Joshua 23:11

THE MESSAGE

"Now, vigilantly guard your souls: Love God , your God. Because if you wander off and start taking up with these remaining nations still among you (intermarry, say, and have other dealings with them), know for certain that God , your God, will not get rid of these nations for you. They'll be nothing but trouble to you—horsewhips on your backs and sand in your eyes—until you're the ones who will be driven out of this good land that God , your God, has given you.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
So diligently watch yourselves! Love the Lord your God!

Hebrew Names Version
Take good heed therefore to yourselves, that you love the LORD your God.

King James Version
Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love the Lord your God.

Lexham English Bible
Take utmost care for the sake of your life to love Yahweh your God,

English Standard Version
Be very careful, therefore, to love the Lord your God.

New Century Version
So you must be careful to love the Lord your God.

New English Translation
Watch yourselves carefully! Love the Lord your God!

Amplified Bible
"So be very careful and watchful of yourselves to love the LORD your God.

New American Standard Bible
"So take great care for yourselves that you love the LORD your God.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Take good heede therefore vnto your selues, that ye loue the Lord your God.

Legacy Standard Bible
So keep your souls very carefully to love Yahweh your God.

Contemporary English Version
Be sure to always love the Lord your God.

Complete Jewish Bible
"Therefore take great care to love Adonai your God.

Darby Translation
Take great heed therefore unto your souls, that ye love Jehovah your God.

Easy-to-Read Version
So you must continue to love the Lord your God.

George Lamsa Translation
Take good heed therefore to yourselves, to revere the LORD your God.

Good News Translation
Be careful, then, to love the Lord your God.

Literal Translation
And you shall be very watchful for yourselves to love Jehovah your God.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Take diligent hede therfore vnto youre soules, that ye loue the LORDE youre God.

American Standard Version
Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love Jehovah your God.

Bible in Basic English
So keep watch on yourselves, and see that you have love for the Lord your God.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Take good heede therfore vnto your selues, that ye loue the Lord your God.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love the LORD your God.

King James Version (1611)
Take good heed therefore vnto your selues, that ye loue the Lord your God.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And take ye great heed to love the Lord our God.

English Revised Version
Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love the LORD your God.

Berean Standard Bible
Therefore watch yourselves carefully, that you love the LORD your God.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Be ye war bifore moost diligentli of this thing oneli, that ye loue youre Lord God.

Young's Literal Translation
and ye have been very watchful for yourselves to love Jehovah your God.

Update Bible Version
Take good heed therefore to yourselves, that you love Yahweh your God.

Webster's Bible Translation
Take good heed therefore to yourselves, that ye love the LORD your God.

World English Bible
Take good heed therefore to yourselves, that you love Yahweh your God.

New King James Version
Therefore take careful heed to yourselves, that you love the LORD your God.

New Living Translation
So be very careful to love the Lord your God.

New Life Bible
Be very careful to love the Lord your God.

New Revised Standard
Be very careful, therefore, to love the Lord your God.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Take diligent heed, therefore, unto your souls, - to love Yahweh your God.

Douay-Rheims Bible
This only take care of with all diligence, that you love the Lord your God.

Revised Standard Version
Take good heed to yourselves, therefore, to love the LORD your God.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"So take diligent heed to yourselves to love the LORD your God.

Contextual Overview

¹¹"Now, vigilantly guard your souls: Love God , your God. Because if you wander off and start taking up with these remaining nations still among you (intermarry, say, and have other dealings with them), know for certain that God , your God, will not get rid of these nations for you. They'll be nothing but trouble to you—horsewhips on your backs and sand in your eyes—until you're the ones who will be driven out of this good land that God , your God, has given you. ¹⁴ "As you can see, I'm about to go the way we all end up going. Know this with all your heart, with everything in you, that not one detail has failed of all the good things God , your God, promised you. It has all happened. Nothing's left undone—not so much as a word. ¹⁵"But just as sure as everything good that God , your God, has promised has come true, so also God will bring to pass every bad thing until there's nothing left of you in this good land that God has given you. If you leave the path of the Covenant of God , your God, that he commanded you, go off and serve and worship other gods, God 's anger will blaze out against you. In no time at all there'll be nothing left of you, no sign that you've ever been in this good land he gave you."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Take good: Joshua 22:5, Deuteronomy 4:9, Deuteronomy 6:5-12, Proverbs 4:23, Luke 21:34, Ephesians 5:15, Hebrews 12:15

