Bible Strands
Judges 2:15
Wherever Israel marched out, the hand of the LORD was against them to bring calamity, just as He had sworn to them. So they were greatly distressed.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records the military failures of Israel during the period of the judges, immediately following the LORD's delivery of the nation into enemy hands. This moment captures the active phase of covenant judgment after Israel's repeated disobedience.
The words — יַד (yad) literally means "hand," functioning here as a metonym for the LORD's active power or agency. לְרָעָה (le-ra'ah) translates to "for harm," specifying the destructive purpose of that divine action.
The thread — The verse directly invokes the covenant curse formula found in Deuteronomy 28:15 and Leviticus 26:14, where failure to obey triggers divine calamity. It also operationalizes the warning in Joshua 23:15 that the LORD would bring upon Israel the very disaster He had previously threatened.
Why it lands — The text states that Israel's distress was not incidental but the direct execution of a sworn covenant warning. It requires the reader to acknowledge that divine judgment operates through concrete historical circumstances rather than abstract retribution.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil, as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn unto them: and they were greatly distressed.
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 28:15 If, however, you do not obey the LORD your God by carefully following all His commandments and statutes I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:
- Joshua 23:15 But just as every good thing the LORD your God promised you has come to pass, likewise the LORD will bring upon you the calamity He has threatened, until He has destroyed you from this good land He has given you.
- Leviticus 26:14 If, however, you fail to obey Me and to carry out all these commandments,
- Deuteronomy 4:25 After you have children and grandchildren and you have been in the land a long time, if you then act corruptly and make an idol of any form—doing evil in the sight of the LORD your God and provoking Him to anger—
- Deuteronomy 32:40 For I lift up My hand to heaven and declare: As surely as I live forever,
- Judges 10:9 The Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah, Benjamin, and the house of Ephraim, and Israel was in deep distress.
- 1 Samuel 13:6 Seeing that they were in danger because their troops were hard-pressed, the men of Israel hid in caves and thickets, among the rocks, and in cellars and cisterns.
- 1 Samuel 14:24 Now the men of Israel were in distress that day, for Saul had placed the troops under an oath, saying, “Cursed is the man who eats any food before evening, before I have taken vengeance on my enemies.” So none of the troops tasted any food.
- 1 Samuel 30:6 And David was greatly distressed because the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of every man grieved for his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the LORD his God.
- Jeremiah 18:8 But if that nation I warned turns from its evil, then I will relent of the disaster I had planned to bring.