Israel Rebuked at Bochim
1 The angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim. He said, “I brought you out of Egypt and have brought you to the land which I swore to give your fathers. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you. 2 You shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land. You shall break down their altars.’ But you have not listened to my voice. Why have you done this? 3 Therefore I also said, ‘I will not drive them out from before you, but they shall be a thorn in your sides, and their gods will be a snare to you.’ ”
4 When the angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the Israelites, the people raised their voice and wept. 5 They named that place Bochim, and they sacrificed there to the Lord.
The Death of Joshua
6 Now when Joshua had sent the people away, the Israelites each went to his inheritance to possess the land. 7 The people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of the Lord that he had done for Israel. 8 Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being 110 years old. 9 They buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath Heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, on the north of the mountain of Gaash. 10 After that entire generation was gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord, nor the work which he had done for Israel.
Israel’s Unfaithfulness
11 The Israelites did that which was evil in the Lord’s sight and served the Baals. 12 They abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt and followed other gods, the gods of surrounding nations, and bowed down to them, and they provoked the Lord to anger. 13 They abandoned the Lord and served Baal and Ashtaroth. 14 The Lord’s anger burned against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their surrounding enemies, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies. 15 Wherever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for disaster, as the Lord had spoken, and as the Lord had sworn to them; and they were very distressed.
Judges Raised Up
16 The Lord raised up judges, who saved them from the hand of those who plundered them. 17 Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they prostituted themselves to other gods and bowed down to them. They quickly turned away from the way in which their fathers walked, the way of obedience to the Lord’s commandments, and they did not walk in the way of obedience.
18 When the Lord raised up judges for them, then the Lord was with the judge and saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of that judge, for it grieved the Lord because of their groaning because of those who oppressed them and troubled them. 19 But when the judge was dead, they turned back and dealt more corruptly than their ancestors in following other gods, serving and bowing down to them. They did not stop what they were doing or give up their stubborn ways.
20 The Lord’s anger burned against Israel, and he said, “Because this nation transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers and has not listened to my voice, 21 I also will no longer drive out any of the nations that Joshua left when he died from before them, 22 that by them I may test Israel, to see whether or not they will keep the way of the Lord to walk in it, as their fathers kept it.” 23 So the Lord left those nations, without driving them out hastily. He did not deliver them into Joshua’s hand.