Joshua 23:1-6

Joshua's Charge to Israel's Leaders

1 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,

2 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.

3 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.

4 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

5 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.

6 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,

Joshua 23:1-6 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JOSHUA 23

Joshua being old, convenes the states of Israel a little before his death, Jos 23:1,2; and in his address to them observes what God had done for them, and would do, Jos 23:3-5; and exhorts them to keep the commandments of God, and cleave to him, and not to mix with the Gentiles, and join with them in idolatrous practices, and then it would be well with them, Jos 23:6-11; but otherwise should they join with them, and depart from the Lord, who had so faithfully and punctually performed every good thing he had promised them, they might expect all evils and calamities, utter ruin and destruction, to befall them, Jos 23:12-16.

Cross References

• 1. See Joshua 11:23
• 2. Joshua 13:1
• 3. Joshua 24:1; [Deuteronomy 31:28; 1 Chronicles 28:1]
• 4. Joshua 10:14, 42; Exodus 14:14
• 5. See Joshua 13:2-7
• 6. Joshua 13:6; Exodus 23:30; Exodus 33:2; Exodus 34:11; Deuteronomy 11:23
• 7. Numbers 33:53
• 8. Joshua 1:7
• 9. Joshua 1:7; Deuteronomy 5:32; Deuteronomy 28:14