1sn See Exod 14:19; 23:20.
2tn Heb the land that I had sworn to your fathers.
3tn Or covenant (also in the following verse).
4tn Heb their altars.
5tn Heb you have not listened to my voice.
6tn Heb What is this you have done?
7tn Heb And I also said. The use of the perfect tense here suggests that the messenger is recalling an earlier statement (see Josh 23:12-13). However, some translate, And I also say, understanding the following words as an announcement of judgment upon those gathered at Bokim.
8tn The words If you disobey are supplied in the translation for clarity. See Josh 23:12-13.
9tn Heb them; the referent (the Canaanites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
10tn The meaning of the Hebrew word <yD!x! (x!D!<) is uncertain in this context. It may be related to an Akkadian cognate meaning snare. If so, a more literal translation would be they will become snares to you. Normally the term in question means sides, but this makes no sense here. On the basis of Num 33:55 some suggest the word for thorns has been accidentally omitted. If this word is added, the text would read, they will become [thorns] in your sides (cf. NASB, NIV, NLT).
11tn Heb their gods will become a snare to you.
12tn Heb lifted their voices and wept.
13sn Bokim means weeping ones and is derived from the Hebrew verb B*k*h (to weep).
14tn Or sent away.
15tn Heb the Israelites went each to his inheritance.
16tn Or served; or followed.
17tn Or perhaps elders, which could be interpreted to mean leaders.
18tn Heb all the days of Joshua and all the days of the old men who outlived him, who had seen.
19tn Heb the great work of the Lord which he had done for Israel.
20tn Heb they; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
21tn Heb in the territory of his inheritance.
22tn Heb All that generation were gathered to their fathers.
23tn Heb arose after them.
24tn Heb that did not know the Lord or the work which he had done for Israel. The expressions personally experienced and seen are interpretive.
25tn Heb in the eyes of.
26tn Or serving; or following.
27tn Or fathers.
28tn Or bowed before (the same expression occurs in the following verse).
29tn 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.
30tn Or The Lords anger burned [or raged] against Israel.
31tn Heb robbers who robbed them. (The verb hs*v* [v*s*h] 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.
32tn Heb sold them into the hands of.
33tn The word attacks is supplied in the translation both for clarity and for stylistic reasons.
34tn The expression to fight is interpretive.
35tn Heb the Lords hand was against them for harm.
36tn Heb just as he had said and just as he had sworn to them.
37tn Or they experienced great distress.
38tn Or more traditionally, judges (also in vv. 17, 18 [3x], 19). Since these figures carried out more than a judicial function, also serving as rulers and (in several instances) as military commanders, the translation uses the term leaders.
39tn Heb and they delivered them from the hand of the ones robbing them.
40tn Or did not listen to.
41tn Or bowed before.
42tn Or way [of life].
43tn Or fathers.
44tn Heb
walked, obeying the Lords commands. They did not do this.
45tn Heb them; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
46tn The phrase for them is supplied in the translation for clarity.
47tn Heb the ones oppressing them and afflicting them. The synonyms oppressing and afflicting are joined together in the translation as harsh oppressors to emphasize the cruel character of their enemies.
48tn Heb they; the referent (the next generation) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
49tn The verb bWv (vWb, 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.
50tn 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 Joshuas godly generation (cf. vv. 7, 17).
51tn Or serving [them]; or following [them].
52tn Or drop.
53tn Or The Lords anger burned [or raged] against Israel.
54tn Heb Because this nation.
55tn Heb my covenant which I commanded their fathers.
56tn Heb and has not listened to my voice. The expression to not listen to [Gods] voice is idiomatic here for disobeying him.
57tn The words Joshua left those nations are interpretive. 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 Lords declaration. A third possibility (the one reflected in the present translation) 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. Webb (Judges [JSOTSup], 115) observes, The nations which were originally left as a test are now left as a punishment. This view best 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 hs*n` [n`s*h] is subordinated to the perfect of bz~u* [u*z~b], see 2 Chr 32:31.)
58tn 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.
59tn The words I [i.e., the Lord] wanted to see are supplied in the translation for clarification.
60tn Heb they; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
61tn Or way [of life].
62tn The words marked out by are interpretive.
63tn Or fathers.
64tn The words this is why are interpretive.
65tn Or quickly.