Yosua 23:1-10

Joshua Challenges Israel to be Faithful

23:1 A long time ¹  passed after the Lord made Israel secure from all their enemies, ²  and Joshua was very old. ³  23:2 So Joshua summoned all Israel, including the elders, rulers, judges, and leaders, and told them: “I am very old. 23:3 You saw everything the Lord your God did to all these nations on your behalf, for the Lord your God fights for you. ⁴  23:4 See, I have parceled out to your tribes these remaining nations, ⁵  from the Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea ⁶  in the west, including all the nations I defeated. ⁷  23:5 The Lord your God will drive them out from before you and remove them, ⁸  so you can occupy ⁹  their land as the Lord your God promised ¹⁰  you. 23:6 Be very strong! Carefully obey ¹¹  all that is written in the law scroll of Moses so you won’t swerve from it to the right or the left, 23:7 or associate with these nations that remain near ¹²  you. You must not invoke or make solemn declarations by the names of their gods! ¹³  You must not worship ¹⁴  or bow down to them! 23:8 But you must be loyal to ¹⁵  the Lord your God, as you have been ¹⁶  to this very day.

23:9 “The Lord drove out from before you great and mighty nations; no one has been able to resist you ¹⁷  to this very day. 23:10 One of you makes a thousand run away, ¹⁸  for the Lord your God fights for you ¹⁹  as he promised you he would. ²⁰ 

[23:1]  ¹ tn Heb “many days.”

[23:1]  ² tn Heb “the Lord had given rest to Israel from their enemies all around.”

[23:1]  ³ tn Heb “was old, coming into the days.” This expression, referring to advancing in years, also occurs in the following verse.

[23:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “for the Lord your God, he [is] the one who fights for you.”

[23:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “I have assigned by lots to you these remaining nations as an inheritance for your tribes.”

[23:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “the Great Sea,” the typical designation for the Mediterranean Sea.

[23:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “from the Jordan and all the nations which I cut off and the Great Sea [at] the place where the sun sets.” The relationship of the second half of the verse, which mentions nations already conquered, to the first half, which speaks of “remaining nations,” is difficult to understand.

[23:5]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew text reads, “from before you.” This has not been included in the translation because it is redundant in English.

[23:5]  ⁹ tn Or “take possession of.”

[23:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “said to.”

[23:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Be strong so you can be careful to do.”

[23:7]  ¹² tn Heb “with.”

[23:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “and in the name of their gods you must not invoke and you must not make solemn declarations.” The words “and you must not make solemn declarations” are omitted in the LXX and may represent a later scribal addition to elucidate the immediately preceding command. The Hiphil of שָׁבַע (shava’) without an object occurs only here and in Josh 6:26.

[23:7]  ¹⁴ tn Or “serve.”

[23:8]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “hug.”

[23:8]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “done.”

[23:9]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “not a man has stood before you.”

[23:10]  ¹⁸ tn Or “chases a thousand.”

[23:10]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “for the Lord your God, he [is] the one who fights for you.”

[23:10]  ²⁰ tn Heb “as he said to you.”