Judges 2

The angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bochim and said, "I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land I promised your fathers I would give you. I said, 'I will never break my agreement with you,

1And an angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you.

Note"The angel of the LORD" translates a Hebrew phrase meaning simply "the LORD's messenger"; in these stories such a messenger speaks in the first person as God himself, and the text does not always distinguish the two. Gilgal was Israel's first camp west of the Jordan after crossing into the land, and had served as their base during the conquest. "Your fathers" means their ancestors, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to whom the promise of the land was originally sworn. A covenant (the KJV word, rendered "agreement" here) was a formal binding pact of the kind kings made with subject peoples: it laid down obligations on both sides and was sealed with oaths.

2and you must not make any treaty with the people who live in this land. You must tear down their altars.' But you have not obeyed me. Why have you done this?

2And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this?

Note"League" in 1611 English meant a treaty or alliance, not a sporting association. Treaties between peoples in this period were sworn in the names of both sides' gods and often sealed by intermarriage, so a treaty with the local population carried religious ties with it. An altar was a raised stone platform on which animals and other offerings were burned for a god; tearing one down was the standard way of shutting a shrine.

3So now I tell you: I will not drive these people out ahead of you. They will be thorns in your sides, and their gods will be a trap for you."

3Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you.

Note"A snare" is a hunter's trap, a hidden noose or net for catching birds and small animals. The image is of something that looks harmless until it closes on you.

4When the angel of the LORD had said these words to all the Israelites, the people cried out loud and wept.

4And it came to pass, when the angel of the LORD spake these words unto all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice, and wept.

5So they named that place Bochim, and they offered sacrifices there to the LORD.

5And they called the name of that place Bochim: and they sacrificed there unto the LORD.

NoteBochim means "weepers" or "the weeping ones" in Hebrew. The name is given because of what has just happened in verse 4; the pun is invisible in English. The site is not otherwise known.

6After Joshua had sent the people away, the Israelites went out to take possession of the land, each man going to the share given to his family.

6And when Joshua had let the people go, the children of Israel went every man unto his inheritance to possess the land.

NoteThe narrative now steps back in time. Verses 6–10 repeat, almost word for word, the closing paragraph of the book of Joshua (Joshua 24:28–31), restarting the story from before Joshua's death in order to explain how the situation described in verses 11 onward came about. "Inheritance" is the standard term for the portion of land assigned to each tribe and clan when the country was divided up; it was meant to stay in the family permanently rather than being bought and sold.

7The people served the LORD as long as Joshua lived, and as long as the elders lived who outlived him, the men who had seen all the great works the LORD had done for Israel.

7And the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the LORD, that he did for Israel.

NoteThe "elders" were the senior heads of families and clans, who together held authority in a community; it was a recognized position of leadership, not just a description of age.

8Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of 110.

8And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being an hundred and ten years old.

9They buried him on the land given to his family, at Timnath-heres in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.

9And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnathheres, in the mount of Ephraim, on the north side of the hill Gaash.

NoteThe hill country of Ephraim is the central highland ridge north of Jerusalem. Joshua 24:30 gives the name of the burial place as Timnath-serah rather than Timnath-heres, the same two consonants in a different order, an ancient variation in the text that scholars have not resolved.

10That whole generation was also gathered to their ancestors. After them another generation grew up who did not know the LORD or the works he had done for Israel.

10And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.

Note"Gathered unto their fathers" is a standard Hebrew way of saying someone died, and reflects the actual practice of burial: bodies were laid in a family tomb, and the bones later moved to a common pile with those of earlier generations. "Knew not the LORD" here means they had no first-hand experience of what he had done, not that they had never heard of him.

11The Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and they served the Baals, the local gods of the land.

11And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim:

NoteBaal was the Canaanite storm and fertility god, believed to send the rain that made crops grow. His name means "lord," "master" or "owner." The plural "Baalim" ("the Baals") refers to the many local versions of him worshiped at individual towns and shrines, each with its own title.

12They abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They followed other gods, the gods of the peoples living around them. They bowed down to those gods and made the LORD angry.

12And they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the LORD to anger.

13They abandoned the LORD and served Baal and the Ashtoreths, female gods worshiped alongside him.

