Judges 2:1-16

The angel of the Lord   went up from Gilgal to Bochim and said, “I brought you out of Egypt and led you into the land  I had promised to your ancestors.  I also said: I will never break my covenant with you. You are not to make a covenant  with the inhabitants of this land. You are to tear down their altars.  But you have not obeyed me. What have you done? Therefore, I now say: I will not drive out these people before you.  They will be thorns  in your sides,  and their gods will be a trap for you.”  When the angel of the Lord had spoken these words to all the Israelites, the people wept loudly. So they named that place Bochim  and offered sacrifices there to the Lord. Previously, when Joshua had sent the people away, the Israelites had gone to take possession of the land, each to his own inheritance.  The people worshiped the Lord throughout Joshua’s lifetime and during the lifetimes of the elders who outlived Joshua. They had seen all the Lord’s great works  he had done for Israel. Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110. They buried him in the territory of his inheritance, in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim,  north of Mount Gaash. That whole generation was also gathered to their ancestors. After them another generation rose up who did not know the Lord   or the works he had done for Israel. The Israelites did what was evil in the Lord’s sight.  They worshiped the Baals  and abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed other gods from the surrounding peoples  and bowed down to them. They angered the Lord,  for they abandoned him and worshiped Baal and the Ashtoreths.  The Lord’s anger burned against Israel, and he handed them over to marauders who raided them. He sold  them to the enemies around them, and they could no longer resist their enemies. Whenever the Israelites went out, the Lord was against them  and brought disaster on them, just as he had promised and sworn to them.  So they suffered greatly. The Lord raised up  judges, who saved them from the power of their marauders,