Joshua 23

₁A long time had passed after the Lord had helped the Israelites defeat all their enemies around them, and Joshua was now an old man. ₂Joshua called all the Israelites, the leaders, the chiefs, the judges and the managers to come to him. He said to them: ‘I am very old. ₃You have seen everything that the Lord your God has done to the people who lived here before. Your God, the Lord Himself, made war so that you could defeat your enemies. ₄You know that I gave this land to your tribes, the land from the Jordan River to the big sea in the west. Before we came here, it was the land of the people whom I have killed and the people who are still here. ₅The Lord your God, Himself, will push out and chase away the people who are still here. The Lord, your God, has promised you that He will do it. You will get their land as your God, the Lord has promised you. ₆But you must be very strong, and you must do everything that is written in the laws of Moses, and you must live like the laws say. Do everything and do not forget any of them. ₇You must not be friends with the people of other nations who still live here with you. You must not pray to their gods or say their names when you promise something. You must not serve them or bow in front of them. ₈You must continue to serve the Lord, as you have done until now. ₉The Lord has chased strong people and big nations away so that you can live here. No nation was strong enough to stand or to defeat you. ₁₀One of your men could chase away 1 000 enemies because the Lord your God, Himself, helped you to go to war, as He had promised you. ₁₁But you must be very careful and you must love the Lord your God. ₁₂You must not stop serving the Lord and you must not become friends with the people of these other nations who are still here. You must not marry them and you must not go and visit them. ₁₃If you marry them, then you can be sure that the Lord will not chase them away so that you can live here. Then they will make you suffer. They will be like a trap. They will catch you and hurt you. They will be like thorns in your eyes and whips beating you. That will continue until none of you are alive in this good land that the Lord, your God, gave you.

₁₄Listen to me. I am going to die now, like everyone on earth. You know for sure that the Lord your God has done everything that He has promised you. Every word that He said has come true. ₁₅The good things that the Lord your God has promised you have happened. But if you do not listen to Him, He will let all the bad things that He has said happen to you. It will continue until all of you have died and disappeared from this good land that He gave you. ₁₆If you don't do what the Lord your God has told you to do in his covenant, and if you serve other gods and bow in front of them, then God will be angry with you and you will disappear from this good land that He has given you.’