Judges 2:11–23

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

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

¹⁶The Lord raised up^ac judges, who saved them from the power of their marauders, ¹⁷but they did not listen to their judges. Instead, they prostituted^ad themselves with other gods, bowing down to them. They quickly turned from the way^ae of their ancestors, who had walked in obedience to the Lord’s commands. They did not do as their ancestors did. ¹⁸Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for the Israelites, the Lord was with^af 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. ¹⁹Whenever the judge died, the Israelites would act even more corruptly^ag 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 obstinate^ah ways.

²⁰The Lord’s anger burned against Israel, and he declared, “Because this nation has violated my covenant^a that I made with their ancestors^b and disobeyed me, ²¹I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left^c when he died.^{d 22}I did this to test Israel and to see whether or not they would keep the Lord’s way^e 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.