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23
Joshua's final speech
1 Yahweh enabled the Israelis to live peacefully for many years with the people-groups that were around them. Then Joshua became very old.
2 One day Joshua summoned the leaders of the tribes of Israel, the leaders of the clans, the judges, and other officials. He said to them, “I am now very old. 3 You people have seen what Yahweh our God has done to help you defeat the people-groups that lived in this land. Yahweh our God has fought for you. 4 But do not forget that he has given to you all this land, from the Jordan River in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west, all this land that I have allotted to you. 5 Yahweh our God will compel the people who are still living there to leave. He will push them out as you advance. Then the land will be yours, as Yahweh has promised you.
6 Be sure that you obey all the laws that are in the book that Moses wrote. Do not disobey any part of it [IDI]. 7 Do not associate with the people who live among us who are not Israelis and who worship other gods. Do not mention the names of their gods, and do not use the names of their gods when you solemnly promise to do something. Do not serve their gods or worship them. 8 You must continue to do what Yahweh our God wants us to do, as you have been doing.
9 Yahweh has forced many great and powerful people-groups to leave as you advanced. No people-group has been able to defeat you. 10 Each of you will be able to cause a thousand of them to run away, because Yahweh your God will fight for you, just like he promised to do. 11 So be sure that you continue to love Yahweh our God.
12 If you turn away from doing what Yahweh desires and you associate with the people who are not Israelis, and if you marry them, 13 then you can be sure that Yahweh our God will not help you to expel those people-groups from your land. They will be like traps [DOU, MET] that will catch you. They will be like whips that strike your backs, and like thorns that will scratch your eyes. As a result, none of you will be left in this good land that Yahweh our God is giving to you.
14 It is almost time for me to die, like everyone does [EUP]. You know in your inner beings [DOU] that Yahweh has done for you [LIT] everything that he promised to do. 15 He has given to you all the good things that he promised. In the same way, the other things that he promised, things that are not good, will also happen. He said that if you do what is evil, he will get rid of you and send you away from this good land that he has given to you. 16 That will happen if you do not obey the commands that Yahweh our God told you to obey. If you go and serve other gods and worship them, Yahweh will become very angry with you. Very quickly he will expel you from this good land that he has given to you, and none of you will be left here.”

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© 2008-2016 Ellis W. Deibler, Jr.