Associate (Revised Standard Version “be mixed with”) translates the Hebrew “go into,” which refers specifically to intermarriage (see verse 12). The danger in marrying Canaanites was that the Israelites would be led to worship their gods (see Bright).

In this verse, four different Hebrew verbs are used with reference to the worship of pagan gods: “to speak their names,” “to swear,”The Masoretic text has the hiphil (causative) form of the verb, “cause to swear” (so King James Version); the Syriac, Targum and Vulgate have the qal form, “to swear,” which is preferred by the other translations. “to serve,” and “to bow down.” The first verb in this series of four (“to speak their names”) may be taken as a reference to prayer. “To swear” by the name of a god means to use that god’s name in making promises. The last two verbs in the series carry essentially the same meaning and refer to the act of worship. One may then translate “Do not worship their gods. Do not pray to them, or use their names when you take an oath.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Newman, Barclay M. A Handbook on Joshua. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1983. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .