Judges 2

A Generation Arose That Did Not Know Him

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The Messenger at the Place of Weeping

2:1The messenger of the Lord went up from Gilgal to the Place of Weeping, to Bethel, and to the house of Israel. He said to them, “The Lord, the Lord brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land that He swore to your fathers to give you. He said to you, ‘I will never scatter My covenant with you.

2:2You shall make no covenant with those dwelling in this land, nor shall you bow down to their gods. Instead, you shall shatter their carved images and pull down their altars.’ But you did not obey My voice when you did these things.

2:3And I said, ‘I will no longer remove the people whom I said I would destroy before you. They shall become constraints upon you, and their gods shall become a stumbling block to you.’”

2:4When the messenger of the Lord spoke these words to all Israel, the people raised their voice and wept.

2:5For this reason that place was called the Place of Weeping, and there they sacrificed to the Lord.

The Death of Joshua and His Generation

2:6Joshua sent the people away, and the sons of Israel went, each to his house and his inheritance, to inherit the land.

2:7The people served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who knew all the great work the Lord had done for Israel.

2:8Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of one hundred ten years.

2:9They buried him within the territory of his inheritance at Timnath-heres, in the mountain of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.

2:10That whole generation too was added to its fathers. Another generation arose after them, who did not know the Lord or the work He had done for Israel.

Israel Serves the Baalim

2:11The sons of Israel did evil before the Lord and served the Baalim.

2:12They abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They followed other gods from among the gods of the peoples around them, bowed down to them, and provoked the Lord.

2:13They abandoned the Lord and served Baal and the Astartes.

2:14The Lord grew furious with Israel. He handed them into the hand of plunderers, who plundered them. He sold them into the hand of their enemies all around, and they could not stand before their enemies.

2:15In everything in which they prostituted themselves, the Lord’s hand was against them for harm, as the Lord had spoken and as the Lord had sworn. He greatly afflicted them.

The Lord Raises Up Judges

2:16The Lord raised up judges for them and saved them from the hand of their plunderers.

2:17Yet they did not listen even to their judges, for they prostituted themselves after other gods, bowed down to them, and provoked the Lord. They quickly turned aside from the way their fathers had walked in obeying the Lord’s commandments. They did not do so.

2:18Whenever the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge and saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. For the Lord was moved by their groaning before those who besieged and harmed them.

2:19When the judge died, they turned back and again acted more corruptly than their fathers, following other gods to serve them and bow down to them. They did not cast away their practices or depart from their hard way.

The Nations Left Behind

2:20The Lord grew furious with Israel and said, “Because this nation has abandoned My covenant that I commanded their fathers, and has not obeyed My voice,

2:21I too will no longer remove before them anyone from the nations that Joshua left and let remain.”

2:22This was to test Israel through them: would they keep the way of the Lord and walk in it as their fathers had kept it, or not?

2:23The Lord left these nations, not removing them quickly, and did not hand them into Joshua’s hand.

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Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V2 · working draft awaiting specialist review.