if you transgress the covenant of the LORD your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them. Then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you, and you shall perish quickly from off the good land that he has given to you.”
Transgressing the covenant means breaking the law God commanded, especially the precepts about worshipping Him alone. Nothing provokes His anger like idolatry, for He is jealous of His honor and worship. The Israelites learned this in the Babylonish captivity and again when Rome destroyed Jerusalem.
AI summary
Joshua shows plainly that no evil comes to man except through his own disobedience to God. Break the covenant, serve other gods, and the Lord's anger will be kindled; you will perish from the land He gave you.
AI summary
Joshua repeats this warning three times because losing so goodly a land, so lately won, would grieve them deeply. Like Moses before him, he speaks with passionate force to their hearts, and the people were fairly and fully warned. Yet they profited little: the Babylonish captivity fulfilled it, and their dispersion since the crucifixion fulfilled it more completely.
AI summary