1 Now the angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, *** I took you out of Egypt, guiding you into the land which I gave by an oath to your fathers; and I said, My agreement with you will never be broken by me:

2 And you are to make no agreement with the people of this land; you are to see that their altars are broken down: but you have not given ear to my voice: what have you done?

3 And so I have said, I will not send them out from before you; but they will be a danger to you, and their gods will be a cause of falling to you.

4 Now on hearing these words which the angel of the Lord said to all the children of Israel, the people gave themselves up to loud crying and weeping.

5 And they gave that place the name of Bochim, and made offerings there to the Lord.

6 And Joshua let the people go away, and the children of Israel went, every man to his heritage, to take the land for themselves.

7 And the people were true to the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the responsible men who were still living after the death of Joshua, and had seen all the great work of the Lord which he had done for Israel.

8 And death came to Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, he being a hundred and ten years old.

9 And they put his body in the earth in the land of his heritage in Timnath-heres, in the hill-country of Ephraim to the north of Mount Gaash.

10 And in time death overtook all that generation; and another generation came after them, having no knowledge of the Lord or of the things which he had done for Israel.

11 And the children of Israel did evil in the eyes of the Lord and became servants to the Baals;

12 And they gave up the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had taken them out of the land of Egypt, and went after other gods, the gods of the peoples round about them, worshipping them and moving the Lord to wrath.

13 And they gave up the Lord, and became the servants of Baal and the Astartes.

14 And the wrath of the Lord was burning against Israel, and he gave them up into the hands of those who violently took their property, and into the hands of their haters all round them, so that they were forced to give way before them.

15 Wherever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil, as the Lord had taken his oath it would be; and things became very hard for them.

16 Then the Lord gave them judges, as their saviours from the hands of those who were cruel to them.

17 But still they would not give ear to their judges, but went after other gods and gave them worship; quickly turning from the way in which their fathers had gone, keeping the orders of the Lord; but they did not do so.

18 And whenever the Lord gave them judges, then the Lord was with the judge, and was their saviour from the hands of their haters all the days of the judge; for the Lord was moved by their cries of grief because of those who were cruel to them.

19 But whenever the judge was dead, they went back and did more evil than their fathers, going after other gods, to be their servants and their worshippers; giving up nothing of their sins and their hard-hearted ways.

20 And the wrath of the Lord was burning against Israel, and he said, Because this nation has not been true to my agreement which I made with their fathers, and has not given ear to my voice;

21 From now on I will not go on driving out from before them any of the nations which at the death of Joshua were still living in this land;

22 In order to put Israel to the test, and see if they will keep the way of the Lord, walking in it as their fathers did, or not.

23 So the Lord let those nations go on living in the land, not driving them out quickly, and did not give them up into the hands of Joshua.

1 O anjo do Senhor subiu de Gilgal a Boquim e disse: "Tirei vocês do Egito e os trouxe para a terra que prometi com juramento que daria a seus antepassados. Eu disse: Jamais quebrarei a minha aliança com vocês.

2 E vocês não farão acordo com o povo desta terra, mas demolirão os altares deles. Por quê vocês não me obedeceram?

3 Portanto, agora lhes digo que não os expulsarei da presença de vocês; eles serão seus adversários, e os deuses deles serão uma armadilha para vocês".

4 Quando o anjo do Senhor acabou de falar a todos os israelitas, o povo chorou em alta voz,

5 e ao lugar chamaram Boquim. Ali ofereceram sacrifícios ao Senhor.

6 Depois que Josué despediu os israelitas, eles saíram para ocupar a terra, cada um a sua herança.

7 O povo prestou culto ao Senhor durante toda a vida de Josué e dos líderes que continuaram vivos depois de Josué e que tinham visto todos os grandes feitos que o Senhor realizara em favor de Israel.

8 Josué, filho de Num, servo do Senhor, morreu com a idade de cento e dez anos.

9 Foi sepultado na terra de sua herança, em Timnate-Heres, nos montes de Efraim, ao norte do monte Gaás.

10 Depois que toda aquela geração foi reunida a seus antepassados, surgiu uma nova geração que não conhecia o Senhor e o que ele havia feito por Israel.

11 Então os israelitas fizeram o que o Senhor reprova e prestaram culto aos baalins.

12 Abandonaram o Senhor, o Deus dos seus antepassados, que os havia tirado do Egito, e seguiram e adoraram vários deuses dos povos ao seu redor, provocando a ira do Senhor.

13 Abandonaram o Senhor e prestaram culto a Baal e aos postes sagrados.

14 A ira do Senhor se acendeu contra Israel, e ele os entregou nas mãos de invasores que os saquearam. Ele os entregou aos inimigos ao seu redor, aos quais já não conseguiam resistir.

15 Sempre que os israelitas saíam para a batalha, a mão do Senhor era contra eles para derrotá-los, conforme lhes havia advertido e jurado. Grande angústia os dominava.

16 Então o Senhor levantou juízes, que os libertaram das mãos daqueles que os atacavam.

17 Mesmo assim eles não quiseram ouvir os juízes, antes se prostituíram com outros deuses e os adoraram. Ao contrário dos seus antepassados, logo se desviaram do caminho pelo qual os seus antepassados tinham andado, o caminho da obediência aos mandamentos do Senhor.

18 Sempre que o Senhor lhes levantava um juiz, ele estava com o juiz e os salvava das mãos de seus inimigos enquanto o juiz vivia; pois o Senhor tinha misericórdia por causa dos gemidos deles diante daqueles que os oprimiam e os afligiam.

19 Mas, quando o juiz morria, o povo voltava a caminhos ainda piores do que os caminhos dos seus antepassados, seguindo outros deuses, prestando-lhes culto e adorando-os. Recusavam-se a abandonar suas práticas e seu caminho obstinado.

20 Por isso a ira do Senhor acendeu-se contra Israel, e ele disse: "Como este povo violou a aliança que fiz com os seus antepassados e não tem ouvido a minha voz,

21 não expulsarei de diante deles nenhuma das nações que Josué deixou quando morreu.

22 Eu as usarei para pôr Israel à prova e ver se guardarão o caminho do Senhor e se andarão nele como o fizeram os seus antepassados".

23 O Senhor havia permitido que essas nações permanecessem; não as expulsou de imediato, e não as entregou nas mãos de Josué.