Joshua 23:12

12 For if ye shall turn aside and attach yourselves to these nations that are left with you, and make marriages with them, and become mingled with them and they with you,

Joshua 23:12 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 23:12

Else if ye do in any wise go back
From the Lord and his worship, from his word and ordinances:

and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, [even] those that remain
among you;
in cities not taken, or in several which the Philistines were in possession of, or lived among them as tributaries to them, if they should take to them, and be free and familiar with them, which may lead on to nearer connections in civil and religious matters:

and shall make marriages with them;
marry their daughters to the sons of Canaanites, or admit the daughters of Canaanites to be married to their sons:

and go in unto them, and they to you;
which is expressive of the consummation of marriage, and of the performance of the conjugal duty,

Joshua 23:12 In-Context

10 One of you has chased a thousand, for the Lord our God, he fought for you, as he said to us.

11 And take ye great heed to love the Lord our God.

12 For if ye shall turn aside and attach yourselves to these nations that are left with you, and make marriages with them, and become mingled with them and they with you,

13 know that the Lord will no more destroy these nations from before you; and they will be to you snares and stumbling-blocks, and nails in your heels, and darts in your eyes, until ye be destroyed from off this good land, which the Lord your God has given you.

14 But I hasten to go the way , as all that are upon the earth also : and ye know in your heart and in your soul, that not one word has fallen of all the words which the Lord our God has spoken respecting all that concerns us; there has not one of them failed.