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¹ But there came vp a messauger of ye LORDE from Gilgall vnto Bochim, and sayde: I haue caried you vp hither out of Egipte, and broughte you in to the londe that I sware vnto youre fathers, & saide: I wyl neuer breake my couenaunt wt you,

² that ye shulde make no couenaunt with the indwellers of this londe, but breake downe their altares: Neuertheles ye haue not herkened vnto my voyce. Wherfore haue ye done this?

³ Then saide I morouer: I wil not dryue them out before you, that they maye be a fall vnto you, and their goddes a snare.

⁴ And whan ye messaunger of the LORDE had spoken these wordes vnto all the children of Israel, the people lefte vp their voyce, & wepte,

⁵ and called ye name of the place Bochim, and offred there vnto the LORDE.

⁶ For whan Iosua had sente awaye ye people, and the childre of Israel were gone, euery one to his enheritauce, for to take possession of the londe,

⁷ the people serued the LORDE as longe as Iosua lyued and ye Elders, which lyued longe after Iosua, and yt sawe all the greate workes of the LORDE, which he dyd for Israel.

⁸ Now whan Iosua the sonne of Nun, the seruaunt of the LORDE, was deed (whan he was an hudreth and ten yeare olde)

⁹ they buried him in ye border of his inheritaunce at Timnath Heres vpon mount Ephraim on the north syde of mount Gaas.

¹⁰ And whan all the same generacion was gathered vnto their fathers, there came vp after them another generacion, which knew not the LORDE, ner the workes that he had done for Israel.

¹¹ Then wroughte the children of Israel euell before the LORDE, and serued Baalim,

¹² and forsoke ye LORDE the God of their fathers (which broughte them out of the londe of Egipte) and folowed other goddes & the goddes of the nacions that dwelt rounde aboute them, & worshipped them, & displeased the LORDE:

¹³ for they forsoke ye LORDE euer more and more, and serued Baal and Astaroth.

¹⁴ Then ye wrath of the LORDE waxed whote vpo Israel, & he delyuered the in to ye handes of those yt spoyled the, that they mighte spoyle them, & solde the in to the handes of their enemies roude aboute, & they were not able to withstonde their enemies eny more,

¹⁵ but what waye so euer they wolde out, ye hade of the LORDE was agaynst the to their hurte (euen as the LORDE sayde and sware vnto them) and they were sore oppressed.

¹⁶ Now whan the LORDE raysed them vp iudges, which helped them out of the hande of soch as spoyled the,

¹⁷ they folowed not the iudges nether, but wente a whoringe after other goddes, & worshipped them, and were soone gone out of ye waye yt their fathers walked in, to heare the comaundementes of the LORDE, & dyd not as they dyd.

¹⁸ But whan ye LORDE raysed vp iudges vnto them, the LORDE was with ye iudge, and helped them out of the hande of their enemies, as longe as the iudge lyued. For the LORDE had pitie of their complaynte, which they made ouer those yt subdued the and oppressed them.

¹⁹ Neuertheles whan the iudge dyed, they turned backe, and marred all more the their fathers, so that they folowed other goddes to serue them and to bowe them selues vnto them: they wolde not fall from their purposes, ner from their obstinate waye.

²⁰ Therfore waxed the wrath of the LORDE allwaie so whote ouer Israel, that he sayde: For so moch as the people haue transgressed my couenaunt, which I commaunded their fathers, & folowe not my voyce,

²¹ I wil from hence forth dryue out none of the Heythen, who Iosua lefte behynde him, wha he dyed,

²² that by them I maye proue Israel, whether they wil kepe the waye of the LORDE, to walke therin, as their fathers dyd, or not.

²³ Thus the LORDE suffred all these nacions, so that in a shorte tyme he droue them not out, whom he had not geuen ouer in to Iosuas hande.