Joshua's Charge to Israel's Leaders
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A long time afterward, when the LORD had given 1rest to Israel from all their surrounding enemies, and Joshua 2was old and well advanced in years,
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Joshua 3summoned all Israel, its elders and heads, its judges and officers, and said to them, "I am now old and well advanced in years.
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And you have seen all that the LORD your God has done to all these nations for your sake, 4for it is the LORD your God who has fought for you.
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Behold, 5I have allotted to you as an inheritance for your tribes those nations that remain, along with all the nations that I have already cut off, from the Jordan to the Great Sea in the west
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The LORD your God 6will push them back before you and drive them out of your sight. And you shall possess their land, 7just as the LORD your God promised you.
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Therefore, 8be very strong to keep and to do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, 9turning aside from it neither to the right hand nor to the left,
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10that you may not mix with these nations remaining among you 11or make mention of the names of their gods 12or swear by them or serve them or bow down to them,
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13but you shall cling to the LORD your God just as you have done to this day.
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14For the LORD has driven out before you great and strong nations. And as for you, 15no man has been able to stand before you to this day.
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16One man of you puts to flight a thousand, since it is the LORD your God 17who fights for you, just as he promised you.
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18Be very careful, therefore, to love the LORD your God.
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For if you turn back and cling to the remnant of these nations remaining among you 19and make marriages with them, so that you associate with them and they with you,
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know for certain that 20the LORD your God will no longer drive out these nations before you, 21but they shall be a snare and a trap for you, a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good ground that the LORD your God has given you.
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"And now 22I am about to go the way of all the earth, and you know in your hearts and souls, all of you, that 23not one word has failed of all the good thingsa that the LORD your God promised concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one of them has failed
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But just as all the good things that the LORD your God promised concerning you have been fulfilled for you, so the LORD will bring upon you 24all the evil things, until he has destroyed you from off this good land that the LORD your God has given you,
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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 be kindled against you, and you shall perish quickly from off the good land that he has given to you."
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.
(English Standard Version - The Holy Bible Online)