The Lord had granted Israel long years of peace, with all their neighbours subject to them, when Josue, now grown to be a very old man,

summoned all Israel, with their elders, judges, chieftains and magistrates, and spoke thus to them. I am an old man now, and near my end,

and you can see for yourselves how the Lord God has fought on your side against the nations that surround you;

how he has divided up the land between you, from Jordan on the east to the shores of the open sea. Many nations are still left;

and these, too, the Lord your God will dispossess, making room for you to occupy their lands, in fulfilment of his promise.

But you must be resolute, and observe jealously all the terms of that law which Moses committed to writing, never swerve from them to right or to left.

You must not consort with these nations that survive, and learn to swear by the names of their gods, or enslave yourselves to their worship;

you must keep true to the Lord your God, as you have till now.

If you will do that, the Lord God will dispossess great nations, powerful nations, to make room for you; none will be able to withstand your onslaught.

A thousand enemies will take flight before a single man of your company, so well the Lord will keep his promise to fight on your side.

On peril of your lives, then, keep your hearts true to the Lord your God.

If you consent to follow closely in the false ways of neighbouring peoples, allying yourselves with them by marriage and making friends of them,

I warn you here and now that the Lord will never dispossess them to make room for you. Evermore they will be at your side, ready to snare and entrap you and catch your feet unawares, eyesores to blind you; and at last he will dispossess you instead, banish you utterly from this fair land he has given you for your home.

The time has come when I must go the way all mortal things go at last; and I would have you cherish this message deep in your hearts. Of all the promises the Lord made you, not one has missed fulfilment;

and as he has made good his promises by granting you the prosperity you now enjoy, so he will make good his threats, by dispossessing you and banishing you from this fair land of yours,

if you do not keep true to the covenant the Lord your God has made with you. Enslave yourselves to the worship of other gods, and the Lord’s vengeance will come upon you swiftly and suddenly, till the fair land he has given you knows you no more.