Joshua 24

1 And Joshua gathered together all the tribes of Israel, unto Shechem, —and called for the elders of Israel, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers, and they presented themselves before God.

[Many years later], Joshua summoned representatives of all the tribes of Israel. He gathered together the elders, the leaders, the judges, and the other officials at Shechem [city]. He told them to listen to what God wanted to tell them.

2 Then said Joshua unto all the people—Thus, saith Yahweh, God of Israel, Beyond the River, dwelt your fathers from age-past times, [unto] Terah, father of Abraham, and father of Nahor, —and they served other gods.

Joshua said to all of them, “This is what Yahweh, the God we Israeli people worship, is saying: ‘Long ago, your ancestors, including Abraham’s father Terah and Abraham’s younger brother Nahor, lived on the east side of the Euphrates River.

3 So I took your father, Abraham, from beyond the River, and led him through all the land of Canaan, —and multiplied his seed, and gave unto him, Isaac;

But I took your ancestor Abraham from that land east of the Euphrates River, and I led him as he lived in various places in this land of Canaan, and I enabled him to have many descendants. First, I enabled him to have a son, Isaac.

4 and gave unto Isaac Jacob and Esau, —and gave unto Esau, Mount Seir, to possess it, but, Jacob and his sons, went down into Egypt.

When Isaac grew up, I enabled him to have twin sons, Jacob and Esau. I enabled Esau to live in the hilly area in Seir region, but many years later Jacob and his sons and their families went down to live in Egypt.

5 Then sent I Moses and Aaron, and plagued Egypt, according to that which I did in their midst, and, afterwards, brought you forth.

“[Many years later], I sent Moses and his older brother Aaron to help your people, and I caused [the people of] Egypt to suffer very much because of what I did there. Then I enabled your ancestors to leave Egypt.

6 Yea I brought forth your fathers, out of Egypt, and ye came unto the sea, and the Egyptians pursued after your fathers, with chariots and with horsemen, unto the Red Sea.

When I brought your ancestors out of Egypt, they came to the Red Sea. The Egyptian army pursued them, some riding in chariots and others on horses, and they also arrived at the Red Sea.

7 So they made outcry unto Yahweh, and he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought in upon them the sea, and covered them, —and your eyes beheld what I did with the Egyptians. And, when ye had remained in the desert many days,

Then [your ancestors] pleaded with me to help them. So he caused (darkness/a very dark cloud) to come between your ancestors and the Egyptian army, so that the Egyptian army could not see your ancestors. I separated the water in the Red Sea so that your ancestors could cross it, but when the Egyptian army tried to cross in the same way to pursue them, I caused the water to come back and cover them, and the Egyptian soldiers all drowned, as your ancestors watched and were amazed [IDM]. But after that, you lived in the desert for many years.

8 then I brought you into the land of the Amorites, who were dwelling over the Jordan, and they fought with you, —then delivered I them into your hand, and ye took possession of their land, so I destroyed them from before you.

“Then I brought your [ancestors] to the area where the groups who were descendants of Amor lived, east of the Jordan River. They fought against you, but I enabled you to defeat them [IDM]. I [enabled you to] destroy them so that you could live in their land [IDM].

9 Then rose up Balak, son of Zippor, king of Moab, and made war with Israel, —and sent and called for Balaam son of Beor, to curse you;

Then, Zippor’s son Balak, the King of Moab, (decided that his army would fight against/opposed) the Israelis. He summoned Beor’s son Balaam and asked him to curse you.

10 but I was not willing to hearken unto Balaam, —so, he kept on blessing, you, and I rescued you out of his hand.

But I would not do what Balaam asked, so he (blessed/said that I would do great things for) you four times, and I did not enable the army of Moab to defeat you [IDM].

11 Then passed ye over the Jordan, and came in unto Jericho, and, when they would have made war with you—even the lords of Jericho—the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Girgashite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, then delivered I them into your hand.

“Then you all crossed the Jordan River and came to Jericho. The people of Jericho prepared to fight against you, [and the armies of] the descendants of Amor, Periz, Canaan, Heth, Girgash, Hiv, and Jebus [all prepared to do the same thing] but I enabled you to defeat [IDM] them all.

12 And I sent before you the hornet, which drave them out from before you, the two kings of the Amorites, —not with thy sword, nor with thy bow.

I am the one who caused them to panic as you advanced and enabled you to defeat them, as I had enabled you to do earlier to the two kings of the groups who were descendants of Amor. You did not defeat them by using your own bows and arrows and swords; [it was I who defeated them].

13 Thus I gave unto you a land on which thou hadst not laboured, and cities which ye had not built, and ye proceeded to dwell therein, —of vineyards and oliveyards, which ye planted not, ye are eating.

So I gave you a land that you had not tilled/planted, and I gave you cities that you did not build. [Now] you live in those [cities] and you eat the grapes from the grapevines that you did not plant, and you eat olives from trees that you did not plant.’”

