Therefore watch yourselves carefully, that you love the LORD your God.
Parallel translations
- WEB Take good heed therefore to yourselves, that you love Yahweh your God.
- KJV Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love the LORD your God.
- NKJV Therefore take careful heed to yourselves, that you love the Lord your God.
- NASB So take great care for yourselves that you love the Lord your God.
- NLT So be very careful to love the Lord your God.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Joshua urges them to be very careful to love Yahweh their God. It places love for God at the center of faithfulness.
Overview
At the heart of all obedience stands love for the Lord, and Joshua warns them to guard it diligently. He knows that when love grows cold, idolatry and ruin follow. This emphasis on loving God anticipates Jesus' identifying love for God as the greatest commandment.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Josh 22:5But be very careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you: to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, to keep His commandments, to hold fast to Him, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.”
- Deut 6:5–12And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
- Jude 1:20–21But you, beloved, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit,
- Rom 8:28And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.
- 1 Cor 8:3But the one who loves God is known by God.
- 1 Cor 16:22If anyone does not love the Lord, let him be under a curse. Come, O Lord!
- Exod 20:6but showing loving devotion to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments.
- Prov 4:23Guard your heart with all diligence, for from it flow springs of life.
- Heb 12:15See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God, and that no root of bitterness springs up to cause trouble and defile many.
- Deut 4:9Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen, and so that they do not slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and grandchildren.
- Eph 5:15Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,
- Luke 21:34But watch yourselves, or your hearts will be weighed down by dissipation, drunkenness, and the worries of life—and that day will spring upon you suddenly like a snare.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Joshua — the same name as Jesus, 'the LORD saves' — leads God's people into their inheritance, a shadow of the greater Joshua who brings us into the true rest and the promised land that remains.
How Joshua 23:11 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.