(A)Now these are the nations that the Lord left, to test Israel by them, that is, all in Israel who had not experienced all the wars in Canaan. It was only in order that the generations of the people of Israel might know war, to teach war to those who had not known it before. These are the nations: (B)the five lords of the Philistines and all the Canaanites and the Sidonians and the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-hermon as far as Lebo-hamath. They were for (C)the testing of Israel, to know whether Israel would obey the commandments of the Lord, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses. So the people of Israel lived (D)among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. (E)And their daughters they took to themselves for wives, and their own daughters they gave to their sons, and they served their gods.

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The Lord Tests Israel

These are the nations the Lord left in order to test Israel, since the Israelites had fought none of these in[a] any of the wars with Canaan.(A) This was to teach the future generations of the Israelites how to fight in battle, especially those who had not fought before.[b] These nations included: the five rulers(B) of the Philistines(C) and all of the Canaanites, the Sidonians,(D) and the Hivites(E) who lived in the Lebanese mountains[c] from Mount Baal-hermon as far as the entrance to Hamath.[d] The Lord left them to test Israel, to determine if they would keep the Lord’s commands He had given their fathers through[e] Moses.(F) But they settled among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. The Israelites took their daughters as wives for themselves, gave their own daughters to their sons, and worshiped their gods.(G)

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Footnotes

  1. Judges 3:1 Lit had known
  2. Judges 3:2 Lit not known it
  3. Judges 3:3 LXX reads in Lebanon
  4. Judges 3:3 Or as Lebo-hamath
  5. Judges 3:4 Lit by the hand of