Joshua 24
1 Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel at Shechem and summoned the elders of Israel, their leaders, judges, and officers; and they presented themselves before God.
2 Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your ancestors lived beyond the River—Terah, the father of Abraham and Nahor—and they served other gods.
3 I took your father Abraham from beyond the River and led him throughout the land of Canaan. I multiplied his descendants and gave him Isaac.
4 To Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I gave Mount Seir to Esau to possess, but Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt.
5 I sent Moses and Aaron, and I struck Egypt with what I did there. Afterward I brought you out.
6 I brought your ancestors out of Egypt, and you came to the sea. The Egyptians pursued your ancestors with chariots and horsemen as far as the Sea of Reeds.
7 They cried out to the LORD, and he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, then brought the sea over them and covered them. Your own eyes saw what I did in Egypt. Afterward you lived in the wilderness for a long time.
8 I brought you to the land of the Amorites who lived beyond the Jordan. They fought against you, but I handed them over to you. You took possession of their land, and I destroyed them before you.
9 Then Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, rose up and fought against Israel. He sent for Balaam son of Beor to curse you.
10 But I was unwilling to listen to Balaam, and he blessed you again and again. So I rescued you from his hand.
11 You crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The rulers of Jericho fought against you, as did the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites, and Jebusites; but I handed them over to you.’”
12 “‘I sent hornets ahead of you, and they drove out the two kings of the Amorites before you. It was not by your sword or your bow.
13 I gave you a land for which you had not labored, and cities you had not built, and you live in them. You eat from vineyards and olive groves you did not plant.’
14 Now fear the LORD and serve him with integrity and faithfulness. Put away the gods your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.
15 But if it seems wrong to you to serve the LORD, choose today whom you will serve: the gods your ancestors served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live. As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”
16 The people answered, “Far be it from us to abandon the LORD and serve other gods!
17 For the LORD our God brought us and our ancestors up from the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery, and performed those great signs before our eyes. He protected us all along the way we traveled and among all the peoples through whose lands we passed.
18 The LORD drove out all the peoples before us, including the Amorites who lived in the land. We too will serve the LORD, for he is our God.”
19 Joshua said to the people, “You will not be able to serve the LORD, for he is a holy God; he is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellions and sins.
20 If you abandon the LORD and serve foreign gods, he will turn against you, bring harm on you, and destroy you, after having done good to you.”
21 The people said to Joshua, “No! We will serve the LORD.”
22 Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the LORD to serve him.” They answered, “We are witnesses.”
23 “Now put away the foreign gods among you, and incline your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel.”
24 The people said to Joshua, “We will serve the LORD our God and obey his voice.”
25 That day Joshua made a covenant with the people and established a decree and a ruling for them at Shechem.
26 Joshua wrote these words in the book of the Law of God. He took a large stone and set it up there under the oak near the sanctuary of the LORD.
27 Joshua said to all the people, “Look, this stone will be a witness against us, because it has heard all the words the LORD spoke to us. It will be a witness against you, so that you will not deny your God.”
28 Then Joshua sent the people away, each to his own inheritance.
29 After these things, Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of one hundred and ten.
30 They buried him within the territory of his inheritance, at Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
31 Israel served the LORD throughout Joshua’s lifetime and throughout the lifetimes of the elders who outlived Joshua and knew all that the LORD had done for Israel.
32 The bones of Joseph, which the Israelites had brought up from Egypt, were buried at Shechem in the plot of land Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for a hundred pieces of silver. It became the inheritance of Joseph’s descendants.
33 Eleazar son of Aaron died, and they buried him at Gibeah, belonging to his son Phinehas, which had been given to him in the hill country of Ephraim.
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