Joshua 23:11-16

11 "So take diligent heed to yourselves to love the LORD your God.

12 "For if you ever go back and ¹cling to the rest of these nations, these which remain among you, and ²intermarry with them, so that you associate with them and they with you,

13 know with certainty that the LORD your God will not continue to drive these nations out from before you; but they will be a ³snare and a trap to you, and a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good land which the LORD your God has given you.

14 "Now behold, today ⁴I am going the way of all the earth, and you know in all your hearts and in all your souls that ⁵not one word of all the good words which the LORD your God spoke concerning you has failed; all have been fulfilled for you, not one of them has failed

15 "It shall come about that just as all the good words which the LORD your God spoke to you have come upon you, so ⁶the LORD will bring upon you all the threats *, until He has destroyed you from off this good land which the LORD your God has given you.

16 "⁷When you transgress the covenant of the LORD your God, which He commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, then the anger of the LORD will burn against you, and you will perish quickly from off the good land which He has given you."

Joshua 23:11-16 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. Exodus 34:15, 16; Psalms 106:34, 35
• 2. Deuteronomy 7:3, 4; Ezra 9:2; Nehemiah 13:25
• 3. Exodus 23:33; Exodus 34:12; Deuteronomy 7:16
• 4. 1 Kings 2:2
• 5. Joshua 21:45
• 6. Leviticus 26:14-33; Deuteronomy 28:15
• 7. Deuteronomy 4:25, 26

Footnotes

• [a] Lit "go among"
• [b] Or "dispossess"
• [c] Lit "come"
• [d] Lit "one word"