Passage Resources Hebrew/Greek Your Content
Previous Next
Add parallel Print Page Options
Close NET

Judges 2
New English Translation

Confrontation and Repentance at Bokim

2 The angel of the Lord[a] went up from Gilgal to Bokim. He said, “I brought you up from Egypt and led you into the land I had solemnly promised to give to your ancestors.[b] I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you, 2 but you must not make an agreement with the people who live in this land. You should tear down the altars where they worship.’[c] But you have disobeyed me.[d] Why would you do such a thing?[e] 3 At that time I also warned you,[f] ‘If you disobey,[g] I will not drive out the Canaanites[h] before you. They will ensnare you[i] and their gods will lure you away.’”[j]

4 When the angel of the Lord finished speaking these words to all the Israelites, the people wept loudly.[k] 5 They named that place Bokim[l] and offered sacrifices to the Lord there.

The End of an Era

6 When Joshua dismissed[m] the people, the Israelites went to their allotted portions of territory,[n] intending to take possession of the land. 7 The people worshiped[o] the Lord throughout Joshua’s lifetime and as long as the elderly men[p] who outlived him remained alive. These men had witnessed[q] all the great things the Lord had done for Israel.[r] 8 Joshua son of Nun, the Lord’s servant, died at the age of 110. 9 The people[s] buried him in his allotted land[t] in Timnath Heres in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. 10 That entire generation passed away;[u] a new generation grew up[v] that had not personally experienced the Lord’s presence or seen what he had done for Israel.[w]

A Monotonous Cycle

11 The Israelites did evil before[x] the Lord by worshiping[y] the Baals. 12 They abandoned the Lord God of their ancestors[z] who brought them out of the land of Egypt. They followed other gods—the gods of the nations who lived around them. They worshiped[aa] them and made the Lord angry. 13 They abandoned the Lord and worshiped Baal and the Ashtoreths.[ab]

14 The Lord was furious with Israel[ac] and handed them over to robbers who plundered them.[ad] He turned them over to[ae] their enemies who lived around them. They could no longer withstand their enemies’ attacks.[af] 15 Whenever they went out to fight,[ag] the Lord did them harm,[ah] just as he had warned and solemnly vowed he would do.[ai] They suffered greatly.[aj]

16 The Lord raised up leaders[ak] who delivered them from these robbers.[al] 17 But they did not obey[am] their leaders. Instead they prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped[an] them. They quickly turned aside from the path[ao] their ancestors[ap] had walked. Their ancestors had obeyed the Lord’s commands, but they did not.[aq] 18 When the Lord raised up leaders for them, the Lord was with each leader and delivered the people[ar] from their enemies while the leader remained alive. The Lord felt sorry for them[as] when they cried out in agony because of what their harsh oppressors did to them.[at] 19 When a leader died, the next generation[au] would again[av] act more wickedly than the previous one.[aw] They would follow after other gods, worshiping them[ax] and bowing down to them. They did not give up[ay] their practices or their stubborn ways.

A Divine Decision

20 The Lord was furious with Israel.[az] He said, “This nation[ba] has violated the terms of the covenant I made with their ancestors[bb] by disobeying me.[bc] 21 So I will no longer remove before them any of the nations that Joshua left unconquered when he died, 22 in order to test Israel.[bd] [be] I want to see[bf] whether or not the people[bg] will carefully walk in the path[bh] marked out by[bi] the Lord, as their ancestors[bj] were careful to do.” 23 This is why[bk] the Lord permitted these nations to remain and did not conquer them immediately;[bl] he did not hand them over to Joshua.