13And they forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtaroth.

NoteAshtoreth (plural Ashtaroth) is the goddess also known as Astarte or Ishtar, associated with love, fertility and war. The vowels in the Hebrew form appear to have been deliberately altered by scribes to match the word bosheth, "shame", so the name as written is an insult rather than the goddess's real title.

14The LORD burned with anger against Israel. He handed them over to raiders who robbed them, and he sold them to the enemies all around them, so that they could no longer stand up against those enemies.

14And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies.

Note"He sold them" is an idiom drawn from the slave market: to sell someone is to transfer control over them to a new owner. "Spoilers" in 1611 English means plunderers or raiders, those who strip a defeated people of their goods.

15Wherever they marched out, the hand of the LORD was against them to bring them harm, just as the LORD had said and had sworn to them. They were in great distress.

15Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the LORD was against them for evil, as the LORD had said, and as the LORD had sworn unto them: and they were greatly distressed.

Note"The hand of the LORD" is a standard Hebrew image for God's power in action, the way we speak of something being in someone's hands. "For evil" here means "to bring harm or disaster", not moral wrongdoing.

16Even so, the LORD raised up judges, leaders who rescued Israel, and they saved the people from the hands of the raiders who robbed them.

16Nevertheless the LORD raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them.

NoteThe Hebrew word translated "judge" (shophet) covers far more than deciding court cases. These figures were leaders raised up in a crisis who rallied the tribes, fought off invaders, and then governed, closer to a war chief than to a magistrate. The related verb in verse 18 can mean "rescue" or "put things right" as much as "try a case."

17Yet they would not listen to their judges either. They were unfaithful to the LORD, giving themselves to other gods and bowing down to them. They quickly turned off the path their fathers had walked in obedience to the LORD's commands; they did not do as their fathers had done.

17And yet they would not hearken unto their judges, but they went a whoring after other gods, and bowed themselves unto them: they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the LORD; but they did not so.

Note"Went a whoring after other gods" translates a Hebrew verb for sexual unfaithfulness. The relationship between the LORD and Israel is regularly pictured as a marriage, so worship of other gods is described as adultery or prostitution. The image was also pointed because Canaanite fertility worship involved sexual rites.

18Whenever the LORD raised up a judge for them, the LORD was with that judge and rescued them from their enemies as long as the judge lived. The LORD was moved to pity by their groaning under those who oppressed and afflicted them.

18And when the LORD raised them up judges, then the LORD was with the judge, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for it repented the LORD because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them.

Note"It repented the LORD" uses "repent" in its older English sense of being moved, relenting or changing course, not confessing sin. The Hebrew verb suggests being stirred to pity or grief. "Vexed" in 1611 English meant to crush or oppress, far stronger than the modern sense of mild annoyance.

19But when the judge died, the people went back and became even more corrupt than their fathers. They followed other gods, serving them and bowing down to them. They would not give up their practices or their stubborn ways.

19And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they returned, and corrupted themselves more than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down unto them; they ceased not from their own doings, nor from their stubborn way.

20So the LORD burned with anger against Israel, and he said, "Because this nation has broken the agreement I commanded their fathers to keep, and has not listened to me,

20And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel; and he said, Because that this people hath transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not hearkened unto my voice;

Note"Transgressed" means stepped across, that is, broke the terms of the agreement. "Hearkened" means listened, with the sense of listening and then obeying.

21from now on I will not drive out ahead of them any of the nations Joshua left when he died.

21I also will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the nations which Joshua left when he died:

22I will use those nations to test Israel, to see whether they will keep to the way of the LORD and walk in it as their fathers did, or not."

22That through them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of the LORD to walk therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not.

Note"Prove" in 1611 English means to test or put to the proof, as metal is tested for purity, the same sense preserved in the phrase "the exception proves the rule."

23So the LORD let those nations stay. He did not drive them out quickly, and he had not handed them over to Joshua.

23Therefore the LORD left those nations, without driving them out hastily; neither delivered he them into the hand of Joshua.

NoteThe chapter ends with the pattern that the rest of the book will follow episode by episode: the people turn away, an enemy oppresses them, they cry out, a judge is raised up, and after his death the cycle begins again.