Joshua’s Charge to Leaders 1 UDB A long time later, by the time Yahweh had allowed the Israelites to live in peace without fearing any enemies any longer, Joshua had become very old. BSB BSB: A long time after the LORD had given Israel rest from all the enemies around them, when Joshua was old and well along in years,
2 UDB Joshua called for all of Israel's elders and leaders, together with their judges and officers, to come and listen to him. When they arrived, he began to speak to them: "I am now very old. BSB BSB: he summoned all Israel, including its elders, leaders, judges, and officers. “I am old and well along in years,” he said,
3 UDB We have all seen what Yahweh our God has done to all the nations in this land. Yahweh our God has fought for us. BSB BSB: “and you have seen everything that the LORD your God has done to all these nations for your sake, because it was the LORD your God who fought for you.
4 UDB I have given to you the nations that remain. Their lands will also be your permanent possession for the tribes of Israel, just as are the lands of the peoples that our people destroyed when I was leading them—all those other nations that the Israelites destroyed from the Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea when I was the leader. BSB BSB: See, I have allotted as an inheritance to your tribes these remaining nations, including all the nations I have already cut off, from the Jordan westward to the Great Sea.
5 UDB Yahweh your God will force those people out from their lands. He will capture their lands from them so that you might settle down in those lands. This is what he has promised to do for you. BSB BSB: The LORD your God will push them out of your way and drive them out before you, so that you can take possession of their land, as the LORD your God promised you.
6 UDB Pay careful attention so that you obey all that is written in the book of laws that Moses wrote down. Do not disobey them or change any of them. BSB BSB: Be very strong, then, so that you can keep and obey all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, not turning aside from it to the right or to the left.
7 UDB If you obey the law of Moses, you will not mix our people with those peoples. Do not even mention the names of their gods, and do not use the names of their gods when you make promises or take oaths. Do not worship those gods or bow down to them. BSB BSB: So you are not to associate with these nations that remain among you. You must not call on the names of their gods or swear by them, and you must not serve them or bow down to them.
8 UDB Love Yahweh and trust in him, as you have been doing. Do not stop worshiping him. BSB BSB: Instead, you shall hold fast to the LORD your God, as you have done to this day.
9 UDB Yahweh has forced many great and powerful nations to get out of your way as you advanced. No one has been able to stop you. BSB BSB: The LORD has driven out great and powerful nations before you, and to this day no one can stand against you.
10 UDB Any single soldier among you will be able to cause a thousand men of war in the army of your enemy to run away, because Yahweh your God fights for you. That is what he promised to do. BSB BSB: One of you can put a thousand to flight, because the LORD your God fights for you, just as He promised.
11 UDB So do all you can to love Yahweh your God. BSB BSB: Therefore watch yourselves carefully, that you love the LORD your God.
12 UDB However, if you stop doing what Yahweh desires—if you associate with those peoples who survived the wars with our people or if you marry them and become their friends and they become friends with you— BSB BSB: For if you turn away and cling to the rest of these nations that remain among you, and if you intermarry and associate with them,
13 UDB then you can be sure that Yahweh our God will not help you force them out of your land. They will become like traps that will catch you. They will be like whips that strike your backs and like thorns that will stick you in the eye. Your people will become weaker and weaker until you die out in this land, this very good land that Yahweh our God has given to us. BSB BSB: know for sure that the LORD your God will no longer drive out these nations before you. Instead, they will become for you a snare and a trap, a scourge in your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land that the LORD your God has given you.
14 UDB It is almost time for me to die, like everyone else does. You know deep within you that every single thing that Yahweh promised to do for you, he has done it. BSB BSB: Now behold, today I am going the way of all the earth, and you know with all your heart and soul that not one of the good promises the LORD your God made to you has failed. Everything was fulfilled for you; not one promise has failed.
15 UDB He has given to you all the good things he promised. In the same way, the other things that he promised, things that are not good, will also happen if you do what is evil. In that case he will take your lives and your land away from you. BSB BSB: But just as every good thing the LORD your God promised you has come to pass, likewise the LORD will bring upon you the calamity He has threatened, until He has destroyed you from this good land He has given you.
16 UDB If you do not obey the covenant between Yahweh and you, and if you leave him and go and worship other gods and bow down to them, Yahweh will become very angry with you, just as a fire starts from a spark. Very quickly he will take away your lives, and he will take away this good land from you, the same land he has now given to you." BSB BSB: 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 burn against you, and you will quickly perish from this good land He has given you.”
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