2The angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bokim. There he spoke to the people of Israel. “I brought you up out of Egypt,” he said. “I led you into this land. It is the land I promised with an oath to give to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I said, ‘I will never break the covenant I made with you. ²So you must not make a covenant with the people of this land. Instead, you must tear down their altars.’

“But you have disobeyed me. Why did you do it? ³I have something to tell you. I will not drive those people out to make room for you. They will be like thorns in your sides. Their gods will be a trap to you.”

⁴The angel of the Lord spoke those things to all of the people of Israel. Then the people began to sob out loud. ⁵So that place was called Bokim. The people offered sacrifices to the Lord there.

The People Turn Away From the Lord

⁶Joshua sent the people of Israel away. Then they went to take over the land. All of them went to their own shares of land.

⁷The people served the Lord as long as Joshua lived. They also served him as long as the elders lived. Those were the elders who lived longer than Joshua did. They had seen all of the great things the Lord had done for Israel.

⁸Joshua, the servant of the Lord, died. He was the son of Nun. He was 110 years old when he died. ⁹His people buried his body on his own property at Timnath Heres. It’s north of Mount Gaash in the hill country of Ephraim.

¹⁰All of the people of Joshua’s time joined the members of their families who had already died. Then those who were born after them grew up. They didn’t know the Lord. They didn’t know what he had done for Israel.

¹¹The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. They served the gods that were named after Baal. ¹²They deserted the Lord, the God of their people. He had brought them out of Egypt. But now the people of Israel followed other gods and worshiped them. They served the gods of the nations that were around them. They made the Lord angry ¹³because they deserted him. They served Baal. They also served the goddesses that were named after Ashtoreth.

¹⁴The Lord became angry with Israel. So he handed them over to robbers. The robbers stole everything from them. He gave them over to their enemies who were all around them. Israel wasn’t able to fight against them anymore and win. ¹⁵When Israel went out to fight, the Lord’s power was against them. He let their enemies win the battle over them. The Lord had warned them with an oath that it would happen. And now they were suffering terribly.

¹⁶Then the Lord gave them leaders. The leaders saved them from the power of those robbers. ¹⁷But the people wouldn’t listen to their leaders. They weren’t faithful to the Lord. They joined themselves to other gods and worshiped them. They didn’t obey the Lord’s commands as their people before them had done. They quickly turned away from the path their people had taken.

¹⁸When the Lord gave them a leader, he was with that leader. He saved the people from the power of their enemies. He did it as long as the leader lived. He was very sorry for the people. They groaned because of what their enemies did to them. The enemies beat them down. They treated them badly.

¹⁹But when the leader died, the people returned to their evil ways. The things they did were even more sinful than the things their people before them had done. They followed other gods. They served them. They worshiped them. They refused to give up their evil practices. They wouldn’t change their stubborn ways.

²⁰So the Lord’s anger burned against the people of Israel. He said, “This nation has broken my covenant. I made it with their people of long ago. But this nation has not listened to me. ²¹Joshua left some nations in the land when he died. I will not drive those nations out to make room for you anymore. ²²I will use them to put Israel to the test. I will see whether Israel will live the way I want them to. I will see whether they will follow my path, just as their people did long ago.”

²³The Lord had let those nations remain in the land. He didn’t drive them out right away. He didn’t hand them over to Joshua.

3The Lord left some nations in the land. He left them there in order to put the people of Israel to the test. He did it for all those who hadn’t lived through any of the wars in Canaan. ²He wanted to teach the men in Israel who had never been in battle before. He wanted them to learn how to fight. ³So he left the five rulers of the Philistines. He left the people of Canaan and the people of Sidon. He left the Hivites who were living in the Lebanon mountains. They lived in the area that was between Mount Baal Hermon and Lebo Hamath.

⁴The Lord left those nations where they were in order to put Israel to the test. He wanted to see whether they would obey his commands. He had given those commands through Moses to their people of long ago.

⁵So the people of Israel lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. ⁶They got married to the daughters of those people. They gave their own daughters to the sons of those people. And they served the gods of those people.

Othniel

⁷The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. They forgot the Lord their God. They served the gods that were named after Baal. They also served the goddesses that were named after Asherah.

⁸So the Lord’s anger burned against Israel. He gave them over to the power of Cushan-Rishathaim. He was the king of Aram Naharaim. For eight years Israel was under his rule.

⁹They cried out to the Lord. Then he gave them a man to save them. His name was Othniel, the son of Kenaz. He was Caleb’s younger brother. ¹⁰The Spirit of the Lord came on Othniel. So he became Israel’s leader. He went to war. The Lord handed Cushan-Rishathaim, the king of Aram, over to him. Othniel overpowered him.

¹¹So the land was at peace for 40 years. Then Othniel, the son of Kenaz, died.

Ehud

¹²Once again the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. Because they did that, the Lord gave Eglon power over Israel. Eglon was the king of Moab. ¹³He got the Ammonites and Amalekites to join him. All of them came and attacked Israel. They took over Jericho. Jericho was also known as The City of Palm Trees. ¹⁴For 18 years the people of Israel were under the rule of Eglon, the king of Moab.

¹⁵Again the people of Israel cried out to the Lord. Then he gave them a man to save them. His name was Ehud, the son of Gera. Ehud was left-handed. He was from the tribe of Benjamin.

The people of Israel sent Ehud to Eglon, the king of Moab. They sent him to give the king what he required them to bring him. ¹⁶Ehud had made a sword that had two edges. It was about a foot and a half long. He tied it to his right leg under his clothes. ¹⁷Eglon, the king of Moab, was a very fat man. Ehud gave him the gift he had brought. ¹⁸After that, he sent away those who had carried it.

¹⁹At the place where some statues of gods stood near Gilgal, Ehud turned back. He said, “King Eglon, I have a secret message for you.”

The king said, “I want everyone to be quiet.” And all of his attendants left him.

²⁰Then Ehud approached him. King Eglon was sitting alone in the upstairs room of his summer palace. Ehud said, “I have a message from God for you.” So the king got up from his seat.

²¹Then Ehud reached out his left hand. He pulled out the sword that was tied to his right leg. He stuck it into the king’s stomach. ²²Even the handle sank in after the blade. The blade came right out the king’s back. Ehud didn’t pull the sword out. And the fat closed over it.

²³Ehud went out to the porch. He shut the doors of the upstairs room behind him. Then he locked them.

²⁴After he had gone, the servants came. They found the doors of the upstairs room locked. They said, “Eglon must be going to the toilet in the inside room of the house.”

²⁵They waited for a long time. They waited so long they became worried. But the king still didn’t open the doors of the room. So they took a key and unlocked them. There they saw their king. He had fallen to the floor. He was dead.

²⁶While Eglon’s servants had been waiting, Ehud had gotten away. He passed by the statues of gods and escaped to Seirah. ²⁷There in the hill country of Ephraim he blew a trumpet. Then he led the people of Israel down from the hills.

²⁸“Follow me,” Ehud ordered. “The Lord has handed your enemy Moab over to you.”

So they followed him down. They took over the only places where people could go across the Jordan River to get to Moab. They didn’t let anyone go across. ²⁹At that time they struck down about 10,000 men of Moab. All of those men were strong and powerful. But not even one escaped. ³⁰That day Moab was brought under the rule of Israel.

So the land was at peace for 80 years.

Shamgar

³¹After Ehud, Shamgar became the next leader. He was the son of Anath. He struck down 600 Philistines with a large, pointed stick that was used to drive oxen. He saved Israel too.

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