Discovery BoxJudges 2:8-15 
Context2:8 Joshua son of Nun, the Lord’s servant, died at the age of one hundred ten. 2:9 The people 1 buried him in his allotted land 2 in Timnath Heres in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. 2:10 That entire generation passed away; 3 a new generation grew up 4 that had not personally experienced the Lord’s presence or seen what he had done for Israel. 5
2:11 The Israelites did evil before 6 the Lord by worshiping 7 the Baals. 2:12 They abandoned the Lord God of their ancestors 8 who brought them out of the land of Egypt. They followed other gods – the gods of the nations who lived around them. They worshiped 9 them and made the Lord angry. 2:13 They abandoned the Lord and worshiped Baal and the Ashtars. 10
2:14 The Lord was furious with Israel 11 and handed them over to robbers who plundered them. 12 He turned them over to 13 their enemies who lived around them. They could not withstand their enemies’ attacks. 14 2:15 Whenever they went out to fight, 15 the Lord did them harm, 16 just as he had warned and solemnly vowed he would do. 17 They suffered greatly. 18
1 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
2 tn Heb “in the territory of his inheritance.”
3 tn Heb “All that generation were gathered to their fathers.”
4 tn Heb “arose after them.”
5 tn Heb “that did not know the
6 tn Heb “in the eyes of.”
7 tn Or “serving”; or “following.”
8 tn Or “fathers.”
9 tn Or “bowed before” (the same expression occurs in the following verse).
10 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.
11 tn Or “The
12 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.
13 tn Heb “sold them into the hands of.”
14 tn The word “attacks” is supplied in the translation both for clarity and for stylistic reasons.
15 tn The expression “to fight” is interpretive.
16 tn Heb “the
17 tn Heb “just as he had said and just as he had sworn to them.”
18 tn Or “they experienced great distress.”
