Judges 2
Open in the reader1Now the messenger of He-Who-Is went up from The-Rolling to Weepers and said, “I brought you up out of Two-Straits and led you into the land that I had promised to your fathers, and I said, ‘I will never break My covenant with you,
2and you are not to make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall tear down their altars.’ Yet you have not obeyed My voice. What is this you have done?
3So now I tell you that I will not drive out these people before you; they will be thorns in your sides, and their gods will be a snare to you.”
4When the messenger of He-Who-Is had spoken these words to all the children of Strives-with-God, the people lifted up their voices and wept.
5So they called that place Weepers and offered sacrifices there to He-Who-Is.
6After He-Who-Is-Saves had dismissed the people, the Strives-with-Godites went out to take possession of the land, each to his own inheritance.
7And the people served He-Who-Is throughout the days of He-Who-Is-Saves and of the elders who outlived him, who had seen all the great works that He-Who-Is had done for Strives-with-God.
8And He-Who-Is-Saves son of Nun, the servant of He-Who-Is, died at the age of 110.
9They buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Portion-of-Abundance-heres in the hill country of Double-Fruit, north of Mount Quaking.
10After that whole generation had also been gathered to their fathers, another generation rose up who did not know He-Who-Is or the works that He had done for Strives-with-God.
11And the children of Strives-with-God did evil in the sight of He-Who-Is and served The-Ruler.
12Thus they forsook He-Who-Is, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Two-Straits, and they followed after various gods of the peoples around them. They bowed down to them and provoked He-Who-Is to anger,
13for they forsook Him and served The-Ruler and the Ashtoreths.
14Then the anger of He-Who-Is burned against Strives-with-God, and He delivered them into the hands of those who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist.
15Wherever Strives-with-God marched out, the hand of He-Who-Is was against them to bring calamity, just as He-Who-Is had sworn to them. So they were greatly distressed.
16Then He-Who-Is raised up judges, who saved them from the hands of those who plundered them.
17Strives-with-God, however, did not listen to their judges. Instead, they prostituted themselves with other gods and bowed down to them. They quickly turned from the way of their fathers, who had walked in obedience to He-Who-Is’s commandments; they did not do as their fathers had done.
18Whenever He-Who-Is raised up a judge for the Israelites, He-Who-Is was with that judge and saved them from the hands of their enemies while the judge was still alive; for He-Who-Is was moved to pity by their groaning under those who oppressed them and afflicted them.
19But when the judge died, the Israelites became even more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods to serve them and bow down to them. They would not give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.
20So the anger of He-Who-Is burned against Strives-with-God, and He said, “Because this nation has transgressed the covenant I laid down for their fathers and has not heeded My voice,
21I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations He-Who-Is-Saves left when he died.
22In this way I will test whether Strives-with-God will keep the way of He-Who-Is by walking in it as their fathers did.”
23That is why He-Who-Is had left those nations in place and had not driven them out immediately by delivering them into the hand of He-Who-Is-Saves.