Joshua, old and near death, summons Israel's leaders for a farewell address. He reminds them of God's faithfulness in the conquest and warns that intermarriage and covenants with the remaining nations will lead to their destruction.
What Makes This Chapter Remarkable
Joshua's farewell mirrors Moses's: both aging leaders gather Israel to remind them of God's acts and warn against apostasy. The phrase 'not one thing has failed of all the good things the LORD your God promised you' (v. 14) echoes 21:45, but here it carries a warning: the same God who fulfilled every good promise will fulfill every threat. The theological logic is symmetrical — God's faithfulness cuts both ways.
Translation Friction
The verb davaq (v. 12, 'cling/hold fast') — the same word used for marital union in Genesis 2:24 and for covenant loyalty in Deuteronomy 10:20 — here describes the forbidden attachment to pagan nations. The word's range allows for bitter irony: the clinging Israel should give to God, they might give to the nations instead.
Connections
Joshua's farewell echoes Moses's in Deuteronomy 31-33. The conditional promise-and-warning structure parallels Deuteronomy 28. The 'thorn in your eyes' metaphor (v. 13) echoes Numbers 33:55. The entire address is vindicated by the book of Judges, which narrates exactly the apostasy Joshua warns against.
A long time afterward, when the LORD had given Israel rest from all their enemies on every side, and Joshua had grown old and advanced in years,
KJV And it came to pass a long time after that the LORD had given rest unto Israel from all their enemies round about, that Joshua waxed old and stricken in age.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Miyamim rabbim ('after many days') — an unspecified but significant period has elapsed since the conquest and allocation. The nation has enjoyed the rest (menucha) promised in 21:44. Vihoshua zaqen ba bayyamim ('Joshua was old, come into days') — the same phrase used of Abraham (Genesis 24:1) and David (1 Kings 1:1). Joshua's mortality sets the stage for his farewell: he must secure the nation's commitment to the covenant before he dies.
Joshua summoned all Israel — their elders, heads, judges, and officials — and said to them, "I have grown old and am advanced in years.
KJV And Joshua called for all Israel, and for their elders, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers, and said unto them, I am old and stricken in age:
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The fourfold leadership structure (elders, heads, judges, officers) represents the complete governing apparatus of Israel. Joshua's self-identification as old and dying mirrors Moses' farewell in Deuteronomy 31:2 ('I am 120 years old today'). The parallels between Joshua's farewell and Moses' farewell are deliberate — Joshua speaks as Moses' authorized successor, passing on the same covenantal charge.
You yourselves have witnessed everything the LORD your God did to all these nations on your behalf, for the LORD your God is the one who fought for you.
KJV And ye have seen all that the LORD your God hath done unto all these nations because of you; for the LORD your God is he that hath fought for you.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Atem r'item ('you yourselves have seen') — Joshua appeals to the living memory of his audience. They are eyewitnesses of divine action, not recipients of secondhand tradition. Yahweh Eloheikhem hu ha-nilcham lakhem ('the LORD your God — he is the one fighting for you') — the divine warrior theme from 10:14, 42 is restated as the interpretive lens through which the entire conquest must be understood.
Look — I have allotted to you by lot these remaining nations as an inheritance for your tribes, along with all the nations I have already cut off, from the Jordan to the Great Sea in the west.
KJV Behold, I have divided unto you by lot these nations that remain, to be an inheritance for your tribes, from Jordan, with all the nations that I have cut off, even unto the great sea westward.
Used here to describe the tribal territories including unconquered areas — the nachalah encompasses both what Israel possesses and what God has promised to deliver in the future.
Translator Notes
Hipphalti lakhem ('I have caused to fall to you by lot') — the verb naphal ('to fall') describes the lot casting that determined tribal territories. Joshua notes the distinction between nations already conquered (asher hikh'rati, 'which I cut off') and those still remaining (ha-nish'arim, 'the remaining ones'). The Great Sea (ha-yam ha-gadol) is the Mediterranean.
