Judges 2:20–3:4

²⁰Therefore the Lord was very angry^l with Israel and said, “Because this nation has violated the covenant^m I ordained for their ancestors and has not listened to me, ²¹I will no longer drive outⁿ before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died. ²²I will use them to test^o Israel and see whether they will keep the way of the Lord and walk in it as their ancestors did.” ²³The Lord had allowed those nations to remain; he did not drive them out at once by giving them into the hands of Joshua.^p

3These are the nations the Lord left to test^q all those Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars in Canaan ²(he did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not had previous battle experience): ³the five^r rulers of the Philistines,^s all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites^t living in the Lebanon mountains from Mount Baal Hermon^u to Lebo Hamath.^{v 4}They were left to test^w the Israelites to see whether they would obey the Lord’s commands, which he had given their ancestors through Moses.