Juízes 2

ARC · Chapter 2/21

1E subiu o anjo do Senhor de Gilgal a Bochim, e disse: Do Egypto vos fiz subir, e vos trouxe á terra que a vossos paes tinha jurado e dito: Nunca invalidarei o meu concerto comvosco.

2E, quanto a vós, não fareis concerto com os moradores d'esta terra, antes derrubareis os seus altares: mas vós não obedecestes á minha voz. Porque fizestes isto

3Pelo que tambem eu disso: Não os expellirei de diante de vós: antes estarão ás vossas ilhargas, e os seus deuses vos serão por laço

4E succedeu que, fallando o anjo do Senhor estas palavras a todos os filhos d'Israel, o povo levantou a sua voz e chorou.

5Pelo que chamaram áquelle logar, Bochim: e sacrificaram ali ao Senhor.

6E havendo Josué despedido o povo, foram-se os filhos d'Israel, cada um á sua herdade, para possuirem a terra.

7E serviu o povo ao Senhor todos os dias de Josué, e todos os dias dos anciãos que prolongaram os seus dias depois de Josué, e viram toda aquella grande obra do Senhor, que fizera a Israel.

8Falleceu porém Josué, filho de Nun, servo do Senhor, da edade de cento e dez annos;

9E sepultaram-o no termo da sua herdade, em Timnath-heres, no monte d'Ephraim, para o norte do monte de Gaas.

10E foi tambem congregada toda aquella geração a seus paes, e outra geração após d'elles se levantou, que não conhecia ao Senhor, nem tão pouco a obra, que fizera a Israel

11Então fizeram os filhos de Israel o que parecia mal aos olhos do Senhor: e serviram os baalins.

12E deixaram ao Senhor Deus de seus paes, que os tirara da terra do Egypto, e foram-se após d'outros deuses, d'entre os deuses das gentes, que havia ao redor d'elles, e encurvaram-se a elles: e provocaram ao Senhor a ira.

13Porquanto deixaram ao Senhor: e serviram a Baal e a Astaroth.

14Pelo que a ira do Senhor se accendeu contra Israel, e os deu na mão dos roubadores, e os roubaram: e os entregou na mão dos seus inimigos ao redor: e não poderam mais estar em pé diante dos seus inimigos.

15Por onde quer que sahiam, a mão do Senhor era contra elles para mal, como o Senhor tinha dito, e como o Senhor lh'o tinha jurado: e estavam em grande aperto.

16E levantou o Senhor juizes, que os livraram da mão dos que os roubaram.

17Porém tão pouco ouviram aos juizes, anteu fornicaram após outros deuses, e encurvaram-se a elles: depressa se desviaram do caminho, por onde andaram seus paes, ouvindo os mandamentos do Senhor; o que elles assim não fizeram.

18E, quando o Senhor lhes levantava juizes, o Senhor era com o juiz, e os livrava da mão dos seus inimigos, todos os dias d'aquelle juiz; porquanto o Senhor se arrependia pelo seu gemido, por causa dos que os apertavam e opprimiam.

19Porém succedia que, fallecendo o juiz, tornavam e se corrompiam mais do que seus paes, andando após de outros deuses, servindo-os, e encurvando-se a elles: nada deixavam das suas obras, nem do seu duro caminho.

20Pelo que a ira do Senhor se accendeu contra Israel; e disse: Porquanto este povo traspassou o meu concerto, que tinha ordenado a seus paes, e não deram ouvidos á minha voz.

21Tão pouco desapossarei mais de diante d'elles a nenhuma das nações, que Josué deixou, morrendo;

22Para por ellas provar a Israel, se houvessem de guardar o caminho do Senhor, para por elle andarem, como seus paes o guardaram, ou não.

23Assim o Senhor deixou ficar aquellas nações, e não as desterrou logo, nem as entregou na mão de Josué.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

An angel of the Lord rebukes Israel for making a covenant with the Canaanites. After the death of Joshua and his generation, the people turn to other gods, beginning the cycle of sin, oppression, crying out, and deliverance.

Explanation

This chapter functions as a theological summary of the entire book of Judges, explaining the cyclical pattern that will repeat dozens of times: Israel abandons God, is handed over to oppressors, cries out for help, God raises up a deliverer-judge, there is peace for a time, and then the cycle begins again, usually worse than before. The key phrase is that a 'generation that did not know the Lord' arose, showing that genuine faith is not automatically passed down — it must be actively taught and lived out before one's children. God allows the remaining nations to stay as a test of Israel's faithfulness, revealing that trials and temptations serve a formative purpose and are not merely random obstacles.

