A long time passed after the Lord made Israel secure from all their enemies, and Joshua was very old.

Your fathers cried out for help to the Lord; he made the area between you and the Egyptians dark, and then drowned them in the sea. You witnessed with your very own eyes what I did in Egypt. You lived in the wilderness for a long time.

Israel worshiped the Lord throughout Joshua's lifetime and as long as the elderly men who outlived him remained alive. These men had experienced firsthand everything the Lord had done for Israel.

So Joshua said to the Israelites: "How long do you intend to put off occupying the land the Lord God of your ancestors has given you?