A long time afterward, when the LORD had given rest to Israel
from all their surrounding enemies, and Joshua was old and well
advanced in years, Joshua summoned all Israel, its elders and
heads, its judges and officers, and said to them, “I am now old and
well advanced in years. And you have seen all that the LORD your
God has done to all these nations for your sake, for it is the LORD
your God who has fought for you. Behold, I have allotted to you as
an inheritance for your tribes those nations that remain, along
with all the nations that I have already cut off, from the Jordan
to the Great Sea in the west. The LORD your God will push them back
before you and drive them out of your sight. And you shall possess
their land, just as the LORD your God promised you. Therefore, be
very strong to keep and to do all that is written in the Book of
the Law of Moses, turning aside from it neither to the right hand
nor to the left, that you may not mix with these nations remaining
among you or make mention of the names of their gods or swear by
them or serve them or bow down to them, but you shall cling to the
LORD your God just as you have done to this day. For the LORD has
driven out before you great and strong nations. And as for you, no
man has been able to stand before you to this day. One man of you
puts to flight a thousand, since it is the LORD your God who fights
for you, just as he promised you. Be very careful, therefore, to
love the LORD your God. For if you turn back and cling to the
remnant of these nations remaining among you and make marriages
with them, so that you associate with them and they with you, know
for certain that the LORD your God will no longer drive out these
nations before you, but they shall be a snare and a trap for you, a
whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from
off this good ground that the LORD your God has given you.
“And now I am about to go the way of all the earth, and you know
in your hearts and souls, all of you, that not one word has failed
of all the good things that the LORD your God promised concerning
you. All have come to pass for you; not one of them has failed. But
just as all the good things that the LORD your God promised
concerning you have been fulfilled for you, so the LORD will bring
upon you all the evil things, until he has destroyed you from off
this good land that the LORD your God has given you, if you
transgress the covenant of the LORD your God, which he commanded
you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them. Then the
anger of the LORD will be kindled against you, and you shall perish
quickly from off the good land that he has given to you.”
