Jerusalem Is Captured

Now it came about after the death of Joshua that the sons of Israel inquired of the Lord, saying, “Who shall go up first for us against the Canaanites, to fight against them?”

The Lord said, “Judah shall go up; behold, I have handed the land over to him.”

Judah went up, and the Lord handed over to them the Canaanites and the Perizzites, and they defeated ten thousand men at Bezek.

Now the Lord was with Judah, and they took possession of the hill country; but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had iron chariots.

Likewise the house of Joseph went up against Bethel, and the Lord was with them.

Israel Rebuked

Now the angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, “I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land which I have sworn to your fathers; and I said, ‘I will never break My covenant with you,

Now when the angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the sons of Israel, the people raised their voices and wept.

So they named that place Bochim; and there they sacrificed to the Lord.

The people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of the Lord which He had done for Israel.

Then Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110.

All that generation also were gathered to their fathers; and another generation rose up after them who did not know the Lord, nor even the work which He had done for Israel.

Israel Serves the Baals

Then the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals,

and 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.

They abandoned the Lord and served Baal and the Ashtaroth.

Then the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and He handed them over to plunderers, and they plundered them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies around them, so that they could no longer stand against their enemies.

Wherever they went, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil, as the Lord had spoken and just as the Lord had sworn to them, so that they were severely distressed.

Then the Lord raised up judges who saved them from the hands of those who plundered them.

Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they committed infidelity with other gods and bowed down to them. They turned aside quickly from the way in which their fathers had walked in obeying the commandments of the Lord; they did not do the same as their fathers.

And when the Lord raised up judges for them, 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 moved to pity by their groaning because of those who tormented and oppressed them.

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,

in order to test Israel by them, whether they will keep the way of the Lord to walk in it as their fathers did, or not.”

So the Lord allowed those nations to remain, not driving them out quickly; and He did not hand them over to Joshua.

Idolatry Leads to Servitude

Now these are the nations that the Lord left, to test Israel by them (that is, all the Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars of Canaan;

They were left to test Israel by them, to find out if they would obey the commandments of the Lord, which He had commanded their fathers through Moses.

So the sons of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and they forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asheroth.