1After many days, when Yahweh had given Israel rest from all their surrounding enemies, and Joshua was old and very advanced in years,
2Joshua summoned all Israel—their elders, their leaders, their judges, and their officials—and said to them, "I am old and very advanced in years.
3You have seen everything Yahweh your God has done to all these nations because of you, for it is Yahweh your God who has fought for you.
4Look, I have allotted to you as an inheritance for your tribes these remaining nations, from the Jordan River, along with all the nations I have conquered, all the way to the Great Sea in the west.
5Yahweh your God will force them out from in front of you and drive them away from your sight. You will own their land, just as Yahweh your God promised you.
6“So be very brave and careful to follow all that is written in the book of Moses’ law. Don't turn away from it, not to the right or to the left.
7Do not mix with these nations who remain among you. Do not even mention the names of their gods, or swear by them, or serve them, or bow down to them.
8Instead, remain loyal to Yahweh your God, as you have done up to today.
9“Because Yahweh has driven out great and powerful nations from before you. No one has been able to stand against you up to today.
10One man among you will chase a thousand, because Yahweh your God is fighting for you, just as he told you he would.
11So be very careful to love Yahweh your God.
12“But if you turn back and join the remaining people from these nations, those who are still among you, and you intermarry with them, and you associate with them and they with you,
13then know for certain that Yahweh your God will no longer drive these nations out of your sight. Instead, they will become a trap and a snare for you, a whip at your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until you die off this good land that Yahweh your God has given you.
14“Look, today I am going the way of all people on earth. You know in your hearts and souls that not one good thing has failed from all the good things Yahweh your God promised you. Everything has happened to you. Not one thing has failed.
15It will happen that just as all the good things Yahweh your God promised you have come true, so Yahweh will bring upon you all the bad things, until he has destroyed you from this good land that Yahweh your God has given you,
16if you break the covenant of Yahweh your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them. Then Yahweh’s anger will burn against you, and you will quickly die off the good land he has given you.”