Judges 2:12-13

2:12 They abandoned the Lord God of their ancestors ¹  who brought them out of the land of Egypt. They followed other gods – the gods of the nations who lived around them. They worshiped ²  them and made the Lord angry. 2:13 They abandoned the Lord and worshiped Baal and the Ashtars. ³ 

Judges 2:17

2:17 But they did not obey ⁴  their leaders. Instead they prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped ⁵  them. They quickly turned aside from the path ⁶  their ancestors ⁷  had walked. Their ancestors had obeyed the Lord’s commands, but they did not. ⁸ 

Judges 2:19

2:19 When a leader died, the next generation ⁹  would again ¹⁰  act more wickedly than the previous one. ¹¹  They would follow after other gods, worshiping them ¹²  and bowing down to them. They did not give up ¹³  their practices or their stubborn ways.

---

¹ tn Or “fathers.”

² tn Or “bowed before” (the same expression occurs in the following verse).

³ tn Some English translations simply transliterate the plural Hebrew term (“Ashtaroth,” cf. NAB, NASB), pluralize the transliterated Hebrew singular form (“Ashtoreths,” cf. NIV), or use a variation of the name (“Astartes,” cf. NRSV).

sn The Ashtars were local manifestations of the goddess Astarte.

⁴ tn Or “did not listen to.”

⁵ tn Or “bowed before.”

⁶ tn Or “way [of life].”

⁷ tn Or “fathers.”

⁸ tn Heb “…walked, obeying the Lord’s commands. They did not do this.”

⁹ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the next generation) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁰ tn The verb שׁוּב (shuv, “to return; to turn”) is sometimes translated “turn back” here, but it is probably used in an adverbial sense, indicating that the main action (“act wickedly”) is being repeated.

¹¹ tn Heb “their fathers.”

sn The statement the next generation would again act more wickedly than the previous one must refer to the successive sinful generations after Joshua, not Joshua’s godly generation (cf. vv. 7, 17).

¹² tn Or “serving [them]”; or “following [them].”

¹³ tn Or “drop.”