Joshua 23
Modern English Version
Joshua’s Charge to the Leaders
23 A long time later, after the Lord had given Israel rest from all their enemies around them, Joshua was old and advanced in years. 2 Joshua called for all Israel, their elders, clan heads, judges, and officials, and said to them, “I am old and advanced in years. 3 You have seen all that the Lord your God did to all these peoples before you, for it is the Lord your God who has waged war for you. 4 See, I have allotted to you as an inheritance the land of these peoples who remain, along with the land of the peoples whom I defeated, from the Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. 5 The Lord your God will drive them out and dispossess them from before you, and you will inherit their land, as the Lord your God told you.
6 “Now be very strong to observe and enact all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, so that you do not deviate from it to the right or the left. 7 Do not assimilate with these peoples remaining among you. Do not invoke the names of their gods, nor swear by, serve, or worship them. 8 Instead, cling to the Lord your God, as you have done until today.
9 “For the Lord has dispossessed before you great and mighty peoples, and as for you, not a single man has been able to stand against you until today. 10 One man from among you can make a thousand flee, for it is the Lord your God who wages war for you, as He told you. 11 Now be careful, therefore, to love the Lord your God!
12 “For if you should turn and cling to the remainder of these peoples who are left with you, and you intermarry and assimilate with them, and they with you, 13 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.
14 “Now, I am going the way of all the earth. You know in all your hearts and souls that not a single word has failed out of all the good things that the Lord your God has said concerning you. All came true for you. Not a single word among them failed. 15 So just as every good thing that the Lord your God said to you came to be, even so the Lord can bring every bad thing upon you until He has destroyed you from this good land that the Lord your God gave you. 16 If you break the covenant of the Lord your God that He commanded you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, the anger of the Lord will burn against you, and you will quickly perish from the good land that He gave you.”
Joshua 23
21st Century King James Version
23 And it came to pass, a long time after the Lord had given rest unto Israel from all their enemies round about, that Joshua waxed old and stricken in age.
2 And Joshua called for all Israel, and for their elders, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers, and said unto them, “I am old and stricken in age.
3 And ye have seen all that the Lord your God hath done unto all these nations because of you, for the Lord your God is He that hath fought for you.
4 Behold, I have divided unto you by lot these nations that remain to be an inheritance for your tribes, from the Jordan, with all the nations that I have cut off, even unto the Great Sea westward.
5 And the Lord your God, He shall expel them from before you and drive them from out of your sight; and ye shall possess their land, as the Lord your God hath promised unto you.
6 Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, that ye turn not aside therefrom to the right hand or to the left;
7 that ye come not among these nations, these that remain among you, neither make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause any to swear by them, neither serve them nor bow yourselves unto them.
8 But cleave unto the Lord your God, as ye have done unto this day.
9 For the Lord hath driven out from before you great nations and strong; but as for you, no man hath been able to stand before you unto this day.
10 One man of you shall chase a thousand; for the Lord your God, He it is that fighteth for you, as He hath promised you.
11 Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love the Lord your God.
12 Or else, if ye do in any wise go back and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, even these that remain among you, and shall make marriages with them and go in unto them and they to you,
13 know for a certainty that the Lord your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you, but they shall be snares and traps unto you and scourges in your sides and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which the Lord your God hath given you.
14 “And behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth. And ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spoke concerning you: all have come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof.
15 Therefore it shall come to pass that, as all good things have come upon you which the Lord your God promised you, so shall the Lord bring upon you all evil things until He have destroyed you from off this good land which the Lord your God hath given you:
16 when ye have transgressed the covenant of the Lord your God which He commanded you, and have gone and served other gods and bowed yourselves to them, then shall the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and ye shall perish quickly from off the good land which He hath given unto you.”
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.
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