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Yahweh Tests Israel

(A)Now these are the nations which Yahweh allowed to remain, to test Israel by them (that is, all who had not known any of the wars of Canaan; [a]however, God tested them in order that the generations of the sons of Israel would know war, by learning war, [b]especially those who had not known it formerly). These nations are: the five lords of the Philistines and all the Canaanites and the Sidonians and (B)the Hivites who lived in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-hermon as far as [c]Lebo-hamath. And they were for [d](C)testing Israel, to know if they would [e]obey the commandments of Yahweh, which He had commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses. (D)Now the sons of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; and (E)they took their daughters for themselves as wives and gave their own daughters to their sons and served their gods.

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Footnotes

  1. Judges 3:2 Lit only
  2. Judges 3:2 Lit only
  3. Judges 3:3 Or the entrance of Hamath
  4. Judges 3:4 Lit testing by them
  5. Judges 3:4 Lit hear

Nations remaining in the land

These are the nations that the Lord left to test all those Israelites who had no firsthand knowledge of the wars of Canaan. They survived only to teach war to the generations of Israelites who had no firsthand knowledge of the earlier wars: the five rulers of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, Sidonians, and Hivites who lived in the highlands of Lebanon from Mount Baal-hermon to Lebo-hamath. They were to be the test for Israel, to find out whether they would obey the Lord’s commands, which he had made to their ancestors through Moses. So the Israelites lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. But the Israelites intermarried with them and served their gods.

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