Joshua 23

1 Yahweh enabled the Israelis to live peacefully [for many years] with the people-groups that were around them.

And it cometh to pass, many days after that Jehovah hath given rest to Israel from all their enemies round about, that Joshua is old, entering into days,

2 Joshua was now very old. [One day] he summoned the leaders of the tribes of Israel, the leaders of the clans, the judges, and [other] officials. He said to them, “I am now very old.

and Joshua calleth for all Israel, for its elders, and for its heads, and for its judges, and for its authorities, and saith unto them, 'I have become old; I have entered into days;

3 You people have seen what Yahweh our God has done to help you defeat the people-groups [that lived in this land]. Yahweh our God has fought for you.

and ye — ye have seen all that Jehovah your God hath done to all these nations because of you, for Jehovah your God [is] He who is fighting for you;

4 But do not forget that he has given to you all this land, from the Jordan [River in the east] to the Mediterranean Sea in the west, all this land that I have allotted to you.

see, I have caused to fall to you these nations who are left for an inheritance to your tribes, from the Jordan, (and all the nations which I cut off), and the great sea, the going in of the sun.

5 Yahweh our God will compel the people who are still living there to leave. He will push them out as you advance. Then the land will be yours, as Yahweh has promised you.

'As to Jehovah your God, He doth thrust them from your presence, and hath dispossessed them from before you, and ye have possessed their land, as Jehovah your God hath spoken to you,

6 “Be sure that you obey all the laws that are in the book that Moses wrote. Do not disobey any part of it [IDM].

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

7 Do not associate with the people who live among us [who are not Israelis and who worship other gods]. Do not mention the names of their gods, and do not use the names of their gods when you promise to do something. Do not serve their gods or worship them.

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

8 You must continue to do what Yahweh our God wants us to do, as you have been doing.

but to Jehovah your God ye do cleave, as ye have done till this day.

9 “Yahweh has forced [many] very powerful people-groups to leave as you advanced. No people-group has been able to defeat you.

And Jehovah is dispossessing from before you nations great and mighty; as for you, none hath stood in your presence till this day;

10 Each of you will be able to cause 1,000 of them to run away, because Yahweh your God will fight for you, just like he promised to do.

one man of you doth pursue a thousand, for Jehovah your God [is] He who is fighting for you, as He hath spoken to you;

11 So be sure that you continue to love Yahweh our God.

and ye have been very watchful for yourselves to love Jehovah your God.

12 “If you turn away from doing what Yahweh desires and you associate with the people who are not Israelis, and if you marry them,

'But — if ye at all turn back 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 then you can be sure that Yahweh our God will not help you to expel those people-groups from your land. They will be [like] traps [DOU, MET] [that will catch you]. They will be [like] whips [that strike] your backs, and like thorns [that will scratch] your eyes. As a result, none of you will be left in this good land that Yahweh our God is giving to you.

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

14 “It is almost time for me to die, like everyone does [EUP]. You know in your hearts [DOU] that Yahweh has done for you [LIT] everything that he promised to do.

'And lo, I am going, to-day, in the way of all the earth, and ye have known — with all your heart, and with all your soul — that there hath not fallen one thing of all the good things which Jehovah your God hath spoken concerning you; the whole have come to you; there hath not failed of it one thing.

15 He has given to you all the good things that he promised. In the same way, the other things that he promised, [things that are not good], will also happen. He said that if you do what is evil, he will get rid of you and send you away from this good land that he has given to you.

'And it hath been, as there hath come upon you all the good thing which Jehovah your God hath spoken unto you, so doth Jehovah bring upon you the whole of the evil thing, till His destroying you from off this good ground which Jehovah your God hath given to you;

16 That will happen if you do not obey the commands that Yahweh our God told you to obey. If you serve other gods and worship them, Yahweh will become very angry with you. Very quickly [he will expel you from] this good land that he has given to you, [and] none of you will be left here.”

in your transgressing the covenant of Jehovah your God which He commanded you, and ye have gone and served other gods, and bowed yourselves to them, then hath the anger of Jehovah burned against you, and ye have perished hastily from off the good land which He hath given to you.'