So the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works that the Lord had done for Israel.
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but so much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
Yet they would not listen to their judges, for they prostituted themselves to other gods and worshipped them. They quickly turned aside from the path their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the Lord. They did not do as their fathers had done.