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Joshua’s Charge

23 1-2 A long time later, after God had given Israel rest from all their surrounding enemies, and Joshua was a venerable old man, Joshua called all Israel together—elders, chiefs, judges, and officers. Then he spoke to them:

2-3 “I’m an old man. I’ve lived a long time. You have seen everything that God has done to these nations because of you. He did it because he’s God, your God. He fought for you.

4-5 “Stay alert: I have assigned to you by lot these nations that remain as an inheritance to your tribes—these in addition to the nations I have already cut down—from the Jordan to the Great Sea in the west. God, your God, will drive them out of your path until there’s nothing left of them and you’ll take over their land just as God, your God, promised you.

6-8 “Now, stay strong and steady. Obediently do everything written in the Book of The Revelation of Moses—don’t miss a detail. Don’t get mixed up with the nations that are still around. Don’t so much as speak the names of their gods or swear by them. And by all means don’t worship or pray to them. Hold tight to God, your God, just as you’ve done up to now.

9-10 God has driven out superpower nations before you. And up to now, no one has been able to stand up to you. Think of it—one of you, single-handedly, putting a thousand on the run! Because God is God, your God. Because he fights for you, just as he promised you.

11-13 “Now, vigilantly guard your souls: Love God, your God. Because if you wander off and start taking up with these remaining nations still among you (intermarry, say, and have other dealings with them), know for certain that God, your God, will not get rid of these nations for you. They’ll be nothing but trouble to you—horsewhips on your backs and sand in your eyes—until you’re the ones who will be driven out of this good land that God, your God, has given you.

14 “As you can see, I’m about to go the way we all end up going. Know this with all your heart, with everything in you, that not one detail has failed of all the good things God, your God, promised you. It has all happened. Nothing’s left undone—not so much as a word.

15-16 “But just as sure as everything good that God, your God, has promised has come true, so also God will bring to pass every bad thing until there’s nothing left of you in this good land that God has given you. If you leave the path of the Covenant of God, your God, that he commanded you, go off and serve and worship other gods, God’s anger will blaze out against you. In no time at all there’ll be nothing left of you, no sign that you’ve ever been in this good land he gave you.”

Joshua's Farewell Speech

23 The Lord let Israel live in peace with its neighbors for a long time, and Joshua lived to a ripe old age. One day he called a meeting of the leaders of the tribes of Israel, including the old men, the judges, and the officials. Then he told them:

I am now very old. You have seen how the Lord your God fought for you and helped you defeat the nations who lived in this land. 4-5 There are still some nations left, but the Lord has promised you their land. So when you attack them, he will make them run away. I have already divided their land among your tribes, as I did with the land of the nations I defeated between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.

Be sure that you carefully obey everything written in The Book of the Law[a] of Moses and do exactly what it says.

Don't have anything to do with the nations that live around you. Don't worship their gods or pray to their idols or make promises in the names of their gods. Be as faithful to the Lord as you have always been.

When you attacked powerful nations, the Lord made them run away, and no one has ever been able to stand up to you. 10 (A) Any one of you can defeat a thousand enemy soldiers, because the Lord God fights for you, just as he promised. 11 Be sure to always love the Lord your God. 12-13 Don't ever turn your backs on him by marrying people from the nations that are left in the land. Don't even make friends with them. I tell you that if you are friendly with those nations, the Lord won't chase them away when you attack. Instead, they'll be like a trap for your feet, a whip on your back, and thorns in your eyes. And finally, none of you will be left in this good land that the Lord has given you.

14 I will soon die, as everyone must. But deep in your hearts you know that the Lord has kept every promise he ever made to you. Not one of them has been broken. 15-16 Yes, when the Lord makes a promise, he does what he has promised. But when he makes a threat, he will also do what he has threatened. The Lord is our God. He gave us this wonderful land and made an agreement with us that we would worship only him. But if you worship other gods, it will make the Lord furious. He will start getting rid of you, and soon not one of you will be left in this good land that he has given you.

Footnotes

  1. 23.6 Law: See the note at 8.30-32.

Despedida de Josué

23 Mucho tiempo después de que el Señor le diera a Israel paz con sus enemigos cananeos, Josué, anciano y cansado, convocó a toda la nación, incluyendo a sus líderes, jefes, jueces y oficiales, y les dijo: «Yo ya soy muy viejo, y los años me pesan. Vosotros habéis visto todo lo que el Señor vuestro Dios ha hecho con todas aquellas naciones a vuestro favor, pues él peleó las batallas por vosotros. Yo repartí por sorteo, como herencia de vuestras tribus, tanto las tierras de las naciones que aún quedan como las de aquellas que ya han sido conquistadas, entre el río Jordán y el mar Mediterráneo. El Señor vuestro Dios expulsará a esas naciones de estas tierras, y vosotros tomaréis posesión de ellas, tal como él lo ha prometido.