yourselves: Heb. your souls

love: Exodus 20:6, Romans 8:28, 1 Corinthians 8:3, 1 Corinthians 16:22, Jude 1:20, Jude 1:21

Reciprocal: Exodus 23:13 - be circumspect Deuteronomy 4:15 - Take ye Deuteronomy 4:23 - heed 2 Kings 21:8 - only if they Jeremiah 17:21 - Take Hebrews 2:1 - the more

Cross-References

Genesis 23:7
Then Abraham got up, bowed respectfully to the people of the land, the Hittites, and said, "If you're serious about helping me give my wife a proper burial, intercede for me with Ephron son of Zohar. Ask him to sell me the cave of Machpelah that he owns, the one at the end of his land. Ask him to sell it to me at its full price for a burial plot, with you as witnesses."

Genesis 23:12
Abraham bowed respectfully before the assembled council and answered Ephron: "Please allow me—I want to pay the price of the land; take my money so that I can go ahead and bury my wife."

Numbers 35:30
"Anyone who kills another may be executed only on the testimony of eyewitnesses. But no one can be executed on the testimony of only one witness.

Deuteronomy 17:6
But only on the testimony of two or three witnesses may a person be put to death. No one may be put to death on the testimony of one witness. The witnesses must throw the first stones in the execution, then the rest of the community joins in. You have to purge the evil from your community.

Deuteronomy 19:15
You cannot convict anyone of a crime or sin on the word of one witness. You need two or three witnesses to make a case.

Ruth 4:1
Boaz went straight to the public square and took his place there. Before long the "closer relative," the one mentioned earlier by Boaz, strolled by. "Step aside, old friend," said Boaz. "Take a seat." The man sat down.

Ruth 4:9
Boaz then addressed the elders and all the people in the town square that day: "You are witnesses today that I have bought from Naomi everything that belonged to Elimelech and Kilion and Mahlon, including responsibility for Ruth the foreigner, the widow of Mahlon—I'll take her as my wife and keep the name of the deceased alive along with his inheritance. The memory and reputation of the deceased is not going to disappear out of this family or from his hometown. To all this you are witnesses this very day."

Ruth 4:11
All the people in the town square that day, backing up the elders, said, "Yes, we are witnesses. May God make this woman who is coming into your household like Rachel and Leah, the two women who built the family of Israel. May God make you a pillar in Ephrathah and famous in Bethlehem! With the children God gives you from this young woman, may your family rival the family of Perez, the son Tamar bore to Judah."

Luke 19:24
"Then he said to those standing there, ‘Take the money from him and give it to the servant who doubled my stake.'

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Take good heed therefore unto yourselves,.... To be upon their guard, and to be watchful, were very necessary to them, that they might not be ensnared by the Canaanites, and drawn aside by them into idolatry, and so apostatize from the Lord and his worship, since their temptations would be many:

that ye love the Lord your God; which would the most strongly influence and engage them to serve and worship the Lord, and obey his commands, and be the best preservative against idolatry and false worship.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Joshua 23:11. Take good heed - unto yourselves that ye love the Lord — לנפשתיכם lenaphshotheychem, Take heed TO YOUR SOULS, literally; but נפש nephesh and [Arabic] nefs, both in Hebrew and Arabic, signify the whole self, as well as soul and life; both soul and body must be joined in this work, for it is written, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, mind, and strength.