2 Then Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah}’s angel went up from Gilʹgal to Boʹchim and said: “I brought you up out of Egypt into the land about which I swore to your forefathers. Furthermore, I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you. 2 For your part, you must not make a covenant with the inhabitants of this land and you should pull down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed my voice. Why have you done this? 3 That is why I also said, ‘I will not drive them away from before you, and they will ensnare you, and their gods will lure you away.’”
4 When Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah}’s angel spoke these words to all the Isra'Al·ites, the people began to weep loudly. 5 So they named that place Boʹchim, and they sacrificed there to Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah}.
6 When Joshua sent the people away, each of the Isra'Al·ites went to his inheritance to take possession of the land. 7 The people continued to serve Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah} all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua and who had seen all of Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah}’s great deeds in behalf of Isra'Al. 8 Then Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah}, died at the age of 110. 9 So they buried him in the territory of his inheritance in Timʹnath-heʹres, in the mountainous region of Eʹphra·im, north of Mount Gaʹash. 10 All that generation were gathered to their ancestors, and another generation arose after them that did not know Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah} or what he had done for Isra'Al.
11 So the Isra'Al·ites did what was bad in the eyes of Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah} and served the Baʹals. 12 Thus they abandoned Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah}, the Yahavah {Yah'-ha-vah'} of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt. And they followed other gods, the gods of the peoples who were all around them, and they bowed down to them and offended Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah}. 13 They abandoned Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah} and served Baʹal and the Ashʹto·reth images. 14 At this Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah}’s anger blazed against Isra'Al, so he handed them over to plunderers who pillaged them. He sold them into the hand of the enemies around them, and they were no longer able to hold their own against their enemies. 15 Wherever they went, the hand of Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah} was against them, bringing disaster on them, just as Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah} had said and just as Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah} had sworn to them, and they were in great distress. 16 So Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah} would raise up judges who would save them from the hand of their plunderers.
17 But they refused to listen even to the judges and would prostitute themselves to other gods and bow down to them. They quickly turned aside from the way in which their forefathers had walked, those who had obeyed the commandments of Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah}. They failed to do that. 18 Whenever Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah} did raise up judges for them, Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah} would be with the judge and save them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah} was moved to pity over their groaning caused by those who oppressed them and those who were treating them abusively.
19 But when the judge died, they would again act more corruptly than their fathers by following other gods, serving them and bowing down to them. They did not abandon their practices and their stubborn behavior. 20 Finally Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah}’s anger blazed against Isra'Al, and he said: “Because this nation has violated my covenant that I commanded their forefathers and they have disobeyed me, 21 I for my part will not drive out from before them even one of the nations that Joshua left behind when he died. 22 This is to test whether Isra'Al will keep Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah}’s way by walking in it as their fathers did.” 23 So Ahv'ah {Heb. Yahvah} allowed these nations to remain. He did not drive them out quickly, and he did not give them into Joshua’s hand.