Joshua 23

1 A long time later, after the Lord had given peace to the Israelites from conflict with their enemies around them, Joshua, by now really old,

And it comes to pass, many days after that YHWH has given rest to Israel from all their surrounding enemies, that Joshua is old, entering into days,

2 summoned all the Israelites—the elders, leaders, judges, and officials—and told them, “I'm old, getting on in years.

and Joshua calls for all Israel, for his elderly, and for his heads, and for his judges, and for his authorities, and says to them, “I have become old; I have entered into days;

3 You've seen everything the Lord your God has done to all the nations on your behalf—the Lord your God has been fighting for you.

and you have seen all that your God YHWH has done to all these nations because of you, for your God YHWH [is] He who is fighting for you;

4 I have allotted the land of the remaining nations for you to own, as well as the nations already conquered, from the Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea.

see, I have caused these nations who are left to fall to you for an inheritance to your tribes, from the Jordan (and all the nations which I cut off), and the Great Sea [at] the [setting] sun.

5 The Lord your God will make them retreat from you. He will drive them out before you and you will take possession of their land, as the Lord your God promised you.

As for your God YHWH, He thrusts them from your presence, and has dispossessed them from before you, and you have possessed their land, as your God YHWH has spoken to you,

6 Be sure to observe everything that is written in the book of the Law of Moses. Don't stray from it, either to the left or to the right.

and you have been very strong to keep and to do the whole that is written in the Scroll of the Law of Moses, so as not to turn aside from it right or left,

7 Don't associate with the nations that are left. Don't mention the names of their gods, and don't swear by them, worship them, or bow down to them.

so as not to go in among these nations, these who are left with you; and you do not make mention of the name of their gods, nor do you swear, nor do you serve them, nor do you bow yourselves to them;

8 Stay close to the Lord your God, as you have done up to now.

but you cleave to your God YHWH, as you have done until this day.

9 The Lord has driven out strong, powerful nations before you. No one has been able to stand up to you to this day.

And YHWH is dispossessing great and mighty nations from before you; as for you, none has stood in your presence until this day;

10 Just one of you can chase away a thousand enemies, for the Lord your God is fighting for you, as he promised you.

one man of you pursues a thousand, for your God YHWH [is] He who is fighting for you, as He has spoken to you;

11 Take great care to love the Lord your God.

and you have been very watchful for yourselves to love your God YHWH.

12 For if you do turn from him, and adopt the ways of the nations that are left, if you intermarry with them, associating with one other,

But—if you turn back at all and have cleaved to the remnant of these nations, these who are left with you, and intermarried with them, and gone in to them, and they to you,

13 you can be absolutely sure that the Lord your God will definitely not drive out these nations before you. On the contrary, they will be a trap and a snare to you, a whip on you back and thorns in your eyes until you die out completely from this good land the Lord your God has given you.

certainly know that your God YHWH is not continuing to dispossess these nations from before you, and they have been to you for a trap, and for a snare, and for a scourge, in your sides, and for thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good ground which your God YHWH has given to you.

14 Now I am about to die, the fate of every living thing on the earth. Deep down you know that not a single one of the Lord's good promises has failed. Everything has come true. Not one has failed.

And behold, I am going, today, in the way of all the earth, and you have known—with all your heart, and with all your soul—that there has not fallen one thing of all the good things which your God YHWH has spoken concerning you; the whole have come to you; there has not failed of it one thing.

15 But in the same way that you received all the good things that the Lord you God promised, the Lord will bring on you all the bad things he has threatened until you're completely wiped out from this good land the Lord your God has given you.

And it has been, as there has come on you all the good thing which your God YHWH has spoken to you, so YHWH brings on you the whole of the evil thing, until His destroying you from off this good ground which your God YHWH has given to you;

16 If you break the agreement the Lord your God made with you, and you go and worship other gods, bowing down before them, then the Lord will become angry with you, and you will be quickly wiped out from the good land he has given you.”

in your transgressing the covenant of your God YHWH which He commanded you, and you have gone and served other gods, and bowed yourselves to them, then the anger of YHWH has burned against you, and you have perished quickly from off the good land which He has given to you.”