1. Many years later, after the Lord had given the Israelites rest from all their enemies round about them, and when Joshua was old and advanced in years,
2. he summoned all Israel, including their elders, leaders, judges and officers, and said to them: “I am old and advanced in years.
3. You have seen all that the Lord, your God, has done for you against all these nations; for it has been the Lord, your God, who fought for you.
4. See, I have apportioned among your tribes as their heritage the nations that survive, as well as those I destroyed, between the Jordan and the Great Sea in the west.
5. The Lord, your God, will drive them out and dispossess them at your approach, so that you will take possession of their land as the Lord, your God, promised you.
6. Therefore be strong and be careful to observe all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, never turning from it right or left,
7. or mingling with these nations that survive among you. You must not invoke their gods by name, or swear by them, or serve them, or bow down to them,
8. but you must hold fast to the Lord, your God, as you have done up to this day.
9. At your approach the Lord has dispossessed great and strong nations; not one has withstood you up to this day.