19. But afterwards, the Israelites would become even more sinful than their ancestors had been. The Israelites were stubborn—they simply would not stop worshipping other gods or following the teachings of other religions.
20. The Lord was angry with Israel and said:The Israelites have broken the agreement I made with their ancestors. They won't obey me,
21. so I'll stop helping them defeat their enemies. Israel still had a lot of enemies when Joshua died,
22. and I'm going to let those enemies stay. I'll use them to test Israel, because then I can find out if Israel will worship and obey me as their ancestors did.
23. That's why the Lord had not let Joshua get rid of all those enemy nations straight away.