1 And it came to pass, after many days, after the LORD {YHWH, Rest-Giver} had given rest to Israel from all their enemies all around, that Joshua was old {zaken: aged leader}, advanced in days.
2 Joshua called all Israel—its elders, its chiefs, its judges, and its officers—and said to them, “I have grown old {zakanti: advanced in years}; I have come far into my days {bayamim: well along in days}.”
3 And you yourselves have seen all that the LORD your God {YHWH Eloheichem, Covenant Defender} has done to all these nations before you, for it is the LORD your God who is fighting {nilcham: engages in battle} for you.
4 See, I have allotted for you these nations that remain to be an inheritance for your tribes from the Jordan and all the nations that I have cut off, even to the Great Sea {yam: western boundary} at the setting of the sun {shemesh: westward direction}.
5 And the LORD your God {YHWH Eloheichem, Faithful Warrior} will drive them out from before you and will dispossess them from before you, and you will inherit their land {erets: territory}, just as the LORD your God spoke to you.
6 Therefore be very strong {chazaqtem: unwavering resolve} to guard and practice everything written {katuv: authoritative record} in the Book of the Law of Moses, so that you do not veer to the right or to the left.
7 So you must not mingle with these nations that remain among you; you must not invoke the name {shem: Authority} of their gods {Eloheihem: False Deities}, nor swear by them, nor serve them, nor bow down to them.
8 But only to the LORD {YHWH Eloheikhem, Sole Covenant LORD} your God you shall cling, just as you have done {asitem: faithful practice} until this day.
9 And the LORD {YHWH, Divine Dispossessor} drove out from before you great and mighty nations {goyim: non-Israelite peoples}; but no man has stood before you until this day.
10 One man of you will chase a thousand, for the LORD your God {YHWH Eloheichem, Divine Warrior} is he who fights for you, just as He promised {diber: authoritative speech} to you.
11 Therefore, watch over your lives {lenafshoteikhem: life-center} with great care in order to love the LORD your God {YHWH Eloheikhem, Covenant-Keeping Protector}.
12 For if you again turn back and cling {davaq: adhere resolutely} to the remainder of these nations that remain among you, and if you intermarry {hitkhatantem: form family bonds} with them and associate with them, and they with you.
13 Know for certain that the LORD your God {YHWH Eloheikhem, Covenant Guardian} will no longer drive out these nations from before you, but they will become for you a snare {lephakh: entangling trap}, and a trap, a scourge at your sides and thorns in your eyes until you perish from this good land which the LORD your God has given you.
14 And behold, I am going today in the way of all the earth. And you know in all your heart {levav: inner will and understanding} and in all your soul that not one word from all the good words that the LORD your God {YHWH Eloheikhem, Faithful Promise Keeper} spoke concerning you has failed; all have come to you, and not a single word has failed.
15 And it will be, just as every good word which the LORD your God {YHWH Eloheichem, Covenant Enforcer} spoke to you has come upon you, so the LORD will bring upon you every evil thing {ra: threatened harm} until He has destroyed you from upon this good land which the LORD your God has given to you.
16 When you transgress the covenant of the LORD your God {YHWH Eloheikhem, Covenant Guardian}, which He commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, then the anger {af: burning wrath} of the LORD will burn against you, and you will perish quickly from off the good land which He has given you.