﻿Joshua.
Chapter 23.
A long time had passed since the LORD had given Israel rest from all their surrounding enemies, and Joshua was old and advanced in years. 
Joshua called all Israel, its elders, heads, judges, and officers, and said to them, “I am old and advanced in years. 
You have seen all that the LORD your God has done to all these nations because of you, for the LORD your God is the one who has fought for you. 
Look, I have allotted to you these remaining nations as an inheritance for your tribes, along with all the nations I have cut off, from the Jordan to the Great Sea toward the setting sun. 
The LORD your God himself will push them back before you and drive them out from before you. You will possess their land, as the LORD your God has told you. 
Be very strong in keeping and doing everything written in the book of the law of Moses, without turning from it to the right or to the left. 
Do not associate with these nations that remain among you. Do not mention the name of their gods or make anyone swear by it. Do not serve them or bow down to them. 
But hold fast to the LORD your God, as you have done to this day. 
The LORD has driven out great and mighty nations before you. As for you, no one has been able to stand against you to this day. 
One man among you will pursue a thousand, for the LORD your God is the one who fights for you, as he has told you. 
Take great care for yourselves to love the LORD your God. 
For if you do turn back and hold fast to the remnant of these nations that remain among you, intermarry with them, and associate with them and they with you, 
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, whips on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land the LORD your God has given you. 
Look, today I am going the way of all the earth. You know with all your heart and all your soul that not one word of all the good words the LORD your God spoke concerning you has failed. All have come to pass for you; not one word has failed. 
Just as all the good things the LORD your God spoke to you have come upon you, so the LORD will bring upon you all the calamities, until he has destroyed you from this good land the LORD your God has given you, 
when you transgress the covenant of the LORD your God that he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them. Then the LORD’s anger will burn against you, and you will quickly perish from the good land he has given you.” 
