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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"><title>Judges 2 CEV</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/judges/2.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/judges/2-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">CEV</a> > Judges 2</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../judges/1.htm" title="Judges 1">◄</a> Judges 2 <a href="../judges/3.htm" title="Judges 3">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Contemporary English Version</div><div class="chap"><h3 class="s1">The <span class="nd">Lord</span>'s Angel Speaks to Israel</h3><p class="par"><span class="v7_2_1"><span class="reftext" id="Judg.2.1" class="v7_2_1">1</span>The <span class="nd">Lord</span>'s angel went from Gilgal to Bochim<a href="#fn" id="link_Judg.2.1!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> and gave the Israelites this message from the <span class="nd">Lord</span>:</span></p><p class="pi"><span class="v7_2_1">I promised your ancestors that I would give this land to their families, and I brought your people here from Egypt. We made an agreement that I promised never to break, </span><span class="v7_2_2"><span class="reftext" id="Judg.2.2" class="v7_2_2">2</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Judg.2.2!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> and you promised not to make any peace treaties with the other nations that live in the land. Besides that, you agreed to tear down the altars where they sacrifice to their idols. Why haven't you kept your promise?</span></p><p class="pi"><span class="v7_2_3"><span class="reftext" id="Judg.2.3" class="v7_2_3">3</span>And so, I'll stop helping you defeat your enemies. Instead, they will be there to trap<a href="#fn" id="link_Judg.2.3!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> you into worshiping their idols.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v7_2_4"><span class="reftext" id="Judg.2.4" class="v7_2_4">4</span>The Israelites started crying loudly, </span><span class="v7_2_5"><span class="reftext" id="Judg.2.5" class="v7_2_5">5</span>and they offered sacrifices to the <span class="nd">Lord</span>. From then on, they called that place “Crying.”<a href="#fn" id="link_Judg.2.5!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> </span></p><h3 class="s1">Israel Stops Worshiping the <span class="nd">Lord</span></h3><p class="par"><span class="v7_2_6"><span class="reftext" id="Judg.2.6-Judg.2.9" class="v7_2_6">6-9</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Judg.2.6-Judg.2.9!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> Joshua had been faithful to the <span class="nd">Lord</span>. And after Joshua sent the Israelites to take the land they had been promised, they remained faithful to the <span class="nd">Lord</span> until Joshua died at the age of 110. He was buried on his land in Timnath-Heres, in the hill country of Ephraim north of Mount Gaash. Even though Joshua was gone, the Israelites were faithful to the <span class="nd">Lord</span> during the lifetime of those men who had been leaders with Joshua and who had seen the wonderful things the <span class="nd">Lord</span> had done for Israel.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v7_2_10"><span class="reftext" id="Judg.2.10" class="v7_2_10">10</span>After a while the people of Joshua's generation died, and the next generation did not know the <span class="nd">Lord</span> or any of the things he had done for Israel. </span><span class="v7_2_11"><span class="reftext" id="Judg.2.11-Judg.2.13" class="v7_2_11">11-13</span>The <span class="nd">Lord</span> had brought their ancestors out of Egypt, and they had worshiped him. But now the Israelites stopped worshiping the <span class="nd">Lord</span> and worshiped the idols of Baal and Astarte, as well as the idols of other gods from nearby nations.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v7_2_11">The <span class="nd">Lord</span> was so angry </span><span class="v7_2_14"><span class="reftext" id="Judg.2.14-Judg.2.15" class="v7_2_14">14-15</span>with the Israelites that he let other nations raid Israel and steal their crops and other possessions. Enemies were everywhere, and the <span class="nd">Lord</span> always let them defeat Israel in battle. The <span class="nd">Lord</span> had warned Israel he would do this, and now the Israelites were miserable.</span></p><h3 class="s1">The <span class="nd">Lord</span> Chooses Leaders for Israel</h3><p class="par"><span class="v7_2_16"><span class="reftext" id="Judg.2.16" class="v7_2_16">16</span>From time to time, the <span class="nd">Lord</span> would choose special leaders known as judges.<a href="#fn" id="link_Judg.2.16!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> These judges would lead the Israelites into battle and defeat the enemies that made raids on them. </span><span class="v7_2_17"><span class="reftext" id="Judg.2.17" class="v7_2_17">17</span>In years gone by, the Israelites had been faithful to the <span class="nd">Lord</span>, but now they were quick to be unfaithful and to refuse even to listen to these judges. The Israelites disobeyed the <span class="nd">Lord</span>, and instead of worshiping him, they worshiped other gods.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v7_2_18"><span class="reftext" id="Judg.2.18" class="v7_2_18">18</span>When enemies made life miserable for the Israelites, the <span class="nd">Lord</span> felt sorry for them. He would choose a judge and help that judge rescue Israel from its enemies. The <span class="nd">Lord</span> was kind to Israel as long as that judge lived. </span><span class="v7_2_19"><span class="reftext" id="Judg.2.19" class="v7_2_19">19</span>But afterwards, the Israelites would become even more sinful than their ancestors had been. The Israelites were stubborn—they simply would not stop worshiping other gods or following their teachings.</span></p><h3 class="s1">The <span class="nd">Lord</span> Lets Enemies Test Israel</h3><p class="par"><span class="v7_2_20"><span class="reftext" id="Judg.2.20" class="v7_2_20">20</span>The <span class="nd">Lord</span> was angry with Israel and said:</span></p><p class="pi"><span class="v7_2_20">The Israelites have broken the agreement I made with their ancestors. They won't obey me, </span><span class="v7_2_21"><span class="reftext" id="Judg.2.21" class="v7_2_21">21</span>so I'll stop helping them defeat their enemies. Israel still had a lot of enemies when Joshua died, </span><span class="v7_2_22"><span class="reftext" id="Judg.2.22" class="v7_2_22">22</span>and I'm going to let those enemies stay. I'll use them to test Israel, because then I can find out if Israel will worship and obey me as their ancestors did.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v7_2_23"><span class="reftext" id="Judg.2.23" class="v7_2_23">23</span>That's why the <span class="nd">Lord</span> had not let Joshua get rid of those enemy nations all at once.</span></p> <a name="fn"></a><br /><br /><br /><b>Footnotes:<br /><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">2.1 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">Bochim: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">In Hebrew “Bochim” means “crying” (see verse 5).</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">2.3 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">trap: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">2.5 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">Crying: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">Or “Bochim.”</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">2.16 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">special leaders known as judges: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">The Hebrew text has “judges.” In addition to leading Israelites in battle, these special leaders also decided legal cases and sometimes performed religious duties.</char></note></div></div><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div align="center"><p><span style="font-size:11pt;">Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt;">© 2006 American Bible Society. 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