»Por lo tanto, esforzaos por cumplir todo lo que está escrito en el libro de la ley de Moisés. No os apartéis de esa ley para nada. No os mezcléis con las naciones que aún quedan entre vosotros. No rindáis culto a sus dioses ni juréis por ellos. Permaneced fieles al Señor vuestro Dios, como lo habéis hecho hasta ahora. El Señor ha expulsado a esas grandes naciones que se han enfrentado con vosotros, y hasta ahora ninguna de ellas ha podido resistiros. 10 Uno solo de vosotros hace huir a mil enemigos, porque el Señor pelea por vosotros, tal como ha prometido. 11 Haced, pues, todo lo que está de vuestra parte para amar al Señor vuestro Dios. 12 Porque si vosotros le dais la espalda a Dios y os unís a las naciones que aún quedan entre vosotros, mezclándoos y formando matrimonios con ellas, 13 tened por cierto que el Señor vuestro Dios no expulsará de entre vosotros a esas naciones. Por el contrario, ellas serán como red y trampa contra vosotros, como látigos en vuestras espaldas y espinas en vuestros ojos, hasta que desaparezcáis de esta buena tierra que el Señor vuestro Dios os ha entregado.

14 »Por mi parte, yo estoy a punto de ir por el camino que todo mortal transita. Vosotros bien sabéis que ninguna de las buenas promesas del Señor vuestro Dios ha dejado de cumplirse al pie de la letra. Todas se han hecho realidad, pues él no ha faltado a ninguna de ellas. 15 Pero, así como el Señor vuestro Dios ha cumplido sus buenas promesas, también descargará sobre vosotros todo tipo de calamidades, hasta que cada uno sea borrado de esta tierra que él os ha entregado. 16 Si no cumplís con el pacto que el Señor vuestro Dios os ha ordenado, sino que seguís a otros dioses, adorándolos e inclinándoos ante ellos, tened por seguro que la ira del Señor se descargará sobre vosotros y que seréis borrados de la buena tierra que el Señor os ha entregado».

Joshua’s Farewell to the Leaders

23 After a long time had passed and the Lord had given Israel rest(A) from all their enemies around them, Joshua, by then a very old man,(B) summoned all Israel—their elders,(C) leaders, judges and officials(D)—and said to them: “I am very old.(E) You yourselves have seen everything the Lord your God has done to all these nations for your sake; it was the Lord your God who fought for you.(F) Remember how I have allotted(G) as an inheritance(H) for your tribes all the land of the nations that remain—the nations I conquered—between the Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea(I) in the west. The Lord your God himself will push them out(J) for your sake. He will drive them out(K) before you, and you will take possession of their land, as the Lord your God promised you.(L)

“Be very strong; be careful to obey all that is written in the Book of the Law(M) of Moses, without turning aside(N) to the right or to the left.(O) Do not associate with these nations that remain among you; do not invoke the names of their gods or swear(P) by them. You must not serve them or bow down(Q) to them. But you are to hold fast to the Lord(R) your God, as you have until now.

“The Lord has driven out before you great and powerful nations;(S) to this day no one has been able to withstand you.(T) 10 One of you routs a thousand,(U) because the Lord your God fights for you,(V) just as he promised. 11 So be very careful(W) to love the Lord(X) your God.

12 “But if you turn away and ally yourselves with the survivors of these nations that remain among you and if you intermarry with them(Y) and associate with them,(Z) 13 then you may be sure that the Lord your God will no longer drive out(AA) these nations before you. Instead, they will become snares(AB) and traps for you, whips on your backs and thorns in your eyes,(AC) until you perish from this good land,(AD) which the Lord your God has given you.

14 “Now I am about to go the way of all the earth.(AE) You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed. Every promise(AF) has been fulfilled; not one has failed.(AG) 15 But just as all the good things(AH) the Lord your God has promised you have come to you, so he will bring on you all the evil things(AI) he has threatened, until the Lord your God has destroyed you(AJ) from this good land he has given you.(AK) 16 If you violate the covenant of the Lord your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, the Lord’s anger will burn against you, and you will quickly perish from the good land he has given you.(AL)

23 And it came to pass a long time after that the Lord had given rest unto Israel from all their enemies round about, that Joshua waxed old and stricken in age.

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:

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.

Behold, I have divided unto you by lot these nations that remain, to be an inheritance for your tribes, from Jordan, with all the nations that I have cut off, even unto the great sea westward.

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.

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;

That ye come not among these nations, these that remain among you; neither make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause to swear by them, neither serve them, nor bow yourselves unto them:

But cleave unto the Lord your God, as ye have done unto this day.

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 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 spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof.

15 Therefore it shall come to pass, that as all good things are 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.