23 A long time passed and Yahweh had given Israel peace without attacks from their enemies all around, and Yehoshua was now in his old age, 2 so he summoned all the Israeli elders and leaders, along with the judges and officials. He told them, “Now I’m in my old age, 3 but you all have seen what Yahweh did to all those kingdoms ahead of you, because he’s the one who fights for you all. 4 I’ve allocated the remaining kingdoms that you all will defeat as an inheritance for your tribes, alongside those that I conquered from the Yordan to the Mediterranean in the west 5 Your God Yahweh will push them out ahead of you all and capture their lands for you to possess, just as he told you he would. 6 Take great care to obey and do everything that Mosheh wrote down—don’t deviate from it in any way. 7 Don’t enter those remaining kingdoms, and don’t mention the name of their gods or make an oath using their names and don’t worship or bow down to them. 8 Instead you all should cling to your God Yahweh, just as you’ve done until now. 9 Yes, Yahweh has driven away many great kingdoms ahead of you all, and until this day, none of them have stood against you. 10 Just one of you can make a thousand men flee, because Yahweh is your God—he’s the one who fights for you just like he said he would.[ref] 11 Make a great effort to guard yourselves that you all continue to love your God Yahweh. 12 Yes, if you all ever turn away from him and instead cling to those remaining kingdoms or remaining people, and if you intermarry with them or associate with them, 13 you all will certainly soon find out that your God Yahweh will not continue to drive out these nations ahead of you. Then they will end up trapping and snaring you all, and be like a whip on your sides and like thorns in your eyes, until you all perish from on this good land that Yahweh your God has given you.

14 Listen, today I’m about to go the way that everyone has to go and you all know with all your heart and with all your soul that not one thing has failed to come true from all the good things that your God Yahweh said about you. Everything has happened as said—down to the very last word. 15 And just like all those good things came true, so too Yahweh will send all the punishments he promised you all if you disobey him, even if it means that he destroys you all from this good land that he’s given you. 16 If you ignore the agreement with your God Yahweh and disobey his commands and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, then his anger will flare up against you all and you’ll quickly be wiped out from the good land that he has given you.”