The LORD your God himself will push them back from before you and dispossess them on your behalf, and you will take possession of their land, just as the LORD your God promised you.
KJV And the LORD your God, he shall expel them from before you, and drive them from out of your sight; and ye shall possess their land, as the LORD your God hath promised you.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
V'horish otam millifneikhem ('he will dispossess them from before you') — the verb yarash in the Hiphil means to cause to possess or to dispossess. The remaining nations are not Israel's problem to solve alone; God will complete what he began. Ka'asher dibber Yahweh Eloheikhem lakhem ('as the LORD your God spoke to you') — the fulfillment formula. God's word is the guarantee.
Be very strong in keeping and carrying out everything written in the Book of the Law of Moses, never turning from it to the right or the left,
KJV Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that ye turn not aside therefrom to the right hand or to the left;
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Vachazaqtem me'od ('be very strong') — the same command given to Joshua in 1:7. Now Joshua passes it on to the nation. Sefer torat Mosheh ('the book of the Law of Moses') — the written Torah is the permanent standard. L'vilti sur mimmennu yamin us'mol ('not turning from it right or left') — the image of a straight path with the Torah as the road. This verse directly echoes Deuteronomy 5:32 and Joshua 1:7, creating a literary frame around the entire book.
so that you do not associate with these nations remaining among you. Do not invoke the names of their gods, do not swear by them, do not serve them, and do not bow down to them.
KJV That ye come not among these nations, these that remain among you; neither make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause to swear by them, neither serve them, nor bow yourselves unto them:
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Four prohibitions escalate the danger: mentioning pagan deity names, swearing oaths by them, serving them, worshipping them. The progression moves from casual cultural accommodation to full apostasy. L'vilti vo ba-goyim ('not to enter among the nations') — the warning is against social integration that leads to religious syncretism. Uv'shem elohehem lo tazkiru ('do not invoke the name of their gods') — even casual reference to pagan deities is forbidden (cf. Exodus 23:13).
Instead, hold fast to the LORD your God, just as you have done to this day.
KJV But cleave unto the LORD your God, as ye have done unto this day.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Ba-Yahweh Eloheikhem tid'baqu ('to the LORD your God you must cling') — davaq ('cling, hold fast') is the marriage-bond verb from Genesis 2:24, the same term used in Joshua's charge to the Transjordan tribes (22:5). The positive command balances the four negative prohibitions: the antidote to pagan attraction is deeper loyalty to the LORD.
The LORD has dispossessed great and powerful nations before you; to this day, no one has been able to stand against you.
KJV For the LORD hath driven out from before you great nations and strong: but as for you, no man hath been able to stand before you unto this day.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Goyim g'dolim va'atsumim ('nations great and mighty') — the adjectives emphasize that Israel's success is disproportionate to its own strength. The military record confirms divine involvement: the victories cannot be explained by Israel's resources alone.
One of you puts a thousand to flight, because the LORD your God is the one who fights for you, just as he promised.
KJV One man of you shall chase a thousand: for the LORD your God, he it is that fighteth for you, as he hath promised you.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Ish echad mikkem yirdof elef ('one man from you shall pursue a thousand') — this ratio echoes the Song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32:30. The hyperbolically favorable odds demonstrate divine empowerment. The verse restates the divine warrior theology: military success is God's gift, not human achievement.
Guard yourselves carefully — love the LORD your God.
KJV Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love the LORD your God.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
V'nishmartem me'od l'nafshoteikhem ('guard yourselves greatly for your lives') — the self-guarding command (shamar) is existential. Love for God is not merely an emotion but a matter of survival. L'ahavah et Yahweh Eloheikhem ('to love the LORD your God') — the Shema command (Deuteronomy 6:5) is the single imperative that encompasses all obedience.
