Bible Strands
Judges 2:17
Israel, however, did not listen to their judges. Instead, they prostituted themselves with other gods and bowed down to them. They quickly turned from the way of their fathers, who had walked in obedience to the LORD’s commandments; they did not do as their fathers had done.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records Israel’s recurring apostasy immediately after describing God’s merciful raising of judges to deliver them. The passage addresses the pre-monarchic period when tribal leadership failed to break the cycle of rebellion.
The words — The Hebrew verb זָנוּ (za.Nu) literally means "they acted as prostitutes," depicting covenant unfaithfulness as sexual infidelity. The conjunction וְ/גַ֤ם (ve./Gam) translates as "and/also," linking this persistent idolatry to the preceding narrative of judicial rescue.
The thread — This pattern of abandoning covenant loyalty appears in Deuteronomy 9:12 and Paul’s warning in Galatians 1:6 about deserting the One who called. It stands in direct contrast to the faithful generation described in Judges 2:7 who served the LORD.
Why it lands — The text states that Israel quickly turned from paternal obedience to bow down to other gods despite repeated divine intervention. This requires a reader to acknowledge that religious memory and historical deliverance cannot sustain fidelity without active, continuous obedience.
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
And yet they would not hearken unto their judges, but they went a whoring after other gods, and bowed themselves unto them: they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the Lord; but they did not so.
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 9:12 And the LORD said to me, “Get up and go down from here at once, for your people, whom you brought out of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. How quickly they have turned aside from the way that I commanded them! They have made for themselves a molten image.”
- Galatians 1:6 I am amazed how quickly you are deserting the One who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—
- Judges 2:7 And the people served the LORD throughout the days of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him, who had seen all the great works that the LORD had done for Israel.
- Hosea 2:2 Rebuke your mother, rebuke her, for she is not My wife, and I am not her husband. Let her remove the adultery from her face and the unfaithfulness from between her breasts.
- Revelation 17:1 Then one of the seven angels with the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits on many waters.
- Exodus 32:8 How quickly they have turned aside from the way that I commanded them! They have made for themselves a molten calf and have bowed down to it. They have sacrificed to it and said, ‘These, O Israel, are your gods, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.’”
- Exodus 34:15 Do not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you, and you will eat their sacrifices.
- Leviticus 17:7 They must no longer offer their sacrifices to the goat demons to which they have prostituted themselves. This will be a permanent statute for them for the generations to come.’
- Deuteronomy 9:16 And I saw how you had sinned against the LORD your God; you had made for yourselves a molten calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way that the LORD had commanded you.
- Joshua 24:24 So the people said to Joshua, “We will serve the LORD our God and obey His voice.”