Joshua Calls Israel to Hold Fast
23 1 A long time afterward, when our Father had given Israel rest from all their enemies on every side, Joshua had grown old, well advanced in years. 2 Joshua summoned all Israel, its elders and heads, its judges and officers, and said to them, "I am old, well advanced in years." 3 You yourselves have seen everything your Father has done to all these nations for your sake, for your Father is the one who has fought for you. 4 See, I have allotted to you as an inheritance for your tribes these nations that remain, along with all the nations I have cut off, from the Jordan to the Great Sea in the west. 5 Your Father himself will push them back before you and drive them out of your sight, and you will take possession of their land, as your Father promised you.
6 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 nor to the left, 7 so that you do not mix with these nations that remain among you. Do not invoke the names of their gods or swear by them; do not serve them or bow down to them. 8 But hold fast to your Father, as you have done to this day.
9 Your Father has driven out before you great and strong nations; as for you, no one has been able to stand against you to this day. 10 One of you puts a thousand to flight, because your Father himself fights for you, just as he promised you. 11 So watch yourselves carefully, to love your Father. 12 But if you turn back and hold fast to the remnant of these nations that remain among you, and intermarry with them, mixing with them and they with you, 13 know for certain that your Father will no longer drive out these nations before you. Instead they will become a snare and a trap for you, a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land your Father has given you.
14 Now I am about to go the way of all the earth. You know with all your heart and all your soul that not one word has failed of all the good things your Father promised concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one of them has failed. 15 But just as every good thing your Father promised you has come to pass, so he will bring upon you every harmful thing, until he has destroyed you from this good land he has given you. 16 If you break the covenant of your Father, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, then the anger of your Father will burn against you, and you will quickly perish from the good land he has given you.