Discovery BoxJudges 2:6-14 
Context2:6 When Joshua dismissed 1 the people, the Israelites went to their allotted portions of territory, 2 intending to take possession of the land. 2:7 The people worshiped 3 the Lord throughout Joshua’s lifetime and as long as the elderly men 4 who outlived him remained alive. These men had witnessed 5 all the great things the Lord had done for Israel. 6 2:8 Joshua son of Nun, the Lord’s servant, died at the age of one hundred ten. 2:9 The people 7 buried him in his allotted land 8 in Timnath Heres in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. 2:10 That entire generation passed away; 9 a new generation grew up 10 that had not personally experienced the Lord’s presence or seen what he had done for Israel. 11
2:11 The Israelites did evil before 12 the Lord by worshiping 13 the Baals. 2:12 They abandoned the Lord God of their ancestors 14 who brought them out of the land of Egypt. They followed other gods – the gods of the nations who lived around them. They worshiped 15 them and made the Lord angry. 2:13 They abandoned the Lord and worshiped Baal and the Ashtars. 16
2:14 The Lord was furious with Israel 17 and handed them over to robbers who plundered them. 18 He turned them over to 19 their enemies who lived around them. They could not withstand their enemies’ attacks. 20
1 tn Or “sent away.”
2 tn Heb “the Israelites went each to his inheritance.”
3 tn Or “served”; or “followed.”
4 tn Or perhaps “elders,” which could be interpreted to mean “leaders.”
5 tn Heb “all the days of Joshua and all the days of the old men who outlived him, who had seen.”
6 tn Heb “the great work of the
7 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
8 tn Heb “in the territory of his inheritance.”
9 tn Heb “All that generation were gathered to their fathers.”
10 tn Heb “arose after them.”
11 tn Heb “that did not know the
12 tn Heb “in the eyes of.”
13 tn Or “serving”; or “following.”
14 tn Or “fathers.”
15 tn Or “bowed before” (the same expression occurs in the following verse).
16 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.
17 tn Or “The
18 tn Heb “robbers who robbed them.” (The verb שָׁסָה [shasah] appears twice in the verse.)
sn The expression robbers who plundered them is a derogatory reference to the enemy nations, as the next line indicates.
19 tn Heb “sold them into the hands of.”
20 tn The word “attacks” is supplied in the translation both for clarity and for stylistic reasons.
