1. The angel of the Lord went up to the city of Bokim from the city of Gilgal. The angel spoke this message from the Lord to the Israelites: “I brought you out of Egypt and led you to the land that I promised to give to your ancestors. I told you I would never break my agreement with you.
2. But in return, you must never make any agreement with the people living in that land. You must destroy their altars. I told you that, but you didn’t obey me.
3. “Now I will tell you this, ‘I will not force the other people to leave this land any longer. These people will become a problem for you. They will be like a trap to you. Their false gods will become like a net to trap you.’”
4. After the angel gave the Israelites this message from the Lord, the people cried loudly.
5. So they named the place Bokim. There they offered sacrifices to the Lord.
6. Then Joshua told the people to go home, so each tribe went to take their area of land.
7. The Israelites served the Lord as long as Joshua was alive, and they continued serving the Lord during the lifetimes of the elders who lived after Joshua had died. These old men had seen all the great things the Lord had done for the Israelites.
8. Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110 years.
9. The Israelites buried Joshua on the land that he had been given. That was at Timnath Heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
10. After that whole generation died, the next generation grew up. This new generation did not know about the Lord or what he had done for the Israelites.
11. So the Israelites did something very evil before the Lord. They began serving the false god Baal.