Joshua 23

Joshua’s Charge to Leaders

¹And it came to pass a long time after when YHWH had given rest to Israel from all their enemies round about, that Joshua was old; he had entered into days. ²And Joshua called for all Israel, for its elders, and for its heads, and for its judges, and for its officers, and he said to them, “I have become old; I have entered into days. ³And You have seen all that YHWH your God has done to all these nations before your faces, for YHWH your God is He who has fought for you.

⁴See, I have divided by lot to you these remaining nations, to be an inheritance for your tribes, from the Jordan, and with all the nations that I have cut off, as far as the Great Sea toward the setting of the sun. ⁵And YHWH your God, He will expel them from before you and drive them out of your sight; and you shall possess their land as YHWH your God has spoken to you.

⁶And be very courageous to keep and to do everything written in the Book of the Law of Moses, lest you turn aside from it to the right hand or to the left, ⁷and lest you go among these nations, these remaining among you, and the name of their gods you shall not mention nor cause one to swear by them, and you shall not serve them and not bow down to them. ⁸For but to YHWH your God you shall hold fast, as you have done to this day.

⁹And YHWH has driven out from before you great and mighty nations; and as for you, a man has not been able to stand against you to this day. ¹⁰One man of you shall chase a thousand, for YHWH your God is He who is fighting for you as He promised to you. ¹¹And exceedingly take heed to yourselves that you love YHWH your God. ¹²For if you at all turn back and cling to the remnant of these nations, these that remain among you, and make marriages with them, and go in to them, and they to you, ¹³then know for sure that YHWH your God will no longer drive out these nations from before you, and they shall be to you snares and traps and scourges on your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land that YHWH your God has given to you.

¹⁴And behold, I am going this day the way of all the earth, and you know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing has failed of all the good things that YHWH your God has spoken concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one word has failed. ¹⁵And it will come to pass that as have come upon you all the good things that YHWH your God has spoken to you, so YHWH will bring upon you all the word of evil, until He has destroyed you from this good land that YHWH your God has given to you. ¹⁶In your transgressing the covenant of YHWH your God that He commanded you, and have gone and served other gods and bowed down to them, the anger of YHWH will burn against you, and you shall perish quickly from the good land that He has given to you.”