Verse Lens · Concise explanation
Joshua 23:15 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 15. 15Therefore 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.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Joshua 23:15 contributes this concrete line to the movement: “Therefore it shall come to pass, that as all good things are come upon you, which the LORD…”.
Clinging to remaining nations is framed as going back
This verse is one part of that explanation in Joshua 23:12-16. The complete section carries the connected meaning and how it should shape life.
Read It With
- Joshua 23:12–16
Read Joshua 23:15 with 23:12–16. Joshua 23:15 advances “Joshua Warns of Entanglement, Loss, and Covenant Judgment” with the textual step “Therefore it shall come to pass, that as all good things are come upon you, which the LORD…”. The complete unit establishes this movement: Joshua warns that intermarriage and attachment to remaining nations may reverse protection into snare and lead to loss of the good land; as good promises came, covenant breach will bring announced harm.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Joshua 23:6-11 ends with this movement: Love of the LORD requires vigilant self-examination. Joshua 23:12-16 begins with this next step: Turning back and relational attachment form the warning's condition. It reaches this outcome: The reliability of good words grounds the reliability of covenant judgment. This movement materially develops the book's concern with covenant intermarriage, metaphorical harm, land loss, racialized misuse, and mixed-family protection. At Joshua 23:15, this verse contributes the following distinct step: Joshua 23:15 advances “Joshua Warns of Entanglement, Loss, and Covenant Judgment” with the textual step “Therefore it shall come to pass, that as all good things are come upon you, which the LORD…”.
What Remains True
Joshua 23:15 contributes this bounded enduring truth: Covenant warnings about religious allegiance must not be racialized or used to harm mixed-faith, mixed-ethnicity, or intermarried families.
Continue in Context
Read the complete section for the connected explanation and how it should shape life. This verse is a doorway into that passage, not a saying that stands alone.
Read Joshua 23:12-16 — Joshua Warns of Entanglement, Loss, and Covenant JudgmentSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: Joshua 23:12-16, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Joshua
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, clauses, names, repeated roots, boundary formulas, covenant terms, and the base text behind translation discussion.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Josh.xml, 23:12–16
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Joshua with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-level Hebrew, textual, translation, list, number, geographical, historical, and cross-reference notes.
Exact location: NET Bible Joshua PDF, printed pp. 449-450, translation and translator notes on 23:12–16
Open source ↗scholarly commentary article
Joshua
Richard D. Nelson
Oxford University Press, in The Oxford Bible Commentary, edited by John Barton and John Muddiman, 2001
Supports: Whole-book movement, literary boundaries, composition, history and archaeology limits, geography, theology, and material interpretive alternatives.
Exact location: Nelson, 'Joshua,' Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 174, discussion of 23:12–16
Open source ↗