Joshua 23
1 A long time after the LORD had given Israel rest from all their enemies around them, Joshua was old and advanced in years.
2 Joshua summoned all Israel—their elders, leaders, judges, and officers—and said to them, “I am old and advanced in years.
3 You have seen everything the LORD your God did to all these nations for your sake, because it was the LORD your God who fought for you.
4 See, I have allotted to you by lot, as an inheritance for your tribes, these nations that remain, from the Jordan to the Great Sea in the west, along with all the nations I destroyed.
5 The LORD your God will drive them out from before you and dispossess them in your presence, and you will take possession of their land, as the LORD your God promised you.
6 Be very strong, then, to keep and do everything written in the Book of the Law of Moses, without turning aside from it to the right or to the left.
7 Do not associate with these nations that remain among you. Do not mention the names of their gods, swear by them, serve them, or bow down to them.
8 Instead, cling to the LORD your God, as you have done to this day.
9 The LORD has driven out great and powerful nations before you, and to this day no one has been able to stand against you.
10 One of you puts a thousand to flight, because the LORD your God is the one who fights for you, as he promised you.
11 Be very careful, for your own sake, to love the LORD your God.
12 For if you turn back and cling to the rest of these nations that remain among you, intermarry with them, and mingle with them, and they with you,
13 know for certain that the LORD your God will no longer drive these nations out before you. They will be a snare and a trap for you, a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land that the LORD your God has given you.
14 Today I am going the way of all the earth. You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the LORD your God made to you has failed; every one has come true for you, not one has failed.
15 But just as every good promise the LORD your God made to you has come true, so the LORD will bring upon you every evil thing, until he destroys you from this good land that the LORD your God has given you.
16 If you break 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 quickly perish from the good land he has given you.”
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