11 So the Israelites did something very evil before the Lord. They began serving the false god Baal.
12 It was the Lord, the God their ancestors worshiped, who had brought the Israelites out of Egypt. But they stopped following him and began to worship the false gods of the people living around them. This made the Lord angry.
13 The Israelites stopped following the Lord and began worshiping Baal and Ashtoreth.
14 The Lord was angry with the Israelites, so he let enemies attack them and take their possessions. He let their enemies who lived around them defeat them. The Israelites could not protect themselves from their enemies.
15 When the Israelites went out to fight, they always lost. They lost because the Lord was not on their side. He had already warned them that they would lose if they served the gods of the people living around them. The Israelites suffered very much.
16 Then the Lord chose leaders called judges. These leaders saved the Israelites from the enemies who took their possessions.
17 But the Israelites did not listen to their judges. The Israelites were not faithful to God—they followed other gods. In the past, the ancestors of the Israelites obeyed the Lord’S commands. But now the Israelites changed and stopped obeying the Lord.