The People Turn Away From the LORD
6 Joshua sent the people of Israel away. Then they went to take over the land. All of them went to their own shares of land.
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The people served the LORD as long as Joshua lived. They also served him as long as the elders lived. Those were the elders who lived longer than Joshua did. They had seen all of the great things the LORD had done for Israel.
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Joshua, the servant of the Lord, died. He was the son of Nun. He was 110 years old when he died.
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His people buried his body on his own property at Timnath Heres. It's north of Mount Gaash in the hill country of Ephraim.
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All of the people of Joshua's time joined the members of their families who had already died. Then those who were born after them grew up. They didn't know the Lord. They didn't know what he had done for Israel.
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The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. They served the gods that were named after Baal.
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They deserted the Lord, the God of their people. He had brought them out of Egypt. But now the people of Israel followed other gods and worshiped them. They served the gods of the nations that were around them. They made the LORD angry
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because they deserted him. They served Baal. They also served the goddesses that were named after Ashtoreth.
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The LORD became angry with Israel. So he handed them over to robbers. The robbers stole everything from them. He gave them over to their enemies who were all around them. Israel wasn't able to fight against them anymore and win.
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When Israel went out to fight, the LORD's power was against them. He let their enemies win the battle over them. The LORD had warned them with an oath that it would happen. And now they were suffering terribly.
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Then the LORD gave them leaders. The leaders saved them from the power of those robbers.