¹⁶Then the Lord chose leaders called judges, ⁿ who saved the Israelites from the robbers. ¹⁷But the Israelites did not listen to their judges. They were not faithful to God but worshiped other gods instead. Their ancestors had obeyed the Lord’s commands, but they quickly turned away and did not obey. ¹⁸When their enemies hurt them, the Israelites cried for help. So the Lord felt sorry for them and sent judges to save them from their enemies. The Lord was with those judges all their lives. ¹⁹But when the judges died, the Israelites again sinned and worshiped other gods. They became worse than their ancestors. The Israelites were very stubborn and refused to change their evil ways.

²⁰So the Lord became angry with the Israelites. He said, “These people have broken the agreement I made with their ancestors. They have not listened to me. ²¹I will no longer defeat the nations who were left when Joshua died. ²²I will use them to test Israel, to see if Israel will keep the Lord’s commands as their ancestors did.” ²³In the past the Lord had permitted those nations to stay in the land. He did not quickly force them out or help Joshua’s army defeat them.

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Footnotes

njudges They were not judges in courts of law, but leaders of the people in times of emergency.