1And Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel, their heads, their judges, and their officers; and they presented themselves before God.
2And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the LORD God of Israel, “Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the river in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nahor; and they served other gods.
3And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the flood, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed, and gave him Isaac.
4And I gave to Isaac, Jacob, and Esau. And I gave to Esau, Mount Seir, to possess it; but Jacob and his children went down into Egypt.
5I also sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt, according to that which I did among them; and afterward I brought you out.
6And I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and you came to the sea; and the Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea.
7And when they cried unto the LORD, He put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them, and covered them; and your eyes have seen what I have done in Egypt; and you dwelt in the wilderness a long season.
8And I brought you into the land of the Amorites, who lived on the other side of the Jordan, and they fought with you; and I gave them into your hand, that you might possess their land; and I destroyed them from before you.
9Then Balak, the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and warred against Israel, and he (Balak) called Balaam, the son of Beor, to curse you;
10But I would not listen to Balaam; therefore he blessed you still. So I delivered you out of his hand.
11And you went over the Jordan, and came to Jericho; and the men of Jericho fought against you, the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites, and the Jebusites; and I delivered them into your hand.
12And I sent the hornet before you, which drove them out from before you, even the two kings of the Amorites; but not with your sword, nor with your bow.
13And I have given you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you did not build, and you dwell in them; of the vineyards and olive yards which you did not plant do you eat.”
14Now, therefore, fear the LORD, and serve Him in sincerity and in truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the river, and in Egypt; and serve you the LORD.
15And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the river, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”
16And the people answered and said, “God forbid that we should forsake the LORD, to serve other gods;
17For the LORD our God, He It is Who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and Who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the ways in which we went, and among all the people through whom we passed.
18And the LORD drove out from before us all the people, even the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore, we will also serve the LORD; for He is our God.”
19And Joshua said to the people, “You are not able serve the LORD: for He is a holy God; He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins.
20If you forsake the LORD, and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm, and consume you, after He has done you good.”
21And the people said to Joshua, “No! We will serve the LORD.”
22And Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the LORD, to serve Him.” And they said, “We are witnesses.”
23“Now, therefore, put away”, said he, “the foreign gods which are among you, and incline your heart unto the LORD God of Israel.”
24And the people said to Joshua, “The LORD our God will we serve, and His voice will we obey.”
25So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and reaffirmed for them statutes and ordinances in Shechem.
26And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God, and took a great stone, and set it up there under an oak, that was by the sanctuary of the LORD.
27And Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, this stone shall be a witness to us; for it has heard all the words of the LORD which He spoke to us: it shall be, therefore, a witness to you, lest you deny your God.”
28So Joshua let the people depart, every man to his inheritance.
29And after these things, Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being a hundred ten years old.
30And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath-serah, which is in Mount Ephraim, on the north side of the hill of Gaash.
31And Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, and who had known all the deeds of the LORD, that He had done for Israel.
32And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, they buried in Shechem, in a plot of ground which Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for a hundred pieces of silver; and it became the inheritance of the children of Joseph.
33And Eleazar, the son of Aaron, died; and they buried him in a hill that belonged to Phinehas, his son, which was given him in Mount Ephraim. Easy Reader Bible: Purple Letter Edition © 2023 by Jim Musser. Used by Permission. All rights Reserved. Bible Hub |
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