Fun facts

  • The place called 'Bochim' (meaning 'those who weep') received its name because of the people's weeping in response to the angel of the Lord's rebuke, becoming a geographic landmark of national mourning.
  • The cycle of Judges — sin, oppression, crying out, deliverance, peace — repeats at least seven times throughout the book, considered one of the most tightly structured literary patterns in the Old Testament.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Juízes 2:1The angel of the Lord goes up from Gilgal to Bochim and reminds Israel that God brought them out of Egypt and promised never to break the covenant made with the people.
  2. Juízes 2:2God had commanded them to make no covenant with the peoples of the land and to tear down their altars, but Israel did not obey. This is the direct accusation that opens the angel’s speech.
  3. Juízes 2:3Because of this disobedience, God warns that He will no longer drive out the peoples who remain; they will be thorns among Israel, and their gods a snare. This explains the suffering described in the chapters that follow.
  4. Juízes 2:4On hearing these words from the angel, the people weep loudly, showing that they felt the weight of the rebuke.
  5. Juízes 2:5Because of this weeping, the place is named Bochim, meaning “those who weep,” and there the people offer sacrifices.
  6. Juízes 2:6The text now steps back in time: after Joshua sent the people away, each tribe went to take possession of its own inheritance of land.
  7. Juízes 2:7The people served the Lord throughout Joshua’s whole life and also throughout the lives of the elders who outlived him and had seen with their own eyes the great works of God.
  8. Juízes 2:8Joshua dies at the age of 110, the same age as Joseph, his predecessor in leading the people back in Egypt centuries earlier, a number the Egyptians considered ideal for a complete life.
  9. Juízes 2:9He is buried in his own inheritance, at Timnath-heres, in the mountains of Ephraim.
  10. Juízes 2:10That whole generation also dies, and another rises up that did not know the Lord or what He had done for Israel. It is this generation that opens the door to the cycle of unfaithfulness that dominates the book.
  11. Juízes 2:11The Israelites begin doing evil in the sight of the Lord and serving the Baalim, the local gods. This is the first time the book describes this pattern, which will keep repeating.
  12. Juízes 2:12They abandon the Lord, who had brought them out of Egypt, and follow after the gods of the surrounding peoples, provoking God’s anger.
  13. Juízes 2:13More specifically, they serve Baal and Ashtaroth, the chief Canaanite gods of the time.
  14. Juízes 2:14The Lord’s anger burns, and He hands Israel over to plunderers and surrounding enemies, to the point that they can no longer stand against them.
  15. Juízes 2:15Wherever Israel went, the hand of the Lord was against them, exactly as He had sworn before. The people live under great distress.
  16. Juízes 2:16A judge in this book is not someone who presides over a courtroom; he is a charismatic military leader, raised up in a specific crisis to deliver the people from an oppressor. Once the danger passes, he does not rule as a king, and the position is not hereditary.
  17. Juízes 2:17Even so, the people would not listen even to the judges: they ran after other gods and quickly turned aside from the path their fathers had followed in obedience to the commandments of the Lord.
  18. Juízes 2:18The pattern described here repeats throughout the whole book: the people drift from God, are oppressed, cry out, receive a judge who brings relief for as long as he lives, and fall back into corruption as soon as he dies. It is this cycle of unfaithfulness, oppression, crying out, and deliverance that gives structure to nearly all the chapters that follow.
  19. Juízes 2:19But as soon as the judge died, the people would return to corruption, worse than their fathers, following other gods without giving up any of their evil ways. This is the final stage of the cycle that repeats throughout the book.
  20. Juízes 2:20The Lord’s anger burns against Israel because the people broke the covenant He had commanded their ancestors and did not listen to His voice.
  21. Juízes 2:21Because of this, God decides not to drive out any more of the nations that Joshua left behind when he died.
  22. Juízes 2:22The reason is to test Israel, to see whether the people will keep the way of the Lord as their ancestors kept it, or not.
  23. Juízes 2:23So the Lord let those nations remain, neither driving them out quickly nor handing them over into Joshua’s hand.

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