Judges 2:20–3:4

^20aSo the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and He said, “Because this nation has transgressed My covenant which I commanded their fathers and has not listened to My voice,

^21aI also will no longer drive out before them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died,

²²in order to ^atest Israel by them, whether they will keep the way of the Lord to walk in it as their fathers ¹did, or not.”

²³So the Lord allowed those nations to remain, not driving them out quickly; and He did not give them into the hand of Joshua.

Chapter 3

Idolatry Leads to Servitude

^1aNow these are the nations which the Lord left, to test Israel by them (that is, all who had not ¹experienced any of the wars of Canaan;

²only in order that the generations of the sons of Israel might ¹be taught war, ²those who had not ³experienced it formerly).

³These nations are: the five lords of the Philistines and all the Canaanites and the Sidonians and ^athe Hivites who lived in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-hermon as far as ¹Lebo-hamath.

⁴They were for ^1atesting Israel, to find out if they would ²obey the commandments of the Lord, which He had commanded their fathers ³through Moses.