This happened because the Israelites had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up from the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They had feared other gods
Then men will say, “Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt.
You must consume all the peoples whom the Lord your God will deliver to you. Your eye shall have no pity on them, nor shall you serve their gods, for that will be a snare to you.
know for certain that the Lord your God will no longer drive out these nations from before you. But they shall be snares and traps to you, a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good ground that the Lord your God has given you.
Again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the Lord. They worshipped the Baals, the Ashtoreths, and the gods of Syria, Sidon, Moab, the Ammonites, and the Philistines. They abandoned the Lord and did not serve Him.
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.
When the judge died, the people turned back and acted more wickedly than their fathers, pursuing other gods to serve and worship them. They would not give up their practices and obstinate ways.