‘ And yet they did not listen to their judges, for they went a whoring after other gods and bowed themselves down to them. They turned quickly out of the way in which their fathers walked in obeying the commandments of Yahweh. They did not do so.'
From now on there was an up-down situation. Having been delivered from their enemies and having begun again to walk in the commandments of Yahweh, they repaired the breaches in the covenant, and began to obey God.
But ‘they did not listen to their judges', that is, in the long run. For the next generation again turned to other gods, the gods of the land. Again they ‘went a-whoring' after them. The description is vivid and later taken up by the prophets. They sought and trusted in these gods and indulged in all the sexual uncleanness which was involved in their worship. They committed both spiritual and physical adultery. This was the result of not having driven them out.