Joshua’s Charge to Leaders 1 UST A long time later, once Yahweh had enabled the Israelites to live peacefully, with none of the surrounding nations threatening them, 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 UST Joshua then called for all of Israel’ s elders, leaders, judges, and officials to come and listen to him. When they arrived, he told 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 UST You have seen how, for your sake, Yahweh defeated all of these enemy people groups. 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 UST I am telling you now that you will be able to defeat the nations that still remain. Their lands will also become the permanent possession of your tribes. You will have all of the land from the Jordan River{ in the east} to the Great Sea in the west, including the land of the nations I defeated when I was commanding the Israelite army. 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 UST Yahweh your God will enable you to defeat them, and he will force those people to leave their lands. Then you will be able to live there, just as he promised you would. 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 UST But you must be very careful to obey everything that Moses wrote in the Book of the Law. Do not disobey anything that he wrote. 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 UST Do not make friends with any of the people groups that are still in this land. Do not pray to their gods, and do not make oaths using the names of their gods. Do not worship those gods, and do not 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 UST Instead, remain loyal to Yahweh your God, as you have been doing. BSB BSB: Instead, you shall hold fast to the LORD your God, as you have done to this day.
9 UST Yahweh has forced many very strong nations to leave so that you could live here. From the time you entered this land until now, no one has been able to resist 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 UST It is as if one of your soldiers can make a thousand enemy soldiers run away. That is because Yahweh your God is fighting for you as 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 UST But you must be very careful to keep loving Yahweh your God. BSB BSB: Therefore watch yourselves carefully, that you love the LORD your God.
12 UST Suppose you become disloyal to Yahweh and make friends with the people groups that are still living in this land. Suppose you let your daughters marry their sons and your sons marry their daughters. Suppose you regularly do things together. 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 UST I can assure you that if you do that, Yahweh your God will no longer force them to leave so that you can live here. They will become like different kinds of traps that will catch you. They will become like whips that hurt your skin. They will become like thorns that stick you in the eye. Your people group will become weaker and weaker until none of you live any longer in this good land that Yahweh your God has given to you. 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 UST It is almost time for me to die, as everyone else does. You know deep within you that Yahweh he has done every single thing he promised to do for you. 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 UST He has given to you all the good things that he promised to give you. However, if you do these wrong things that I have described, he will just as surely make the bad things happen to you that he also described. None of you will still be living in this good land that Yahweh your God has given to 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 UST Suppose you do not obey the covenant that Yahweh made with you. Suppose you go and worship other gods and bow down to them. Then Yahweh will become very angry with you. Very soon none of you will be living any longer in this good land that he has 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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