JOSHUA’S DEATH

6 Previously, when Joshua had sent the people away, the Israelites had gone to take possession of the land, each to his own inheritance.q 7 The people worshiped the Lord throughout Joshua’s lifetime and during the lifetimes of the elders who outlived Joshua. They had seen all the Lord’s great worksr he had done for Israel.

8 Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110. 9 They buried him in the territory of his inheritance, in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim,s north of Mount Gaash. 10 That whole generation was also gathered to their ancestors. After them another generation rose up who did not know the Lordt or the works he had done for Israel.

11 The Israelites did what was evil in the Lord’s sight.u They worshiped the Baalsv 12 and abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed other gods from the surrounding peoplesw and bowed down to them. They angered the Lord,x 13 for they abandoned him and worshiped Baal and the Ashtoreths.y

14 The Lord’s anger burned against Israel, and he handed them over to marauders who raided them. He soldz them to the enemies around them, and they could no longer resist their enemies. 15 Whenever the Israelites went out, the Lord was against themaa and brought disaster on them, just as he had promised and sworn to them.ab So they suffered greatly.

16 The Lord raised upac judges, who saved them from the power of their marauders, 17 but they did not listen to their judges. Instead, they prostitutedad themselves with other gods, bowing down to them. They quickly turned from the wayae of their ancestors, who had walked in obedience to the Lord’s commands. They did not do as their ancestors did. 18 Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for the Israelites, the Lord was withaf him and saved the people from the power of their enemies while the judge was still alive. The Lord was moved to pity whenever they groaned because of those who were oppressing and afflicting them. 19 Whenever the judge died, the Israelites would act even more corruptlyag than their ancestors, following other gods to serve them and bow in worship to them. They did not turn from their evil practices or their obstinateah ways.

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. 6 The Israelites took their daughters as wives for themselves, gave their own daughters to their sons, and worshiped their gods.m