Joshua 23:1–16

¹And it came about many days after Jehovah had given Israel rest from all their enemies all around, when Joshua was old and advanced in days,²that Joshua proceeded to call all Israel, its older men and its heads and its judges and its officers, and to say to them: “As for me, I have grown old, I have advanced in days.³And as for ​YOU, ​YOU​ have seen all that Jehovah ​YOUR​ God did to all these nations on ​YOUR​ account, because Jehovah ​YOUR​ God was the one who was fighting for ​YOU.⁴See, I assigned to ​YOU​ by lot these nations that remain as an inheritance for ​YOUR​ tribes, and all the nations that I cut off, from the Jordan to the Great Sea at the setting of the sun.⁵And Jehovah ​YOUR​ God was the one who kept pushing them away from before ​YOU, and he dispossessed them on ​YOUR​ account, and ​YOU​ took possession of their land, just as Jehovah ​YOUR​ God had promised ​YOU.

⁶“And ​YOU​ must be very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses by never turning away from it to the right or to the left,⁷by never going in among these nations, these that remain with ​YOU. And ​YOU​ must not mention the names of their gods nor swear by them, neither must ​YOU​ serve them nor bow down to them.⁸But it is to Jehovah ​YOUR​ God that ​YOU​ should cleave, just as ​YOU​ have done down to this day.⁹And Jehovah will drive away great and mighty nations from before ​YOU. (As for ​YOU, not a man has stood before ​YOU​ down to this day.)¹⁰Just one man of ​YOU​ will chase a thousand, because Jehovah ​YOUR​ God is the one who is fighting for ​YOU, just as he has promised ​YOU.¹¹And ​YOU​ must be on constant guard for ​YOUR​ souls by loving Jehovah ​YOUR​ God.

¹²“But if ​YOU​ should turn back at all and ​YOU​ do cleave to what is left of these nations, these that remain with ​YOU, and ​YOU​ do form marriage alliances with them and go in among them, and they among ​YOU,¹³YOU​ should positively know that Jehovah ​YOUR​ God will not continue to dispossess these nations on ​YOUR​ account; and they must become to ​YOU​ as a trap and as a snare and as a scourge on ​YOUR​ flanks and as thorns in ​YOUR​ eyes until ​YOU​ have perished off this good ground that Jehovah ​YOUR​ God has given ​YOU.

¹⁴“Now, look! I am going today in the way of all the earth, and ​YOU​ well know with all ​YOUR​ hearts and with all ​YOUR​ souls that not one word out of all the good words that Jehovah ​YOUR​ God has spoken to ​YOU​ has failed. They have all come true for ​YOU. Not one word of them has failed.¹⁵And it must occur that, just as all the good word that Jehovah ​YOUR​ God has spoken to ​YOU​ has come upon ​YOU, so Jehovah will bring upon ​YOU​ all the evil word until he has annihilated ​YOU​ from off this good ground that Jehovah ​YOUR​ God has given ​YOU,¹⁶because of ​YOUR​ overstepping the covenant of Jehovah ​YOUR​ God that he commanded ​YOU, and because ​YOU​ have gone and served other gods and bowed down to them. And Jehovah’s anger will certainly blaze against ​YOU, and ​YOU​ will certainly perish in a hurry from off the good land that he has given ​YOU.”