Footnotes

  1. Judges 2:1 sn See Exod 14:19; 23:20.
  2. Judges 2:1 tn Heb “the land that I had sworn to your fathers.”
  3. Judges 2:2 tn Heb “their altars.”
  4. Judges 2:2 tn Heb “you have not listened to my voice.”
  5. Judges 2:2 tn Heb “What is this you have done?”
  6. Judges 2:3 tn Heb “And I also said.” The use of the perfect tense here suggests that the messenger is recalling an earlier statement (see Josh 23:12-13). However, some translate, “And I also say,” understanding the following words as an announcement of judgment upon those gathered at Bokim.
  7. Judges 2:3 tn The words “If you disobey” are supplied in the translation for clarity. See Josh 23:12-13.
  8. Judges 2:3 tn Heb “them”; the referent (the Canaanites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  9. Judges 2:3 tn The meaning of the Hebrew word צִדִּים (tsiddim) is uncertain in this context. It may be related to an Akkadian cognate meaning “snare.” If so, a more literal translation would be “they will become snares to you.” Normally the term in question means “sides,” but this makes no sense here. On the basis of Num 33:55 some suggest the word for “thorns” has been accidentally omitted. If this word is added, the text would read, “they will become [thorns] in your sides” (cf. NASB, NIV, NLT).
  10. Judges 2:3 tn Heb “their gods will become a snare to you.”
  11. Judges 2:4 tn Heb “lifted their voices and wept.”
  12. Judges 2:5 sn Bokim means “weeping ones” and is derived from the Hebrew verb בָּכָא (bakhaʾ, “to weep”).
  13. Judges 2:6 tn Or “sent away.”
  14. Judges 2:6 tn Heb “the Israelites went each to his inheritance.”
  15. Judges 2:7 tn Or “served”; or “followed.”
  16. Judges 2:7 tn Or perhaps “elders,” which could be interpreted to mean “leaders.”
  17. Judges 2:7 tn Heb “all the days of Joshua and all the days of the old men who outlived him, who had seen.”
  18. Judges 2:7 tn Heb “the great work of the Lord which he had done for Israel.”
  19. Judges 2:9 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  20. Judges 2:9 tn Heb “in the territory of his inheritance.”
  21. Judges 2:10 tn Heb “All that generation were gathered to their fathers.”
  22. Judges 2:10 tn Heb “arose after them.”
  23. Judges 2:10 tn Heb “that did not know the Lord or the work which he had done for Israel.” The expressions “personally experienced” and “seen” are interpretive.
  24. Judges 2:11 tn Heb “in the eyes of.”
  25. Judges 2:11 tn Or “serving”; or “following.”
  26. Judges 2:12 tn Or “fathers.”
  27. Judges 2:12 tn Or “bowed before” (the same expression occurs in the following verse).
  28. Judges 2:13 sn The Ashtoreths were local manifestations of the goddess Astarte.
  29. Judges 2:14 tn Or “The Lord’s anger burned [or “raged”] against Israel.”
  30. Judges 2:14 tn Heb “robbers who robbed them.” (The verb שָׁסָה [shasah] appears twice in the verse.)sn The expression robbers who plundered them is a derogatory reference to the enemy nations, as the next line indicates.
  31. Judges 2:14 tn Heb “sold them into the hand of.”
  32. Judges 2:14 tn The word “attacks” is supplied in the translation both for clarity and for stylistic reasons.
  33. Judges 2:15 tn The expression “to fight” is interpretive.
  34. Judges 2:15 tn Heb “the Lord’s hand was against them for harm.”
  35. Judges 2:15 tn Heb “just as he had said and just as he had sworn to them.”
  36. Judges 2:15 tn Or “they experienced great distress.”
  37. Judges 2:16 tn Or more traditionally, “judges” (also in vv. 17, 18 [3x], 19). Since these figures carried out more than a judicial function, also serving as rulers and (in several instances) as military commanders, the translation uses the term “leaders.”
  38. Judges 2:16 tn Heb “and they delivered them from the hand of the ones robbing them.”
  39. Judges 2:17 tn Or “did not listen to.”
  40. Judges 2:17 tn Or “bowed before.”
  41. Judges 2:17 tn Or “way [of life].”
  42. Judges 2:17 tn Or “fathers.”
  43. Judges 2:17 tn Heb “…walked, obeying the Lord’s commands. They did not do this.”
  44. Judges 2:18 tn Heb “them”; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  45. Judges 2:18 tn The phrase “for them” is supplied in the translation for clarity.
  46. Judges 2:18 tn Heb “the ones oppressing them and afflicting them.” The synonyms “oppressing” and “afflicting” are joined together in the translation as “harsh oppressors” to emphasize the cruel character of their enemies.
  47. Judges 2:19 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the next generation) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  48. Judges 2:19 tn The verb שׁוּב (shuv, “to return; to turn”) is sometimes translated “turn back” here, but it is probably used in an adverbial sense, indicating that the main action (“act wickedly”) is being repeated.
  49. Judges 2:19 tn Heb “their fathers.”sn The statement the next generation would again act more wickedly than the previous one must refer to the successive sinful generations after Joshua, not Joshua’s godly generation (cf. vv. 7, 17).
  50. Judges 2:19 tn Or “serving [them]”; or “following [them].”
  51. Judges 2:19 tn Or “drop.”
  52. Judges 2:20 tn Or “The Lord’s anger burned [or “raged”] against Israel.”
  53. Judges 2:20 tn Heb “Because this nation.”
  54. Judges 2:20 tn Heb “my covenant which I commanded their fathers.”
  55. Judges 2:20 tn Heb “and has not listened to my voice.” The expression “to not listen to [God’s] voice” is idiomatic here for disobeying him.
  56. Judges 2:22 tn The Hebrew text of v. 22 simply begins with “to test.” Some subordinate this phrase to “I will no longer remove” (v. 21). In this case the Lord announces that he has now decided to leave these nations as a test for Israel. Another possibility is to subordinate “to test” to “He said” (v. 20; see B. Lindars, Judges 1-5, 111). In this case the statement recorded in vv. 20b-21 is the test in that it forces Israel to respond either positively (through repentance) or negatively to the Lord’s declaration. A third possibility is to subordinate “to test” to “left unconquered” (v. 21). In this case the Lord recalls that Joshua left these nations as a test. Israel has failed the test (v. 20), so the Lord announces that the punishment threatened earlier (Josh 23:12-13; see also Judg 2:3) will now be implemented. As B. G. Webb (Judges [JSOTSup], 115) observes, “The nations which were originally left as a test are now left as a punishment.” This view harmonizes v. 23, which explains that the Lord did not give all the nations to Joshua, with v. 22. (For a grammatical parallel, where the infinitive construct of נָסָה [nasah] is subordinated to the perfect of עָזַב [ʿazav], see 2 Chr 32:31.)
  57. Judges 2:22 tn The Hebrew text includes the phrase “by them,” but this is somewhat redundant in English and has been omitted from the translation for stylistic reasons.
  58. Judges 2:22 tn The words “I [i.e., the Lord] want to see” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
  59. Judges 2:22 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  60. Judges 2:22 tn Or “way [of life].”
  61. Judges 2:22 tn “The words “marked out by” are interpretive.
  62. Judges 2:22 tn Or “fathers.”
  63. Judges 2:23 tn The words “this is why” are interpretive and not in the original text.
  64. Judges 2:23 tn Or “quickly.”
Listen to Judges 2
Close NKJV

