Judges 2:13 (LSB)

Passage

So they forsook Yahweh and served Baal and the Ashtaroth.

Nearby Context

Judges 2:11 Then the sons of Israel did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh and served the Baals,

Judges 2:12 and they forsook Yahweh, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods from among the gods of the peoples who were around them and bowed themselves down to them; thus they provoked Yahweh to anger.

Judges 2:13 So they forsook Yahweh and served Baal and the Ashtaroth.

Judges 2:14 And the anger of Yahweh burned against Israel, and He gave them into the hands of plunderers who plundered them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies around them, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies.

Judges 2:15 Wherever they went, the hand of Yahweh was against them for evil, as Yahweh had spoken and as Yahweh had sworn to them, so that they were severely distressed.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "forsook", "yahweh", "served", "baal", and "ashtaroth". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "forsook" and "yahweh", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 12's "and they forsook Yahweh the God of..." into verse 14's "And the anger of Yahweh burned against...", so "forsook" and "yahweh" belong inside that flow. In Judges context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "forsook" and "yahweh" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.