The children of Israel cried to Yahweh, saying, We have sinned against you, even because we have forsaken our God, and have served the Baals.
The Lord reminded them, presumably through a prophet, that their behavior had fallen into a pattern of apostasy, oppression, confession, and deliverance (Judges 10:11-12). God had delivered Israel from many enemies. They were the Egyptians (cf. Exodus 1-14), Amorites (also known in Scripture as Midianites, cf. Numbers 31:3), Ammonites (Judges 3:12-30), Philistines (Judges 3:31), Sidonians (ch. 4?), Amalekites (cf. Exodus 17:8-16), and Maunites. The Maunites were probably the Midianites (chs. 6-8), according to the Septuagint. Possibly Israel had defeated each of these nations already during the amphictyony.