Joshua 23

1 Many days later, after the Lord had given Israel rest from all their enemies around them, Joshua was old and well on in years. [a] 2 And Joshua called together all the children of Israel, and their council of elders, and their rulers, and their scribes, and their judges, and he said to them, “I am old and well on in years. 3 And you yourselves have seen everything the Lord your God has done to all these nations before you; for it is the Lord your God who fought for you.

4 See, I have thrown to you these nations that are left to you, among the portions of your tribes — from the Jordan, all the nations that I destroyed, and from the Great Sea, which will set the border toward the setting of the sun. [b] 5 And the Lord your God, he will destroy them before you, until they perish; and he will send the wild beasts against them, until he has destroyed them and their kings from before you. And take their land as your inheritance, just as the Lord your God said to you. [c]

6 So be very strong to keep and to do everything written in the book of the law of Moses, so that you do not turn aside from it to the right or to the left, 7 and so that you do not go in among these nations that are left. The names of their gods are not to be named among you, and you are not to bow down to them or serve them. 8 Instead, hold fast to the Lord your God, as you have done to this day.

9 And the Lord destroyed them before you — great and strong nations — and no one has stood against you, face to face, to this day. [d] 10 One of you has chased a thousand, because the Lord your God was the one fighting for you, just as he said to you. 11 So take great care to love the Lord your God.

12 For if you turn away and join yourselves to these nations that are left with you, and make marriages with them, and mix with them and they with you, 13 know that the Lord will not go on destroying these nations from before you; and they will become traps to you, and stumbling blocks, and nails in your heels, and spikes in your eyes, until you perish from off this good land, which the Lord your God has given you. 14 But I am going away on the road that all who are on the earth go. And you will know in your heart and in your soul that not one word has fallen of all the words the Lord your God spoke concerning everything that touches you; not one of them is missing.

15 And it will be that just as all the good words the Lord spoke to you have come upon you, so the Lord God will bring upon you all the evil words, until he has destroyed you from off this good land which the Lord gave you, [e] 16 when you transgress the covenant of the Lord your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them.”