Joshua 23

Joshua’s Farewell Address

1Now it came about after many days, when the Lord had given 1rest to Israel from all their enemies 2on every side, and Joshua was old, advanced in years, 2that 3Joshua 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. 3And you have seen all that the Lord your God has done to all these nations because of you, for 4the Lord your God is He who has been fighting for you. 4See, 5I have apportioned 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. 5The Lord your God, He will thrust them out from before you and 67drive them from before you; and 8you will possess their land, just as the Lord your God 9promised you. 610Be very firm, then, to keep and 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, 7so that you will not 11associate with these nations, these which remain among you, or 12mention the name of their gods, or 13make anyone swear by them, or 14serve them, or bow down to them. 8But you are to cling to the Lord your God, as you have done to this day. 915For the Lord has 16driven out great and strong nations from before you; and as for you, 17no man has stood before you to this day. 1018One of your men puts to flight a thousand, for the Lord your God is 19He who fights for you, just as He 20promised you. 11So take diligent heed to yourselves to love the Lord your God. 12For if you ever go back and 21cling to the rest of these nations, these which remain among you, and 22intermarry with them, so that you 23associate with them and they with you, 13know with certainty that the Lord your God will not continue to 24drive these nations out from before you; but they will be a 25snare 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 the Lord your God has given you.

14“Now behold, today 26I am going the way of all the earth, and you know in all your hearts and in all your souls that 27not one word of all the good words which the Lord your God spoke concerning you has failed; all have 28been fulfilled for you, not 29one of them has failed. 15It shall come about that just as all the good words which the Lord your God spoke to you have come upon you, so 30the Lord will bring upon you all the threats, until He has destroyed you from off this good land which the Lord your God has given you. 1631When you transgress the covenant of the Lord your God, which He commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, then the anger of the Lord will burn against you, and you will perish quickly from off the good land which He has given you.”