Judges 2
New King James Version

Israel’s Disobedience

2 Then the Angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said: (A)“I led you up from Egypt and (B)brought you to the land of which I swore to your fathers; and (C)I said, ‘I will never break My covenant with you. 2 And (D)you shall make no [a]covenant with the inhabitants of this land; (E)you shall tear down their altars.’ (F)But you have not obeyed My voice. Why have you done this? 3 Therefore I also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you; but they shall be (G)thorns[b] in your side, and (H)their gods shall [c]be a (I)snare to you.’ ” 4 So it was, when the Angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voices and wept.

5 Then they called the name of that place [d]Bochim; and they sacrificed there to the Lord. 6 And when (J)Joshua had dismissed the people, the children of Israel went each to his own inheritance to possess the land.

Death of Joshua(K)

7 (L)So the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord which He had done for Israel. 8 Now (M)Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died when he was one hundred and ten years old. 9 (N)And they buried him within the border of his inheritance at (O)Timnath Heres, in the mountains of Ephraim, on the north side of Mount Gaash. 10 When all that generation had [e]been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who (P)did not know the Lord nor the work which He had done for Israel.

Israel’s Unfaithfulness

11 Then the children of Israel did (Q)evil in the sight of the Lord, and served the Baals; 12 and they (R)forsook the Lord God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt; and they followed (S)other gods from among the gods of the people who were all around them, and they (T)bowed down to them; and they provoked the Lord to anger. 13 They forsook the Lord (U)and served [f]Baal and the [g]Ashtoreths. 14 (V)And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel. So He (W)delivered them into the hands of plunderers who despoiled them; and (X)He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, so that they (Y)could no longer stand before their enemies. 15 Wherever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for calamity, as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had (Z)sworn to them. And they were greatly distressed.

16 Nevertheless, (AA)the Lord raised up judges who delivered them out of the hand of those who plundered them. 17 Yet they would not listen to their judges, but they (AB)played the harlot with other gods, and bowed down to them. They turned quickly from the way in which their fathers walked, in obeying the commandments of the Lord; they did not do so. 18 And when the Lord raised up judges for them, (AC)the Lord was with the judge and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; (AD)for the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed them and harassed them. 19 And it came to pass, (AE)when the judge was dead, that they reverted and behaved more corruptly than their fathers, by following other gods, to serve them and bow down to them. They did not cease from their own doings nor from their stubborn way.

20 Then the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel; and He said, “Because this nation has (AF)transgressed My covenant which I commanded their fathers, and has not heeded My voice, 21 I also will no longer drive out before them any of the nations which Joshua (AG)left when he died, 22 so (AH)that through them I may (AI)test Israel, whether they will keep the ways of the Lord, to walk in them as their fathers kept them, or not.” 23 Therefore the Lord left those nations, without driving them out immediately; nor did He deliver them into the hand of Joshua.

Footnotes

  1. Judges 2:2 treaty
  2. Judges 2:3 LXX, Tg., Vg. enemies to you
  3. Judges 2:3 entrap you
  4. Judges 2:5 Lit. Weeping
  5. Judges 2:10 Died and joined their ancestors
  6. Judges 2:13 A Canaanite god
  7. Judges 2:13 Canaanite goddesses
Listen to Judges 2
Close KJV

Judges 2
King James Version

2 And 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.

2 And 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?

3 Wherefore 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.

4 And 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.

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

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

7 And 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.

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

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

10 And 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.

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

12 And 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.

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

14 And 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.

15 Whithersoever 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.

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

17 And 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.

18 And 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.

19 And 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.

20 And 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;

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

22 That 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.

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

Next
Judges 1
Judges 3
Next
dropdown
New English Translation (NET)

NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.

New King James Version (NKJV)

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Learn the Bible in 30 days
King James Version (KJV)

Public Domain