Judges 2
2
The Lord's Angel Speaks to Israel
1The Lord's angel went from Gilgal to Bochim#2.1 Bochim: In Hebrew “Bochim” means “crying” (see verse 5). and gave the Israelites this message from the Lord:
I promised your ancestors that I would give this land to their families, and I brought your people here from Egypt. We made an agreement that I promised never to break, 2#Ex 34.12,13; Dt 7.2-5. and you promised not to make any peace treaties with the other nations that live in the land. Besides that, you agreed to tear down the altars where they sacrifice to their idols. Why haven't you kept your promise?
3And so, I'll stop helping you defeat your enemies. Instead, they will be there to trap#2.3 trap: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text. you into worshiping their idols.
4The Israelites started crying loudly, 5and they offered sacrifices to the Lord. From then on, they called that place “Crying.”#2.5 Crying: Or “Bochim.”
Israel Stops Worshiping the Lord
6-9 #
Js 19.49,51. Joshua had been faithful to the Lord. And after Joshua sent the Israelites to take the land they had been promised, they remained faithful to the Lord until Joshua died at the age of 110. He was buried on his land in Timnath-Heres, in the hill country of Ephraim north of Mount Gaash. Even though Joshua was gone, the Israelites were faithful to the Lord during the lifetime of those men who had been leaders with Joshua and who had seen the wonderful things the Lord had done for Israel.
10After a while the people of Joshua's generation died, and the next generation did not know the Lord or any of the things he had done for Israel. 11-13The Lord had brought their ancestors out of Egypt, and they had worshiped him. But now the Israelites stopped worshiping the Lord and worshiped the idols of Baal and Astarte, as well as the idols of other gods from nearby nations.
The Lord was so angry 14-15with the Israelites that he let other nations raid Israel and steal their crops and other possessions. Enemies were everywhere, and the Lord always let them defeat Israel in battle. The Lord had warned Israel he would do this, and now the Israelites were miserable.
The Lord Chooses Leaders for Israel
16From time to time, the Lord would choose special leaders known as judges.#2.16 special leaders known as judges: The Hebrew text has “judges.” In addition to leading Israelites in battle, these special leaders also decided legal cases and sometimes performed religious duties. These judges would lead the Israelites into battle and defeat the enemies that made raids on them. 17In years gone by, the Israelites had been faithful to the Lord, but now they were quick to be unfaithful and to refuse even to listen to these judges. The Israelites disobeyed the Lord, and instead of worshiping him, they worshiped other gods.
18When enemies made life miserable for the Israelites, the Lord felt sorry for them. He would choose a judge and help that judge rescue Israel from its enemies. The Lord was kind to Israel as long as that judge lived. 19But afterwards, the Israelites would become even more sinful than their ancestors had been. The Israelites were stubborn—they simply would not stop worshiping other gods or following their teachings.
The Lord Lets Enemies Test Israel
20The Lord was angry with Israel and said:
The Israelites have broken the agreement I made with their ancestors. They won't obey me, 21so I'll stop helping them defeat their enemies. Israel still had a lot of enemies when Joshua died, 22and I'm going to let those enemies stay. I'll use them to test Israel, because then I can find out if Israel will worship and obey me as their ancestors did.
23That's why the Lord had not let Joshua get rid of those enemy nations all at once.
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Judges 2
2
The Angel of the Lord at Bokim
1The angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said, “I brought you up from Egypt and led you to the land I promised to give your ancestors. I said, ‘I will never break my agreement with you. 2But you must not make an agreement with the people who live in this land. You must destroy their altars.’ But you did not obey me. How could you do this? 3Now I tell you, ‘I will not force out the people in this land. They will be your enemies, and their gods will be a trap for you.’ ”
4After the angel gave Israel this message from the Lord, they cried loudly. 5So they named the place Bokim. There they offered sacrifices to the Lord.
Joshua Dies
6Then Joshua sent the people back to their land. 7The people served the Lord during the lifetime of Joshua and during the lifetimes of the elders who lived after Joshua and who had seen what great things the Lord had done for Israel. 8Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of one hundred ten. 9They buried him in his own land at Timnath Serah in the mountains of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
The People Disobey
10After those people had died, their children grew up and did not know the Lord or what he had done for Israel. 11So they did what the Lord said was wrong, and they worshiped the Baal idols. 12They quit following the Lord, the God of their ancestors who had brought them out of Egypt. They began to worship the gods of the people who lived around them, and that made the Lord angry. 13The Israelites quit following the Lord and worshiped Baal and Ashtoreth. 14The Lord was angry with the people of Israel, so he handed them over to robbers who took their possessions. He let their enemies who lived around them defeat them; they could not protect themselves. 15When the Israelites went out to fight, they always lost, because the Lord was not with them. The Lord had sworn to them this would happen. So the Israelites suffered very much.
God Chooses Judges
16Then the Lord chose leaders called judges, who saved the Israelites from the robbers. 17But the Israelites did not listen to their judges. They were not faithful to God but worshiped other gods instead. Their ancestors had obeyed the Lord’s commands, but they quickly turned away and did not obey. 18When their enemies hurt them, the Israelites cried for help. So the Lord felt sorry for them and sent judges to save them from their enemies. The Lord was with those judges all their lives. 19But when the judges died, the Israelites again sinned and worshiped other gods. They became worse than their ancestors. The Israelites were very stubborn and refused to change their evil ways.
20So the Lord became angry with the Israelites. He said, “These people have broken the agreement I made with their ancestors. They have not listened to me. 21I will no longer defeat the nations who were left when Joshua died. 22I will use them to test Israel, to see if Israel will keep the Lord’s commands as their ancestors did.” 23In the past the Lord had permitted those nations to stay in the land. He did not quickly force them out or help Joshua’s army defeat them.
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The Holy Bible, New Century Version, Copyright © 2005 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.