Joshua 23:5-15

5 The LORD your God himself will push them out for your sake. He will drive them out before you, and you will take possession of their land, as the LORD your God promised you.
6 “Be very strong; be careful to obey all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, without turning aside to the right or to the left.
7 Do not associate with these nations that remain among you; do not invoke the names of their gods or swear by them. You must not serve them or bow down to them.
8 But you are to hold fast to the LORD your God, as you have until now.
9 “The LORD has driven out before you great and powerful nations; to this day no one has been able to withstand you.
10 One of you routs a thousand, because the LORD your God fights for you, just as he promised.
11 So be very careful to love the LORD your God.
12 “But if you turn away and ally yourselves with the survivors of these nations that remain among you and if you intermarry with them and associate with them,
13 then you may be sure that the LORD your God will no longer drive out these nations before you. Instead, they will become snares and traps for you, whips on your backs and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land, which the LORD your God has given you.
14 “Now I am about to go the way of all the earth. You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the LORD your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed.
15 But just as all the good things the LORD your God has promised you have come to you, so he will bring on you all the evil things he has threatened, until the LORD your God has destroyed you from this good land he has given you.

Joshua 23:5-15 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 28

  • 1. ver 13; Judges 2:21
  • 2. Psalms 44:5; Jeremiah 46:15
  • 3. Exodus 23:30; Numbers 33:53
  • 4. S Deuteronomy 28:61
  • 5. S Deuteronomy 17:20
  • 6. Deuteronomy 5:32; Joshua 1:7
  • 7. Exodus 23:13; Psalms 16:4; Jeremiah 5:7; Jeremiah 12:16
  • 8. S Exodus 20:5
  • 9. S Deuteronomy 10:20
  • 10. Deuteronomy 11:23
  • 11. Deuteronomy 7:24
  • 12. Leviticus 26:8; Judges 3:31
  • 13. S Exodus 14:14; Deuteronomy 3:22
  • 14. S Deuteronomy 4:15
  • 15. Joshua 22:5
  • 16. S Genesis 34:9; Deuteronomy 7:3
  • 17. S Exodus 34:16; Psalms 106:34-35
  • 18. S ver 5
  • 19. S Exodus 10:7; Exodus 23:33
  • 20. S Numbers 33:55
  • 21. Deuteronomy 1:8; 1 Kings 9:7; 2 Kings 25:21
  • 22. 1 Kings 2:2
  • 23. Psalms 119:140; Psalms 145:13
  • 24. S Joshua 21:45
  • 25. 1 Kings 8:56; Jeremiah 33:14
  • 26. 1 Kings 14:10; 2 Kings 22:16; Isaiah 24:6; Isaiah 34:5; Isaiah 43:28; Jeremiah 6:19; Jeremiah 11:8; Jeremiah 35:17; Jeremiah 39:16; Malachi 4:6
  • 27. Joshua 24:20
  • 28. Leviticus 26:17; Deuteronomy 28:15; Jeremiah 40:2
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