Folkets frafald efter Josvas død
1Herrens engel drog op fra Gilgal og kom til israelitterne med følgende budskab: „Jeg førte jer fra Egypten til det land, jeg lovede jeres forfædre, og jeg forsikrede jer, at jeg aldrig ville bryde min pagt med jer. 2I måtte til gengæld ikke slutte fred med landets indbyggere, men derimod sørge for at ødelægge deres afgudsaltre. Hvorfor har I nu været ulydige og ikke overholdt jeres del af pagten? 3Fordi I har gjort det, vil jeg ikke længere drive de folk ud, som bor i jeres land. De vil være en torn i øjet på jer, og de vil lokke jer til at dyrke deres guder.”
4Da englen havde talt, brast israelitterne i gråd, 5og derfor kaldte man det sted for Bokim.2,5 Bokim betyder „de grædende”. Derefter bragte de ofre til Herren.
6Efter at Josva havde opløst den forenede hær, var stammerne rejst hver til sit område for at bosætte sig. 7I hele Josvas levetid havde folket adlydt Herren, og det fortsatte de med, så længe den generation var i live, der havde oplevet alle de undere, Herren havde gjort for Israel. 8Josva, Guds tjener, døde i en alder af 110 år 9og blev begravet på sin arvelod i Timnat-Heres i Efraims højland nord for Ga’ashbjerget.
10Efterhånden som hele den generation uddøde, blev den afløst af en ny generation, som hverken kendte Herren eller huskede de undere, han havde gjort for Israel, 11og de gjorde, hvad der var ondt i Herrens øjne og dyrkede afguderne. 12-13De vendte sig fra Herren, den Gud, som deres forfædre havde tilbedt, og som havde ført dem ud af Egypten, og dyrkede i stedet Ba’al og de andre afguder, som nabofolkene dyrkede. 14Derfor blussede Herrens vrede op imod Israel, så han udleverede dem til deres fjender, der kom fra alle sider og hærgede og plyndrede deres land. 15Når Israels folk gik til kamp imod deres fjender, hjalp Herren fjenderne med at besejre dem—nøjagtig sådan som han havde lovet. På den måde kom folket i stor nød. 16Så greb Herren ind og gav dem ledere—de såkaldte dommere—der skulle redde dem fra deres fjender.
17Men folket ville heller ikke adlyde deres befriere. De fortsatte med at være troløse imod Herren og med at tilbede andre guder. De fulgte således ikke deres forfædres levevis, for de adlød ikke længere Herrens bud. 18Alligevel var det sådan, at når Herren gav folket en befrier, så var han med den befrier, så længe han levede, og reddede folket fra deres fjender, for Herren havde medynk med sit forpinte folk, som jamrede, når de blev undertrykt af fjenderne. 19Men når befrieren så døde, genoptog folket deres onde levevis og gjorde værre ting end deres forfædre. De dyrkede igen fremmede guder, tilbad dem og bøjede sig for dem, og de nægtede at ændre deres onde adfærd og stædige holdning.
20Så blussede Herrens vrede igen op imod Israel, og han erklærede: „Fordi mit folk har brudt den pagt, jeg oprettede med deres forfædre og ignoreret mine befalinger, 21vil jeg ikke længere hjælpe dem med at fordrive de folkeslag, Josva ikke nåede at besejre, før han døde. 22I stedet vil jeg bruge fjenderne til at sætte dem på prøve og se, om de vil vende sig til mig og adlyde mig, sådan som deres forfædre gjorde.”
23Det var grunden til, at Herren lod de forskellige folkeslag blive boende og ikke udryddede dem med det samme ved at give Josva sejr over dem.
The Angel of the Lord Warns Israel at Bokim
1The angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bokim. There he said to the Israelites, “I brought you up out of Egypt. I led you into this land. It is the land I promised to give to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. At that time I said, ‘I will never break the covenant I made with you. 2So you must not make a covenant with the people of this land. Instead, you must tear down their altars.’ But you have disobeyed me. Why did you do it? 3I have said something else. I said, ‘I will not drive out those people to make room for you. They and their gods will become traps for you.’ ”
4The angel of the Lord spoke these things to all the Israelites. Then the people wept out loud. 5So that place was called Bokim. The people offered sacrifices there to the Lord.
The People Disobey the Lord and Lose Their Battles
6Joshua sent the Israelites away. Then they went to take over the land. All of them went to their own shares of land. 7The people served the Lord as long as Joshua lived. They also served him as long as the elders lived. Those were the elders who lived longer than Joshua did. They had seen all the great things the Lord had done for Israel.
8Joshua, the servant of the Lord, died. He was the son of Nun. He was 110 years old when he died. 9His people buried him on his own property at Timnath Heres. It’s north of Mount Gaash in the hill country of Ephraim.
10All the people of Joshua’s time joined the members of their families who had already died. Then those who were born after them grew up. They didn’t know the Lord and what he had done for Israel. 11The Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. They served gods that were named Baal. 12They deserted the Lord, the God of their people. He had brought them out of Egypt. But now the Israelites served other gods and worshiped them. They served the gods of the nations that were around them. They made the Lord angry 13because they deserted him. They served Baal. They also served female gods that were named Ashtoreth. 14The Lord became angry with the Israelites. So he handed them over to robbers. The robbers stole everything from them. The Lord handed the Israelites over to their enemies all around them. Israel wasn’t able to fight against them anymore and win. 15When the Israelites went out to fight, the Lord’s power was against them. He let their enemies win the battle over them. The Lord had warned them that it would happen. And now they were suffering terribly.
16Then the Lord gave them leaders. The leaders saved them from the power of those robbers. 17But the people wouldn’t listen to their leaders. They weren’t faithful to the Lord. They served other gods and worshiped them. They didn’t obey the Lord’s commands as their people before them had done. They quickly turned away from the path their people had taken. 18When the Lord gave them a leader, he was with that leader. The Lord saved the people from the power of their enemies. He did it as long as the leader lived. The Lord felt very sorry for the people. They groaned because of what their enemies did to them. Their enemies treated them badly. 19But when the leader died, the people returned to their evil ways. The things they did were even more sinful than the things their people before them had done. They served other gods and worshiped them. They refused to give up their evil practices. They wouldn’t change their stubborn ways.
20So the Lord became very angry with the Israelites. He said, “This nation has broken my covenant. I made it with their people of long ago. But this nation has not listened to me. 21Joshua left some nations in the land when he died. I will no longer drive out those nations to make room for Israel. 22I will use those nations to test Israel. I will see whether Israel will live the way I, the Lord, want them to. I will see whether they will be like their people of long ago. I will see whether they will follow my path.” 23The Lord had let those nations remain in the land. He didn’t drive them out right away. He didn’t hand them over to Joshua.
