Israel Rebuked
1 Now theAngel of the Lordcame up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, “I brought you up from Egypt and led you to the land which I swore [to give] to your fathers; and I said, ‘I will never break My covenant with you,
2 and as for you, you shall not make a covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars.’ But you have notobeyed Me; what is this that you have done?
3 So I also said, ‘I will not drive your enemies out before you; but they will belike thornsin your sides and their gods will be a snare to you.’”
4 When the Angel of the Lordhad spoken these words to all the Israelites, the people raised their voices and wept.
5 So they named that place Bochim (weepers); and there they offered sacrifices to the Lord.
Joshua Dies
6 And when Joshua had sent the people away, the [tribes of the] Israelites went each to his inheritance, to take possession of the land.
7 The people served the Lordall the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of the Lordwhich He had done for Israel.
8 Then Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of a hundred and ten.
9 And they buried him in the territory of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
10 Also, all [the people of] that generation were gathered to their fathers [in death]; and another generation arose after them who did not know (recognize, understand) the Lord, nor even the work which He had done for Israel.
Israel Serves Baals
11 Then the Israelites did evil in the sight of the Lordand worshipedandserved the Baals,
12 and they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt. They followed other gods from the gods of the peoples who were around them, and they bowed down to them, and offendedandprovoked the Lordto anger.
13 So they abandoned the Lordand served Baal [the pagan god of the Canaanites] and theAshtaroth.
14 So the anger of the Lordburned against Israel, and He gave them into the hands (power) of plunderers who robbed them; and He sold them into the hands of their surrounding enemies, so that they could no longer stand [in opposition] before their enemies.
15 Wherever they went, the hand of the Lordwas against them for evil (misfortune), as the Lordhad spoken, and as the Lordhad sworn to them, so that they were severely distressed.
16 Then the Lordraised upjudges who rescued them from the hands of those who robbed them.
17 Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they played the prostitute after other gods and they bowed down to them. They quickly turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked in obeying the commandments of the Lord; they did not do astheir fathers.
18 When the Lordraised up judges for them, He was with the judge and He rescued them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the Lordwas moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed and afflicted them.
19 But when the judge died, they turned back and behaved more corruptly than their fathers, in following and serving other gods, and bowing down to them. They did notabandon their practices or their stubborn ways.
20 So the anger of the Lordburned against Israel, and He said, “Because thisnation has transgressed (violated) My covenant (binding agreement) which I commanded their fathers, and has not listened to My voice,
21 I also will no longer drive out before them any of the nations which Joshua left [to be conquered] when he died,
22 in order to test [the loyalty of] Israel by them, whether Israel will keep the way of the Lordto walk in it, as their fathers did, or not.”
23 So the Lordallowed those nations to remain, not driving them out at once; and He did not give them into the hand of Joshua.