Joshua 24

1 And Ioshua assembled againe all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called the Elders of Israel, and their heades, and their iudges, and their officers, and they presented themselues before God.

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.

2 Then Ioshua said vnto all the people, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt beyond the flood in olde time, euen Terah the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor, and serued other gods.

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.

3 And I tooke your father Abraham from beyond the flood, and brought him through all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his seede, and gaue him Izhak.

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.

4 And I gaue vnto Izhak, Iaakob and Esau: and I gaue vnto Esau mount Seir, to possesse it: but Iaakob and his children went downe into Egypt.

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.

5 I sent Moses also and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt: and when I had so done among them, I brought you out.

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

6 So I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and ye came vnto the Sea, and the Egyptians pursued after your fathers with charets and horsemen vnto the red sea.

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.

7 Then they cryed vnto the Lord, and he put a darkenesse betweene you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea vpon them, and couered them: so your eyes haue seene what I haue done in Egypt also ye dwelt in the wildernesse a long season.

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.

8 After, I brought you into the land of the Amorites, which dwelt beyond Iorden, and they fought with you: but I gaue them into your hand, and ye possessed their countrey, and I destroyed them out of your sight.

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.

9 Also Balak the sonne of Zippor King of Moab arose and warred against Israel, and sent to call Balaam the sonne of Beor for to curse you,

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:

10 But I would not heare Balaam: therefore he blessed you, and I deliuered you out of his hand.

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

11 And ye went ouer Iorden, and came vnto Iericho, and the men of Iericho fought against you, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Girgashites, the Hiuites and the Iebusites, and I deliuered them into your hand.

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.

12 And I sent hornets before you, which cast them out before you, euen the two kings of the Amorites, and not with thy sword, nor with thy bow.

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

13 And I haue giuen you a land, wherein ye did not labour, and cities which ye built not, and yee dwell in them, and eate of the vineyards and oliue trees, which yee planted not.

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.

14 Nowe therefore feare the Lord, and serue him in vprightnesse and in trueth, and put away the gods, which your fathers serued beyonde the flood and in Egypt, and serue the Lord.

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.

15 And if it seeme euill vnto you to serue the Lord, choose you this day whome yee will serue, whether the gods which your fathers serued (that were beyond the flood) or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwel: but I and mine house will serue the Lord.

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.

16 Then the people answered and saide, God forbid, that we shoulde forsake the Lord, to serue other gods.

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

17 For the Lord our God, he brought vs and our fathers out of the lande of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and he did those great miracles in our sight, and preserued vs in all the way that we went, and among all the people through whome we came.

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:

18 And the Lord did cast out before vs all the people, euen the Amorites which dwelt in the lande: therefore will we also serue the Lord, for he is our God.

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.

19 And Ioshua saide vnto the people, Ye can not serue the Lord: for he is an holie God: he is a ielous God: hee will not pardon your iniquitie nor your sinnes.

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.

20 If yee forsake the Lord and serue strange gods, then he will returne and bring euill vpon you, and consume you, after that hee hath done you good.

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.

21 And the people saide vnto Ioshua, Nay, but we will serue the Lord.

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

22 And Ioshua saide vnto the people, Yee are witnesses against your selues, that yee haue chosen you the Lord, to serue him: and they sayd, We are witnesses.

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.

23 Then put away nowe, saide he, the strange gods which are among you, and bowe your hearts vnto the Lord God of Israel.

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

24 And ye people saide vnto Ioshua, The Lord our God wil we serue, and his voyce wil we obey.

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

25 So Ioshua made a couenant with the people the same day, and gaue them an ordinance and lawe in Shechem.

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

26 And Ioshua wrote these woordes in the booke of the Lawe of God, and tooke a great stone, and pitched it there vnder an oke that was in the Sanctuarie of the Lord.

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.

27 And Ioshua saide vnto all the people, Beholde, this stone shall be a witnesse vnto vs: for it hath heard all the wordes of the Lord which he spake with vs: it shall be therefore a witnesse against you, lest yee denie your God.

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.

28 Then Ioshua let the people depart, euery man vnto his inheritance.

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

29 And after these things Ioshua the sonne of Nun, the seruaunt of the Lord died, being an hundreth and ten yeeres olde.

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.

30 And they buried him in ye border of his inheritance in Timnath-serah, which is in mount Ephraim, on the Northside of mount Gaash.

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.

31 And Israel serued the Lord all the daies of Ioshua, and all the daies of the Elders that ouerliued Ioshua, and which had knowen all the workes of the Lord that he had done for Israel.

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.

32 And the bones of Ioseph, which the children of Israel brought out of Egypt, buried they in Shechem in a parcell of ground which Iaakob bought of the sonnes of Hamor the father of Shechem, for an hundreth pieces of siluer, and the children of Ioseph had them in their inheritance.

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.

33 Also Eleazar the sonne of Aaron died, whome they buried in the hill of Phinehas his sonne, which was giuen him in mount Ephraim.

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.