Judges 2:17-23

2:17 But they did not obey ¹  their leaders. Instead they prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped ²  them. They quickly turned aside from the path ³  their ancestors ⁴  had walked. Their ancestors had obeyed the Lord’s commands, but they did not. ⁵  2:18 When the Lord raised up leaders for them, the Lord was with each leader and delivered the people ⁶  from their enemies while the leader remained alive. The Lord felt sorry for them ⁷  when they cried out in agony because of what their harsh oppressors did to them. ⁸  2:19 When a leader died, the next generation ⁹  would again ¹⁰  act more wickedly than the previous one. ¹¹  They would follow after other gods, worshiping them ¹²  and bowing down to them. They did not give up ¹³  their practices or their stubborn ways.

A Divine Decision

2:20 The Lord was furious with Israel. ¹⁴  He said, “This nation ¹⁵  has violated the terms of the agreement I made with their ancestors ¹⁶  by disobeying me. ¹⁷  2:21 So I will no longer remove before them any of the nations that Joshua left unconquered when he died. 2:22 Joshua left those nations ¹⁸  to test ¹⁹  Israel. I wanted to see ²⁰  whether or not the people ²¹  would carefully walk in the path ²²  marked out by ²³  the Lord, as their ancestors ²⁴  were careful to do.” 2:23 This is why ²⁵  the Lord permitted these nations to remain and did not conquer them immediately; ²⁶  he did not hand them over to Joshua.

¹ tn Or “did not listen to.”

² tn Or “bowed before.”

³ tn Or “way [of life].”

⁴ tn Or “fathers.”

⁵ tn Heb “…walked, obeying the Lord’s commands. They did not do this.”

⁶ tn Heb “them”; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁷ tn The phrase “for them” is supplied in the translation for clarity.

⁸ 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.

⁹ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the next generation) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁰ 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.

¹¹ tn Heb “their fathers.”

¹² tn Or “serving [them]”; or “following [them].”

¹³ tn Or “drop.”

¹⁴ tn Or “The Lord’s anger burned [or “raged”] against Israel.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “Because this nation.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “my covenant which I commanded their fathers.”

¹⁷ tn Heb “and has not listened to my voice.” The expression “to not listen to [God’s] voice” is idiomatic here for disobeying him.

¹⁸ tn The words “Joshua left those nations” are interpretive. 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 (the one reflected in the present translation) 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 best 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 [’azav], see 2 Chr 32:31.)

¹⁹ 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.

²⁰ tn The words “I [i.e., the Lord] wanted to see” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

²¹ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

²² tn Or “way [of life].”

²³ tn “The words “marked out by” are interpretive.

²⁴ tn Or “fathers.”

²⁵ tn The words “this is why” are interpretive.

²⁶ tn Or “quickly.”