Joshua 23

A long time later, after the LORD had given Israel rest from all the enemies around them, Joshua was old and far along in years.

1And it came to pass a long time after that the LORD had given rest unto Israel from all their enemies round about, that Joshua waxed old and stricken in age.

NoteWhere "LORD" appears in capital letters, it stands for the personal name of Israel's God as written in Hebrew (four consonants, often transcribed YHWH). Jewish readers avoided pronouncing it and said "my Lord" instead, and English translations follow that practice with the capitalized word. "Rest" here is not sleep but the settled condition of a land no longer at war.

2Joshua called for all Israel, along with their elders, their leaders, their judges, and their officers, and he said to them, "I am old and far along in years.

2And Joshua called for all Israel, and for their elders, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers, and said unto them, I am old and stricken in age:

NoteThese are four overlapping ranks of leadership, not offices with sharp modern equivalents. "Elders" were the senior heads of families and clans who spoke for their kin; "leaders" (literally "heads") were tribal chiefs; "judges" settled disputes brought to them; "officers" translates a Hebrew word tied to writing, probably record-keepers, marshals, or administrators. Together the list means the whole governing structure of the people.

3You have seen everything the LORD your God has done to all these nations for your sake, because it was the LORD your God who fought for you.

3And ye have seen all that the LORD your God hath done unto all these nations because of you; for the LORD your God is he that hath fought for you.

4Look, I have divided up for you by lot the nations that are still left, to be handed down to your tribes as their own land, together with all the nations I have already cut off, from the Jordan River west to the Great Sea.

4Behold, I have divided unto you by lot these nations that remain, to be an inheritance for your tribes, from Jordan, with all the nations that I have cut off, even unto the great sea westward.

Note"By lot" means by casting or drawing marked objects, a procedure something like drawing straws. It was used so that the outcome could not be traced to anyone's favoritism. "To be handed down as their own land" translates a word usually rendered "inheritance": a permanent family holding that passed from parents to children and was not meant to be sold off. The "Great Sea" is the Mediterranean, the western edge of the territory being described. "Cut off" is the standard idiom for destroyed or removed.

5The LORD your God will push them out ahead of you and drive them out of your sight, and you will take over their land, just as the LORD your God promised you.

5And the LORD your God, he shall expel them from before you, and drive them from out of your sight; and ye shall possess their land, as the LORD your God hath promised unto you.

6So be very strong, and keep and do everything written in the Book of the Law of Moses, and do not turn away from it to the right or to the left.

6Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that ye turn not aside therefrom to the right hand or to the left;

NoteThe "Book of the Law of Moses" is the written body of instruction associated with Moses. The Hebrew word behind "law" (torah) means teaching or instruction more broadly than a modern law code does. "Turn aside to the right or the left" is a traveler's image: leaving the road you were told to stay on.

7Do not mix with these nations, the ones still left among you. Do not even speak the names of their gods, or make anyone swear an oath by them, or serve them, or bow down to them.

7That ye come not among these nations, these that remain among you; neither make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause to swear by them, neither serve them, nor bow yourselves unto them:

NoteSwearing an oath "by" a god meant naming that god as the witness and enforcer of a promise, which was ordinary practice in contracts, court testimony, and treaties across the region. Avoiding it therefore meant staying out of a great deal of everyday legal business with neighbors. "Do not even speak the names of their gods" refers to this kind of formal invoking, not to any mention of the name in conversation.

8Instead, hold tightly to the LORD your God, as you have done right up to this day.

8But cleave unto the LORD your God, as ye have done unto this day.

NoteThe Hebrew verb translated "hold tightly" (cleave, in older English) is the same one used in Genesis for a man joining himself to his wife. It carries the sense of sticking fast to someone and staying loyal.

9The LORD has driven out great and strong nations ahead of you, and as for you, no one has been able to stand against you to this day.

9For the LORD hath driven out from before you great nations and strong: but as for you, no man hath been able to stand before you unto this day.

10One man of you will chase away a thousand, because the LORD your God is the one who fights for you, just as he promised you.

10One man of you shall chase a thousand: for the LORD your God, he it is that fighteth for you, as he hath promised you.

NoteA stock battlefield expression for an overwhelming rout, found elsewhere in Israel's older poetry. It is a figure of speech about lopsided odds rather than a count of casualties.

11So watch yourselves very carefully, and love the LORD your God.

11Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love the LORD your God.

NoteIn the treaty language of this period, "love" between parties to an agreement means loyal allegiance and faithful adherence to its terms, the way a subject king was said to "love" his overlord. Warmth of feeling is not excluded, but the word is doing the work of a legal term here.

12But if you turn back in any way and hold on to what is left of these nations, the ones still among you, and if you marry them and mix with them, and they with you,

12Else if ye do in any wise go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, even these that remain among you, and shall make marriages with them, and go in unto them, and they to you:

Note"Marry them and mix with them, and they with you" renders a Hebrew phrase that includes an idiom for sexual union between a man and a woman. The concern being described is intermarriage between families, spelled out in both directions: your people to theirs and theirs to yours.

13then know for certain that the LORD your God will no longer drive out any of these nations ahead of you. Instead they will be a snare and a trap for you, a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you die off this good land the LORD your God has given you.

13Know for a certainty that the LORD your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you; but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which the LORD your God hath given you.

NoteFour images stacked together, all of things that catch or wound. A "snare" and a "trap" are hunters' devices for taking birds and animals. The word behind "whip on your sides" is uncertain and appears only here; some translators read it as a scourge, others as something like nets or barbs. A close version of the whole picture appears in Numbers 33:55.

14Now look, today I am going the way of everyone on earth. You know with all your heart and soul that not one thing has failed of all the good things the LORD your God promised about you. Every one of them has come true for you; not one has failed.

14And, behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth: and ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the LORD your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof.

Note"Going the way of all the earth" is a plain idiom for dying, the way we might say someone is nearing the end of the road. Joshua is announcing his own approaching death, not a journey. "Heart and soul" in Hebrew means the whole inner self, mind and will included, rather than emotion alone.

15So this is what will happen. Just as every good thing the LORD your God promised you has come true, so the LORD will bring on you every harmful thing he warned about, until he has destroyed you from this good land the LORD your God has given you.

15Therefore it shall come to pass, that as all good things are come upon you, which the LORD your God promised you; so shall the LORD bring upon you all evil things, until he have destroyed you from off this good land which the LORD your God hath given you.

NoteThe word older translations render "evil things" here means harm, disaster, or calamity, not wickedness. The same Hebrew word covers both senses, and the sense in this sentence is the reverse of the "good things" just mentioned: not moral evil but injury.

16If you break the covenant of the LORD your God, the agreement he commanded you to keep, and you go and serve other gods and bow down to them, then the LORD's anger will burn against you, and you will quickly die off the good land he has given you."

16When ye have transgressed the covenant of the LORD your God, which he commanded you, and have gone and served other gods, and bowed yourselves to them; then shall the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and ye shall perish quickly from off the good land which he hath given unto you.

NoteA covenant was a formal binding agreement, the same kind of arrangement used for treaties between a great king and a lesser one. Such treaties typically listed obligations and then set out the benefits of keeping them and the penalties for breaking them, which is the pattern the previous two verses follow.