20 The Lord’s anger burned against Israel, and he declared, “Because this nation has violated my covenanta that I made with their ancestorsb and disobeyed me, 21 I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua leftc when he died.d 22 I did this to test Israel and to see whether or not they would keep the Lord’s waye by walking in it, as their ancestors had.”f 23 The Lord left these nations and did not drive them out immediately. He did not hand them over to Joshua.

THE LORD TESTS ISRAEL

3 These are the nations the Lord left in order to test all those in Israel who had experienced none of the wars in Canaan.g 2 This was to teach the future generations of the Israelites how to fight in battle, especially those who had not fought before. 3 These nations included the five rulersh of the Philistinesi and all of the Canaanites, the Sidonians,j and the Hivitesk who lived in the Lebanese mountains from Mount Baal-hermon as far as the entrance to Hamath.C 4 The Lord left them to test Israel, to determine if they would keep the Lord’s commands he had given their ancestors through Moses.l 5 But they settled among the Canaanites, Hethites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.