But if you turn back and cling to the remnant of these nations remaining among you, and intermarry with them — if you go among them and they among you —
KJV Else if ye do in any wise go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, even these that remain among you, and shall make marriages with them, and go in unto them, and they to you:
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Im shov tashuvu ('if you indeed turn back') — the doubled verb emphasizes deliberate apostasy, not accidental error. V'hithchatantem bahem ('and intermarry with them') — intermarriage is the primary mechanism of assimilation. The warning proves prophetic: the opening chapters of Judges describe exactly this pattern of coexistence leading to syncretism.
then know with certainty that the LORD your God will no longer dispossess these nations before you. Instead, they will become a snare and a trap for you, a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land the LORD your God has given you.
KJV Know for a certainty that the LORD your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you; but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which the LORD your God hath given you.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Yado'a ted'u ('know with certainty') — the doubled verb creates an emphatic absolute: there is no ambiguity about the consequences. The imagery escalates: pach ('snare'), moqesh ('trap'), shotet ('whip/scourge'), ts'ninim ('thorns'). The unfaithful nation will be tormented by the very peoples it failed to dispossess. Ad avod'khem me'al ha'adamah ha-tovah ('until you perish from this good land') — the ultimate consequence is loss of the land itself. The promise-fulfillment of 21:43-45 is conditional; the same God who gave the land can remove Israel from it.
Now I am about to go the way of all the earth. You know with all your heart and all your life that not a single word has failed from all the good promises the LORD your God made concerning you. Everything has come true for you; not one word has failed.
KJV And, behold, I am going the way of all the earth: and ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the LORD your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Holekh ha-yom b'derekh kol ha-arets ('going today in the way of all the earth') — a euphemism for death, also used by David in 1 Kings 2:2. Lo nafal davar echad ('not one word has fallen') — this is the exact repetition of 21:45, now placed on Joshua's own lips. The double statement (hakol ba'u lakhem, lo nafal mimmennu davar echad — 'everything came to you, not one word from it has failed') is emphatic: God's faithfulness to his promises is complete and beyond dispute.
But just as every good promise the LORD your God made to you has been fulfilled, so the LORD will bring upon you every harmful word until he has destroyed you from this good land the LORD your God has given you.
KJV Therefore it shall come to pass, that as all good things are come upon you, which the LORD your God promised you; so shall the LORD bring upon you all evil things, until he have destroyed you from off this good land which the LORD your God hath given you.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Ken yavi Yahweh aleikhem et kol ha-davar ha-ra ('so the LORD will bring upon you every harmful/evil word') — the symmetry is devastating. The same faithfulness that guarantees promises guarantees threats. God's reliability is not selective; if he keeps his word regarding blessings, he will keep it regarding curses. This is the Deuteronomic covenant theology in its starkest form: the blessings of Deuteronomy 28:1-14 and the curses of Deuteronomy 28:15-68 are equally certain.
When you violate the covenant of the LORD your God that 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 the good land he has given you."
KJV When ye have transgressed the covenant of the LORD your God, which he commanded you, and have gone and served other gods, and bowed yourselves to them; then shall the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and ye shall perish quickly from off the good land which he hath given unto you.
Notes & Key Terms
1 term
Key Terms
בְּרִיתberit
"covenant"—covenant, treaty, agreement, binding pact, solemn bond
Joshua's farewell frames everything through the berit: the land was given through covenant, the blessings flow from covenant faithfulness, and exile results from covenant violation. The covenant is not merely a legal contract but the constitutive relationship between God and Israel.
Translator Notes
B'ovr'khem et berit Yahweh Eloheikhem ('when you transgress the covenant of the LORD your God') — the use of 'when' rather than 'if' in the Hebrew construction carries a sobering undertone. The berit (covenant) is the foundational relationship; violating it through worship of other gods triggers the covenant curses. V'charah af Yahweh bakhem ('the anger of the LORD will burn against you') — divine anger is the covenant's enforcement mechanism. Va'avadtem m'herah me'al ha-arets ha-tovah ('you will perish quickly from the good land') — the warning is exile. Joshua's farewell ends not with comfort but with the sharpest possible warning: the land is a gift that can be revoked.