1
And in that day when Joshua had let the people go, the children of Israel went, every man unto his inheritance, to possess the land.
2
And the people served יהוה (YHVH) all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of יהוה (YHVH) that He did for Israel.
3
And so it was that when Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of יהוה (YHVH), did die, they did bury him in the border of his inheritance, in the mount of Ephraim, on the north side of the hill of Gaash.
4
¶ And it came to pass that all that generation were gathered unto their fathers; and there arose another generation after them which knew not יהוה (YHVH) nor yet the works which יהוה (YHVH) had done for Israel.
5
And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of יהוה (YHVH) and served Ha’Ba’alim (הַבְּעָלִֽים, the gods; literally the masters or the husbands);
6
And they forsook יהוה (YHVH), the Elohim of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt,
7
And they did follow other elohim, the gods of the people that were round about them,
8
And they did bow themselves unto them, and provoked יהוה (YHVH) to anger.
9
And they forsook יהוה (YHVH) serving Baal and Ashtaroth.
10
And so it was that the anger of יהוה (YHVH) was hot against Israel, and יהוה (YHVH) did deliver them into the hands of destroyers who did plunder them;
11
¶ And it came to pass that יהוה (YHVH) did sell them into the hands of their enemies round about so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies.
12
Whithersoever they went out, the hand of יהוה (YHVH) was against them for evil as יהוה (YHVH) had said and as יהוה (YHVH) had sworn unto them; and they were greatly distressed.
13
Nevertheless, יהוה (YHVH) did raise up judges, who did deliver them out of the hand of those who did plunder them.
14
And yet they would not hearken unto their judges, but they did prostitute themselves after other elohim and they did bow themselves unto them;
15
And they did turn quickly out of the way which their fathers and mothers had walked in, for their fathers and their mothers did hear and obey the Torah of Moses; but their seed did not.
16
¶ And it came to pass that when יהוה (YHVH) did raise them up judges, then יהוה (YHVH) was with the judges and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of those judges:
17
For יהוה (YHVH) hearkened because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them.
18
And so it was that when those judges were dead, that they did return to corrupt themselves more than their fathers in following other elohim, to serve them and to bow down unto them; they ceased not from their own doings nor from their stubborn ways.
19
¶ And it came to pass that the anger of יהוה (YHVH) was hot against Israel; and יהוה (YHVH) did say: Because that this people hath transgressed my covenant which I made with their fathers and their mothers, and have not hearkened unto my Voice,
20
I also will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the nations which Joshua left when he died,
21
That through them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep my ways: to walk therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not!
22
And so it was that יהוה (YHVH) left those nations without driving them out hastily; neither delivered He them into their hands.