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Joshua Calls All Israel

23 Now it happened after many days, after Yahweh had given (A)rest to Israel from all their enemies [a]on every side, and Joshua was old, advanced in years, that (B)Joshua called for all Israel, for their elders and their heads and their judges and their officers, and said to them, “I am old, advanced in years. And you have seen all that Yahweh your God has done to all these nations because of you, for (C)Yahweh your God is He who has been fighting for you. See, (D)I have allotted to you these nations which remain as an inheritance for your tribes, with all the nations which I have cut off, from the Jordan even to the Great Sea toward the setting of the sun. And Yahweh your God, He will thrust them out from before you and (E)dispossess them before you; and (F)you will possess their land, just as Yahweh your God [b]promised you. (G)Be very strong, then, to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, so that you may not turn aside from it to the right hand or to the left, so that you will not go along with these nations, these which remain among you, and you will not (H)mention the name of their gods, and you will not (I)make anyone swear by them, and you will not (J)serve them, and you will not bow down to them. But you are to cling to Yahweh your God, as you have done to this day. (K)For Yahweh has dispossessed great and mighty nations from before you; and as for you, (L)no man has stood before you to this day. 10 (M)One of your men will pursue one thousand, for Yahweh your God is (N)He who fights for you, just as He [c]promised you. 11 So keep your souls very carefully to love Yahweh your God. 12 For if you ever turn back and (O)cling to the rest of these nations, these which remain among you, and (P)intermarry with them, so that you go along with them and they with you, 13 know with certainty that Yahweh your God will not continue to dispossess these nations from before you; but they will be a (Q)snare and a trap to you and a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good land which Yahweh your God has given you.

14 “Now behold, today (R)I am going the way of all the earth, and you know in all your hearts and in all your souls that (S)not one word of all the good words which Yahweh your God spoke concerning you has failed; all have come to pass for you; not one word of them has failed. 15 And it will be that just as all the good words which Yahweh your God spoke to you have come upon you, so (T)Yahweh will bring upon you all the calamitous words, until He has destroyed you from off this good land which Yahweh your God has given you. 16 (U)When you trespass against the covenant of Yahweh your God, which He commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, then the anger of Yahweh will burn against you, and you will perish quickly from off the good land which He has given you.”

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Footnotes

  1. Joshua 23:1 Lit from round about
  2. Joshua 23:5 Lit spoke to
  3. Joshua 23:10 Lit spoke to

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.

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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