Judges 2

1 And a messenger of the Lord went up from Gilgal to the Place of Weeping, and to Bethel, and to the house of Israel, and said to them, “This is what the Lord says: I brought you up out of Egypt, and I brought you into the land I swore to your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you. [a] 2 And you are not to make a covenant with those settled in this land, and you are not to bow down to their gods; you are to shatter their carved images and pull down their altars. But you did not listen to my voice — for you have done these things. [c] 3 And I said: I will not remove them from in front of you. They will be a distress to you, and their gods will be a stumbling block to you.” 4 And when the messenger of the Lord had spoken these words to all the children of Israel, the people lifted up their voice and wept. 5 And they gave that place the name Weepings; and they sacrificed there to the Lord.

6 And Joshua sent the people away, and each man went to his inheritance, to take the land as his inheritance. 7 And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who lived a long time with Joshua — all who knew the whole great work of the Lord, what he had done in Israel. 8 And Joshua son of Nun, the Lord’s slave, died, a hundred and ten years old. 9 And they buried him in the border of his inheritance, at Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. [d] 10 And all that generation too were gathered to their fathers; and another generation rose up after them who did not know the Lord, or the work he had done in Israel.

11 And the children of Israel did what was evil before the Lord, and served the Baals. 12 They abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they went after other gods, gods of the nations around them, and bowed down to them; and they provoked the Lord. 13 They abandoned him and served Baal and the Astartes. [e] 14 And the Lord was very angry with Israel, and he gave them into the hands of plunderers, and they plundered them; and he sold them into the hands of their enemies around them, and they could no longer stand against their enemies 15 wherever they went out. The hand of the Lord was against them for harm, just as the Lord had said and just as the Lord had sworn to them; and he pressed them very hard.

16 And the Lord raised up judges, and the Lord saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them. 17 But they did not obey their judges either, for they went whoring after other gods and bowed down to them. They turned aside quickly from the way their fathers had walked in, the way of listening to the words of the Lord; they did not do so. 18 And because the Lord raised up judges for them, 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 was moved by their groaning under those who besieged them and pressed them hard. 19 But when the judge died, they turned back and again corrupted themselves worse than their fathers, going after other gods to serve them and to bow down to them. They did not let go of their practices or their stubborn ways.

20 And the Lord was very angry with Israel, and said, “Because this nation has abandoned my covenant, which I commanded their fathers, and has not listened to my voice, 21 I too will no longer drive out from in front of them a single man of the nations that Joshua son of Nun left in the land.” And he let them stay, 22 to test Israel by them — whether they would keep the way of the Lord and walk in it, as their fathers kept it, or not. 23 So the Lord let these nations stay, and did not drive them out quickly; and he did not give them into the hand of Joshua.