israelites from [^Lto deliver them from the hand of] the ·robbers [raiders; plunderers]. ¹⁷ But the Israelites did not listen to their ·judges [leaders; v. 16]. They ·were not faithful to God but [^Lprostituted themselves to and] worshiped other gods instead. Their ancestors had ·obeyed [^Lwalked in the way/path of] the Lord’s commands, but they quickly turned away and did not obey. ¹⁸ Whenever the Lord sent ·judges [leaders] to save the Israelites from their enemies, he was with that ·judge [leader] and rescued the people during that ·judge’s [leader’s] lifetime. The Lord ·felt sorry for them [took pity on them; or relented] when they cried for help because of those who ·hurt [oppressed and afflicted] them. ¹⁹ But when the ·judges [leaders; 2:16] died, the Israelites ·again sinned [returned to their corrupt ways] and worshiped other gods. They became worse than their ancestors. The Israelites were very stubborn and refused to change their evil ways.