Old Testament · Judges

Judges 2

Israel Rebuked at Bochim

1And the messenger of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said: "I brought you up out of Egypt, and I brought you to the land which I swore to your fathers; and I said: I will not break my covenant^a with you forever. 2And you shall not cut a covenant with the inhabitants of this land; their altars you shall tear down. But you have not listened to my voice. What is this you have done? 3And I also said: I will not drive them out from before you; and they shall be to you for sides, and their gods shall be to you for a snare."

4And it came to pass, when the messenger of the LORD spoke these words to all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice and wept. 5And they called the name of that place Bochim; and they sacrificed there to the LORD.

Joshua’s Death and Burial

(Joshua 24:29–33)

6And Joshua sent the people away, and the children of Israel went each man^b to his inheritance to possess the land. 7And the people served^c the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who prolonged days after Joshua, who had seen all the great work of the LORD which He did for Israel.

8And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, a son of a hundred and ten years. 9And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, on the north of Mount Gaash.

Israel’s Unfaithfulness

(Isaiah 43:22–28; Jeremiah 2:23–37)

10And also all that generation were gathered to their fathers; and there arose another generation after them, who did not know the LORD, nor the work which He had done for Israel. 11And the children of Israel did the evil in the eyes of the LORD, and served the Baalim.

12And they forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they went after other gods, of the gods of the peoples who were round about them, and they bowed down to them, and they provoked the LORD. 13And they forsook the LORD, and served Baal and the Ashtaroth.

14And the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He gave them into the hand of plunderers, and they plundered them; and He sold them into the hand of their enemies round about, and they could no longer stand before their enemies. 15In all that they went out, the hand of the LORD was against them for evil, as the LORD had spoken, and as the LORD had sworn to them; and they were greatly distressed.

Judges Raised Up

16And the LORD raised up judges, and they saved^d them out of the hand of those that plundered them.

17And yet they did not listen to their judges, for they went whoring after other gods, and bowed down to them; they turned aside quickly from the way in which their fathers walked, obeying the commandments^e of the LORD; they did not do so.

18And when the LORD raised up for them judges, then the LORD was with the judge, and saved them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the LORD relented because of their groaning by reason of those who oppressed them and crushed them. 19And it came to pass, when the judge died, that they turned back and acted more corruptly than their fathers, going after other gods to serve them and to bow down to them; they did not let fall any of their deeds, nor of their stubborn way.

20And the anger of the LORD burned against Israel; and He said: "Because this nation has transgressed my covenant which I commanded^f their fathers, and has not listened to my voice; 21I also will no longer drive out before them any man of the nations which Joshua left when he died; 22in order to test Israel by them, whether they will keep the way of the LORD to walk in it, as their fathers kept it, or not."

23And the LORD left those nations, without driving them out quickly; and He did not give them into the hand of Joshua.