1 And the Messenger of יהוה came up from Gilgal to Boḵim, and said, “I led you up from Mitsrayim and brought you to the land of which I swore to your fathers, and I said, ‘I do not break My covenant with you,
2 and as for you, do not make a covenant with the inhabitants of this land – break down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed My voice. What is this you have done?
3 “Therefore I also said, ‘I am not driving them out before you, and they shall be adversaries to you, and their mighty ones shall be a snare to you.’ ”
4 And it came to be, when the Messenger of יהוה spoke these words to all the children of Yisra’ĕl, that the people lifted up their voice and wept.
5 So they called the name of that place Boḵim, and slaughtered there to יהוה.
6 Then Yehoshua dismissed the people, and the children of Yisra’ĕl went each to his own inheritance to possess the land.
7 And the people served יהוה all the days of Yehoshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Yehoshua, who had seen all the great works of יהוה which He had done for Yisra’ĕl.
8 And Yehoshua son of Nun, the servant of יהוה, died, one hundred and ten years old.
9 And they buried him within the border of his inheritance at Timnath Ḥeres, in the mountains of Ephrayim, on the north side of Mount Ga‛ash.
10 And all that generation were likewise gathered to their fathers, and another generation arose after them who did not know יהוה nor the work which He had done for Yisra’ĕl.
11 Then the children of Yisra’ĕl did evil in the eyes of יהוה, and served the Ba‛als,
12 and forsook יהוה Elohim of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Mitsrayim, and went after other mighty ones, of the mighty ones of the people who were all around them, and they bowed down to them, and provoked יהוה.
13 So they forsook יהוה and served Ba‛al and the Ashtoreths.
14 And the displeasure of יהוה burned against Yisra’ĕl. Therefore He gave them into the hands of plunderers who despoiled them. And He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, and they were unable to stand before their enemies any longer.
15 Wherever they went out, the hand of יהוה was against them for evil, as יהוה had spoken, and as יהוה had sworn to them. And they were distressed – greatly.
16 Then יהוה raised up rulers who saved them from the hand of those who plundered them.
17 However, they did not listen to their rulers either, but went whoring after other mighty ones, and bowed down to them. They soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers walked, in obeying the commands of יהוה – they did not do so.
18 And when יהוה raised up rulers for them, יהוה was with the ruler and saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the ruler, for יהוה had compassion on their groaning because of those who oppressed them and crushed them.
19 And it came to be, when the ruler was dead, that they would turn back and do more corruptly than their fathers, to go after other mighty ones, to serve them and bow down to them. They did not refrain from their practices and from their stubborn way.
20 And the displeasure of יהוה burned against Yisra’ĕl, and He said, “Because this nation has transgressed My covenant that I commanded their fathers, and has not obeyed My voice,
21 I also shall no longer drive out before them any of the nations which Yehoshua left when he died,
22 in order to try Yisra’ĕl by them, whether they would guard the way of יהוה, to walk in them as their fathers guarded them, or not.”
23 So יהוה left those nations, without driving them out at once, and did not give them into the hand of Yehoshua.