²⁰ In his burning anger against Israel, the Lord said, “Because the people have transgressed my covenant that I commanded their ancestors to keep, and because they haven’t obeyed me, ²¹ I’m also going to stop expelling any of the nations that remained after Joshua died. ²² That way, I’ll use them to demonstrate whether or not Israel will keep the Lord’s lifestyle by walking on that road like their ancestors did.” ²³ So the Lord caused those nations to remain and did not expel them quickly. He did not give them into Joshua’s control.