Bible Strands
Joshua 23:12
For if you turn away and cling to the rest of these nations that remain among you, and if you intermarry and associate with them,
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Joshua addresses the assembled tribal leaders of Israel near the end of his life, issuing a final charge as the conquest phase concludes and full settlement begins.
The words — The Hebrew terms שׁוֹב (shov) and תָּשׁוּבוּ (ta.shuvu) literally mean "to turn back," while דְבַקְתֶּם (de.vak.tem) means "you will cling." These verbs establish the conditional premise of the warning.
The thread — The prohibition against turning away and assimilating with surrounding peoples runs parallel to Deuteronomy 7:3’s ban on intermarriage, Ezekiel 18:24’s description of a righteous man turning to iniquity, and Zephaniah 1:6’s condemnation of those who turn back from following the LORD.
Why it lands — The text demands a decisive break from cultural and religious assimilation, requiring exclusive covenant loyalty before the promised land becomes a place of judgment rather than inheritance.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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:
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 7:3 Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons,
- Ezekiel 18:24 But if a righteous man turns from his righteousness and practices iniquity, committing the same abominations as the wicked, will he live? None of the righteous acts he did will be remembered. Because of the unfaithfulness and sin he has committed, he will die.
- Zephaniah 1:6 and those who turn back from following the LORD, neither seeking the LORD nor inquiring of Him.”
- Genesis 2:24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
- Genesis 34:3 And his soul was drawn to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob. He loved the young girl and spoke to her tenderly.
- Exodus 34:12 Be careful not to make a treaty with the inhabitants of the land you are entering, lest they become a snare in your midst.
- 1 Samuel 18:1 After David had finished speaking with Saul, the souls of Jonathan and David were knit together, and Jonathan loved him as himself.
- 1 Kings 11:2 These women were from the nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, for surely they will turn your hearts after their gods.” Yet Solomon clung to these women in love.
- 1 Kings 11:4 For when Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and he was not wholeheartedly devoted to the LORD his God, as his father David had been.
- Ezra 9:1 After these things had been accomplished, the leaders approached me and said, “The people of Israel, including the priests and Levites, have not kept themselves separate from the surrounding peoples whose abominations are like those of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites.