Joshua 24

1 Then Joshua got all the tribes of Israel together at Shechem; and he sent for the responsible men of Israel and their chiefs and their judges and their overseers; and they took their place before God.

And Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel to Shechem; and he called for the elders of Israel, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers, and they presented themselves before God.

2 And Joshua said to all the people, These are the words of the Lord, the God of Israel: In the past your fathers, Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nahor, were living on the other side of the River: and they were worshipping other gods.

And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus hath said the Lord the God of Israel, On the other side of the river did your fathers dwell in old time, even Terach, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor; and they served other gods.

3 And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the River, guiding him through all the land of Canaan; I made his offspring great in number, and gave him Isaac.

And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the river, and I led him throughout all the land of Canaan; and I multiplied his seed, and gave him Isaac.

4 And to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau: to Esau I gave Mount Seir, as his heritage; but Jacob and his children went down to Egypt.

And I gave unto Isaac, Jacob and Esau: and I gave unto Esau mount Seir, to possess it; but Jacob and his children went down into Egypt.

5 And I sent Moses and Aaron, troubling Egypt by all the signs I did among them: and after that I took you out.

And I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt in the manner as I have done among them; and after that I brought you out.

6 I took your fathers out of Egypt: and you came to the Red Sea; and the Egyptians came after your fathers to the Red Sea, with their war-carriages and their horsemen.

And I brought your fathers out of Egypt; and ye came unto the sea; and the Egyptians pursued after your fathers with chariots and horsemen unto the Red Sea.

7 And at their cry, the Lord made it dark between you and the Egyptians, and made the sea go over them, covering them with its waters; your eyes have seen what I did in Egypt: then for a long time you were living in the waste land.

And they cried unto the Lord, and he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and he brought the sea over them, and covered them; and your eyes saw what I had done on Egypt; and ye dwelt in the wilderness many days.

8 And I took you into the lands of the Amorites on the other side of Jordan; and they made war on you, and I gave them into your hands and you took their land; and I sent destruction on them before you.

And I brought you into the land of the Emorites, that dwelt on the other side of the Jordan; and they fought with you: and I gave them into your hand, and ye took possession of their land; and I destroyed them from before you.

9 Then Balak, the son of Zippor, king of Moab, went up to war against Israel; and he sent for Balaam, the son of Beor, to put a curse on you:

Then Balak the son of Zippor, the king of Moab, arose and warred against Israel; and he sent and called Bil'am the son of Beor to curse you;

10 But I did not give ear to Balaam; and so he went on blessing you; and I kept you safe from him.

And I would not hearken unto Bil'am; but he had to bless you instead: and I delivered you out of his hand.

11 Then you went over Jordan and came to Jericho: and the men of Jericho made war on you, the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Hivites and the Jebusites: and I gave them up into your hands.

And ye passed over the Jordan, and came unto Jericho; and then fought the men of Jericho against you, the Emorites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites: and I gave them up into your hand.

12 And I sent the hornet before you, driving out the two kings of the Amorites before you, not with your sword and your bow.

And I sent before you the hornet which drove them out from before you, even the two kings of the Emorites: not with thy sword, and not with thy bow.

13 And I gave you a land on which you had done no work, and towns not of your building, and you are now living in them; and your food comes from vine-gardens and olive-gardens not of your planting.

And I gave you a land for which ye had not toiled, and cities which ye had not built, and ye dwell in them; of vineyards and oliveyards which ye planted not do ye eat.

14 So now, go in fear of the Lord, and be his servants with true hearts: put away the gods worshipped by your fathers across the River and in Egypt, and be servants of the Lord.

Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the river and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.

15 And if it seems evil to you to be the servants of the Lord, make the decision this day whose servants you will be: of the gods whose servants your fathers were across the River, or of the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living: but I and my house will be the servants of the Lord.

