Judg 2:20-23 | NET2full | STEP | The Lord was furious with Israel . He said , “ This nation has violated the terms of the covenant I made with their ancestors by disobeying me .

‏ Judges 2:20-23

A Divine Decision

20 The Lord was furious with Israel. ^{▼▼tn Or “The Lord’s anger burned [or “raged”] against Israel.”} He said, “This nation ^{▼▼tn Heb “Because this nation.”} has violated the terms of the covenant I made with their ancestors ^{▼▼tn Heb “my covenant which I commanded their fathers.”} by disobeying me. ^{▼▼tn Heb “and has not listened to my voice.” The expression “to not listen to [God’s] voice” is idiomatic here for disobeying him.} 21 So I will no longer remove before them any of the nations that Joshua left unconquered when he died, 22 in order to test Israel. ^{▼▼tn The Hebrew text of v. 22 simply begins with “to test.” Some subordinate this phrase to “I will no longer remove” (v. 21). In this case the Lord announces that he has now decided to leave these nations as a test for Israel. Another possibility is to subordinate “to test” to “He said” (v. 20; see B. Lindars, Judges 1-5, 111). In this case the statement recorded in vv. 20b-21 is the test in that it forces Israel to respond either positively (through repentance) or negatively to the Lord’s declaration. A third possibility is to subordinate “to test” to “left unconquered” (v. 21). In this case the Lord recalls that Joshua left these nations as a test. Israel has failed the test (v. 20), so the Lord announces that the punishment threatened earlier (Josh 23:12-13; see also Judg 2:3) will now be implemented. As B. G. Webb (Judges [JSOTSup], 115) observes, “The nations which were originally left as a test are now left as a punishment.” This view harmonizes v. 23, which explains that the Lord did not give all the nations to Joshua, with v. 22. (For a grammatical parallel, where the infinitive construct of נָסָה [nasah] is subordinated to the perfect of עָזַב [ʿazav], see 2 Chr 32:31.)} ^{▼▼tn The Hebrew text includes the phrase “by them,” but this is somewhat redundant in English and has been omitted from the translation for stylistic reasons.} I want to see ^{▼▼tn The words “I [i.e., the Lord] want to see” are supplied in the translation for clarification.} whether or not the people ^{▼▼tn Heb “they”; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.} will carefully walk in the path ^{▼▼tn Or “way [of life].”} marked out by ^{▼▼tn “The words “marked out by” are interpretive.} the Lord, as their ancestors ^{▼▼tn Or “fathers.”} were careful to do.” 23 This is why ^{▼▼tn The words “this is why” are interpretive and not in the original text.} the Lord permitted these nations to remain and did not conquer them immediately; ^{▼▼tn Or “quickly.”} he did not hand them over to Joshua.