Judges 2
The full text of Judges 2 in the Trinity Bible Version — clear modern English, translated from the original Hebrew. Free to read.
1 The angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bochim and said, "I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land I had sworn to give your ancestors. I said, 'I will never break my covenant with you,
2 and you must not make a covenant with the people of this land, but tear down their altars.' Yet you have not obeyed me. What is this you have done?
3 So now I say: I will not drive them out before you. They will become thorns in your sides, and their gods will be a snare to you."
4 When the angel of the LORD had spoken these words to all the Israelites, the people wept aloud,
5 So they called that place Bochim, and there they offered sacrifices to the LORD.
6 After Joshua had dismissed the people, the Israelites went each to their own inheritance to take possession of the land.
7 The people served the LORD throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and had seen all the great things the LORD had done for Israel.
8 Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of a hundred and ten.
9 They buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath Heres in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
10 After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who did not know the LORD or what he had done for Israel.
11 Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals.
12 They abandoned the LORD, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed other gods, the gods of the peoples around them, and bowed down to them, and they provoked the LORD to anger.
13 They abandoned the LORD and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.
14 The LORD's anger burned against Israel. He handed them over to raiders who plundered them, and he sold them into the hands of the enemies around them, so that they could no longer stand against their enemies.
15 Whenever they marched out, the LORD's hand was against them to bring disaster, just as he had said and sworn to them. They were in great distress.
16 Then the LORD raised up judges, who saved them from the hands of these raiders.
17 Yet they would not listen even to their judges but prostituted themselves to other gods and bowed down to them. They turned aside quickly from the way their ancestors had walked, the way of obedience to the LORD's commands; they did not follow their example.
18 Whenever the LORD raised up a judge for them, he was with that judge and saved them from the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the LORD relented because of their groaning under those who oppressed and afflicted them.
19 But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their ancestors, following other gods, serving them, and bowing down to them. They refused to give up their evil practices and their stubborn ways.
20 So the LORD's anger burned against Israel, and he said, "Because this nation has violated the covenant I commanded their ancestors and has not listened to me,
21 I for my part will no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died.
22 I will use them to test Israel and see whether they will keep the way of the LORD and walk in it as their ancestors did."
23 The LORD had let those nations remain; he did not drive them out at once and had not given them into the hands of Joshua.
Translation notes (10)
- Judges 2:1a The phrase "the angel of the LORD" (mal'akh YHWH in Hebrew) speaks here in the first person as the LORD himself ("I brought you up"). Whether this is the LORD's own self-disclosure, a prophetic messenger, or a distinct figure is left open by the text and not resolved here.
- Judges 2:3a For "thorns in your sides," some Hebrew manuscripts and ancient versions read "adversaries" instead of "sides." The consonantal text, which is the Hebrew text written only with consonants and no vowels, is difficult here. The reading is not judged.
- Judges 2:5a "Bochim" means "weepers," naming the place for the people's weeping in verse 4.
- Judges 2:6a Verses 6-9 step back in time to recap the end of Joshua's life (compare Joshua 24:28-31), framing the generational shift that the rest of the chapter explains.
- Judges 2:10a "Gathered to their ancestors" is the Hebrew idiom for death and burial with one's forebears. "Did not know the LORD" means they had no firsthand experience of his acts and did not keep covenant with him—this is the hinge of the book's whole argument (compare Judges 1:1).
- Judges 2:11a "Did evil in the eyes of the LORD" is the recurring formula that opens each downward cycle in the book of Judges. "The Baals" (plural) refers to the local Canaanite storm-god in his many cult forms.
- Judges 2:13a "The Ashtoreths" (Ashtaroth) are the Canaanite goddess Astarte in her plural cult forms, paired with Baal as the chief fertility deities.
- Judges 2:16a The "Judges" (shophetim in Hebrew) here are not courtroom officials but charismatic deliverers the LORD raised up to rescue and lead Israel—these are the figures the book is named for.
- Judges 2:17a The phrase "prostituted themselves to other gods" translates a Hebrew verb (zanah) that pictures covenant unfaithfulness as marital infidelity. This figure of speech runs throughout the prophets.
- Judges 2:18a The Hebrew word yinnachem, translated "The LORD relented," describes God being moved to pity and changing his course of action toward them; it does not imply moral regret. This same word can also be translated "was moved to pity."
About this translation
You are reading the Trinity Bible Version (TBV) — an original 2026 translation made straight from the Hebrew, in clear modern English, exclusive to Trinity Bible. Every chapter of every book is free to read online. For the study edition — with Hebrew and Greek on every verse and the full translation notes — open Judges in the Trinity Bible app.
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