And if it be displeasing in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom ye will serve: whether the gods which your fathers that were on the other side of the river served, or the gods of the Emorites, in whose land ye dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

16 Then the people in answer said, Never will we give up the Lord to be the servants of other gods;

And the people answered and said, Far be it from us to forsake the Lord, to serve other gods;

17 For it is the Lord our God who has taken us and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, out of the prison-house, and who did all those great signs before our eyes, and kept us safe on all our journeys, and among all the peoples through whom we went:

For the Lord our God it is that hath brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery, and who hath done those great signs before our eyes, and preserved us upon all the way whereon we have gone, and among all the people through the midst of whom we have passed:

18 And the Lord sent out from before us all the peoples, the Amorites living in the land: so we will be the servants of the Lord, for he is our God.

And the Lord hath driven out all the nations, and the Emorites who dwelt in the land, from before us; therefore also will we serve the Lord; for he is our God.

19 And Joshua said to the people, You are not able to be the servants of the Lord, for he is a holy God, a God who will not let his honour be given to another: he will have no mercy on your wrongdoing or your sins.

And Joshua said unto the people, Ye will not be able to serve the Lord; for he is a holy God; he is a watchful God; he will not have any indulgence for your transgressions and for your sins;

20 If you are turned away from the Lord and become the servants of strange gods, then turning against you he will do you evil, cutting you off, after he has done you good.

If ye forsake the Lord, and serve strange gods, then will he again do ye evil, and consume ye, after that he hath done you good.

21 And the people said to Joshua, No! But we will be the servants of the Lord.

And the people said unto Joshua, No; nevertheless the Lord will we serve.

22 And Joshua said to the people, You are witnesses against yourselves that you have made the decision to be the servants of the Lord. And they said, We are witnesses.

And Joshua said unto the people, Ye are witnesses against yourselves that ye yourselves have chosen for you the Lord, to serve him. And they said, We are witnesses.

23 Then, he said, put away the strange gods among you, turning your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.

And now put away the strange gods which are in the midst of you, and incline your heart unto the Lord the God of Israel.

24 And the people said to Joshua, We will be the servants of the Lord our God, and we will give ear to his voice.

And the people said unto Joshua, The Lord our God will we serve, and his voice will we obey.

25 So Joshua made an agreement with the people that day, and gave them a rule and a law in Shechem.

And Joshua made a covenant with the people on that day, and set them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem.

26 And Joshua put these words on record, writing them in the book of the law of God; and he took a great stone, and put it up there under the oak-tree which was in the holy place of the Lord.

And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God; and he took a great stone, and set it up there under the oak, that was by the sanctuary of the Lord.

27 And Joshua said to all the people, See now, this stone is to be a witness against us; for all the words of the Lord have been said to us in its hearing: so it will be a witness against you if you are false to the Lord your God.

And Joshua said unto all the people, Behold, this stone shall be among us as a witness; for it hath heard all the words of the Lord which he spoke unto us: it shall be therefore as a witness against you, that ye may not deny your God.

28 Then Joshua let the people go away, every man to his heritage.

And Joshua let the people depart, every man unto his inheritance.

29 Now after these things, the death of Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, took place, he being then a hundred and ten years old.

And it came to pass after these things, that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, one hundred and ten years old.

30 And they put his body in the earth in the land of his heritage in Timnath-serah, in the hill-country of Ephraim, to the north of Mount Gaash.

And they buried him on the border of his inheritance at Timnath-serach, which is on the mountain of Ephraim, on the north side of mount Ga'ash.

31 And Israel was true to the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the older men who were still living after Joshua's death, and had seen what the Lord had done for Israel.

And Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who lived many days after Joshua, and who had known all the deeds of the Lord, that he had done for Israel.

32 And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel had taken up from Egypt, they put in the earth in Shechem, in the property which Jacob had got from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for a hundred shekels: and they became the heritage of the children of Joseph.

And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel had brought up out of Egypt, they buried in Shechem, in a parcel of the field which Jacob had bought of the sons of Chamor the father of Shechem for one hundred kessitah: and it remained the inheritance of the children of Joseph.

33 Then the death of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, took place; and his body was put in the earth in the hill of Phinehas his son, which had been given to him in the hill-country of Ephraim.

And Elazar the son of Aaron died; and they buried him on the hill of Phinehas his son, which was given him in the mountain of Ephraim.