約書亞的訣別之言

23 此後很長時間,耶和華使以色列人四境太平,沒有戰事。約書亞年事已高, 他召來了以色列的長老、族長、審判官和官長,對他們說:「我已經老了, 你們都親眼看見你們的上帝耶和華怎樣為了你們而對付列邦,親自為你們爭戰。 從約旦河到地中海的這片土地,無論是已征服的還是沒有征服的,我已經用抽籤的方式分給你們各支派作產業。 你們的上帝耶和華必把列邦從你們面前趕出去,使他們離開你們。這樣,你們就可以承受他們的土地,正如你們的上帝耶和華的應許。 所以,你們應當剛強,謹遵摩西律法書上所記載的一切,不可有半點偏離。 不可與你們中間剩下的異族混雜,不可提他們的神明或憑它們起誓,不可供奉、祭拜他們的神明。 你們要一如既往地倚靠你們的上帝耶和華, 因為祂為你們趕走了強大的外族人,至今無人敵得過你們。 10 你們一個人能打敗他們一千人,因為你們的上帝耶和華照著祂的應許為你們爭戰。 11 所以你們要特別謹慎,愛你們的上帝耶和華。 12 如果你們悖逆,跟你們當中剩下的異族人聯合,通婚往來, 13 毫無疑問,你們的上帝耶和華必不再為你們趕走他們。相反,他們還要成為設在你們當中的圈套和陷阱,你們的肉中刺、眼中釘,直到你們在你們的上帝耶和華所賜給你們的這塊美好的土地上滅亡。

14 「我快要走完人世的路程了。你們深知你們的上帝耶和華賜給你們的一切美好應許沒有一句落空,都已經應驗了。 15 正如你們的上帝耶和華已成就祂應許給你們的一切福氣,如果你們違背祂,祂必照樣降各樣災禍給你們,直到把你們從祂所賜的這美好土地上毀滅。 16 你們如果違背你們的上帝耶和華吩咐你們遵守的約,去供奉、祭拜別的神明,祂必向你們發怒,使你們在祂所賜的這美好土地上迅速滅亡。」

A Warning and a Promise

23 After many days,[a] when the Lord had given Israel rest from all its enemies all around, when Joshua had grown old and advanced in years, Joshua summoned all Israel—its elders, its heads, its judges, and its officers, and he said to them:

I have grown old and advanced in years. You yourselves have seen everything that the Lord your God has done for you against all these nations. Yes, the Lord your God was fighting for you! See now, I have allotted to your tribes an inheritance from these nations that remain unconquered, as well as from the nations that I have destroyed. It extends from the Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. The Lord your God himself will push them away from you and drive them out of your presence, ⎣until they perish. He will send wild animals among them until he completely destroys them and their kings from your presence⎦[b] and you will take possession of their land, just as the Lord your God promised you. You must be very resolute in carrying out all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses by not turning from it to the right or to the left, by not intermingling with these nations that remain with you. Do not ever call on or swear by the names of their gods. Never serve them and never bow down to them. But hold fast to the Lord your God, just as you have been doing to this day.

The Lord has driven out great and powerful nations from among you. As for you, no one has stood up against you to this day. 10 One of you would put a thousand to flight because the Lord your God himself was fighting for you, just as he promised you. 11 Therefore, for your own sakes be very careful to love the Lord your God.

12 But if you do turn away and keep close company with the remnant of these nations that remain with you, and if you intermarry with them and intermingle with them and they with you, 13 then know for certain that the Lord your God will not continue to drive out these nations from among you, but they will become a trap and a snare for you, a whip for your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from your good land that the Lord your God has given you.

14 See now, I am about to go the way of all the earth, and you know with all your heart and with all your soul that not one promise out of all the good promises that the Lord your God promised you has failed. All of them have come true for you. Not one promise from him has failed.[c]

15 But just as every good promise that the Lord your God promised to you has come true for you, likewise the Lord will cause every promise of disaster to come true for you until he has destroyed you from this good land that the Lord your God has given you. 16 If you transgress the covenant of the Lord your God that he commanded you, and you go and serve other gods, and you bow down to them, then the anger of the Lord will burn against you, and you will perish quickly from the good land that he has given you.

Footnotes

  1. Joshua 23:1 The many days amounted to about seven years.
  2. Joshua 23:5 The words in the half-brackets are not in the Hebrew text, but they are in the Greek Old Testament. The words missing from the Hebrew text lie between two occurrences of your presence.
  3. Joshua 23:14 Literally fallen