14 Now, therefore, revere ye Yahweh, and serve him, in sincerity and in truth, —and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River, and in Egypt, and serve ye Yahweh.

[Then Joshua said to the people], “[Because of all that] Yahweh [has done for you], revere him, and serve/worship him very faithfully. Throw away the idols that your ancestors worshiped on the east/other side of the Euphrates River and in Egypt. Serve only Yahweh.

15 But, if it be, a vexation, in your eyes, to serve Yahweh, choose ye for yourselves, to-day, whom ye will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served, that were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye are dwelling, —but, I and my house, will serve Yahweh.

But if you do not want to serve/worship Yahweh, you should decide today what [gods] you will serve/worship. You should decide whether you will serve/worship the gods that your ancestors who lived on the other/east side of the Euphrates River served, or whether you will serve/worship the gods that the descendants of Amor, who previously lived in the land where you are now living, [serve/worship]. But as for me and my family [MTY], we will serve/worship Yahweh!”

16 Then responded the people, and said, Far be it from us, that we should forsake Yahweh, —to serve other gods;

The Israeli people answered, “We will never quit [serving/worshiping] Yahweh! We would never [think of] [IDM] serving/worshiping other gods!

17 for, as for Yahweh our God, he, brought up both us and our fathers, out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of servants, —and who did before our eyes, these great signs, and preserved us throughout all the way wherein we journeyed, and among all the peoples through the midst of whom we passed;

It was our God, Yahweh, who brought our parents and grandparents up out of Egypt. [He rescued them] from that land where they were slaves. As he rescued them, they saw him perform great miracles. He protected them all the time when they were traveling. He protected them from all the people-groups through whose territory they traveled.

18 then did Yahweh drive out all the peoples, even the Amorites were dwelling in the land, from before us, —we too, will serve Yahweh, for, he, is our God.

As our forefathers advanced, Yahweh expelled the descendants of Amor and the other people-groups who lived in this land. Yahweh is our God, so [we are saying that] we also will serve/worship him.”

19 Then said Joshua unto the people—Ye cannot serve Yahweh, for, a holy God, he is, a jealous GOD, he is, he will not forgive your transgression, nor your sins.

Joshua replied to the people, “[I think that] you are not able to serve/worship Yahweh, because he is a holy God. He will not forgive your sinning and rebelling [against him]. He demands that you serve/worship only him [IDM].

20 When ye forsake Yahweh, and serve the gods of a stranger, then will he turn, and inflict on you calamity, and consume you, after that he hath dealt well with you.

He has been good to you [in the past], but if you turn away from him and serve/worship foreign/other gods, he will turn [against you] and he will cause you to experience disasters. He will punish [IDM] you severely!”

21 But the people said unto Joshua, —Nay! but, Yahweh, will we serve.

But the people replied to Joshua, “No, [we will not turn away from worshiping/serving Yahweh] We will serve/worship Yahweh!”

22 Then said Joshua unto the people—Witnesses, are ye, against yourselves, that, ye yourselves, have chosen you Yahweh, to serve him. And they said: Witnesses!

Then Joshua said, “You yourselves are saying that you have decided to serve/worship Yahweh.” They replied, “Yes, we are saying that.”

23 Now, therefore, put ye away the gods of the stranger, that are in your midst, —and incline your heart unto Yahweh, God of Israel.

Then Joshua said, “Since [you have decided] that, you must throw away all the other gods/idols that you have among you. You must also promise that you will wholeheartedly give yourselves to Yahweh, the God whom we Israelis [serve/worship].”

24 And the people said unto Joshua, —Yahweh our God, will we serve, and, unto his voice, will we hearken.

The people replied, “We will serve/worship Yahweh, our God, and obey him.”

25 So then Joshua solemnised a covenant for the people, on that day, —and set for them a statute and a regulation, in Shechem.

That day, Joshua established an agreement between the people and Yahweh. He wrote for them all the laws that they were required to obey.

26 And Joshua wrote these words in the scroll of the law of God, —and took a great stone, and set it up there, under the oak that was by the sanctuary of Yahweh.

He wrote all those laws on a scroll. He called it ‘The laws of God’. Then he [told some men to] set up a large stone there at Shechem, under the [large] oak tree near the place where [they worshiped] Yahweh.

27 And Joshua said unto all the people—Lo! this stone, shall serve against us as a witness, for, it, hath heard all the sayings of Yahweh, which he hath spoken with us, —so shall it serve against you as a witness, lest ye should act deceptively against your God.

He said to all the people, “Look! [It is as though] this stone has heard everything that Yahweh said to you [and that you promised Yahweh]. It will serve as a witness against you if you rebel against your God!”

28 And Joshua sent the people away, every man unto his inheritance.

Then Joshua sent the people away, and all of them returned to their own areas/homes.

29 And it came to pass, after these things, that Joshua son of Nun, servant of Yahweh, died, being a hundred and ten years old.

Some time after that, Nun’s son Joshua, the faithful servant of Yahweh, died. He was 110 years old when he died.

30 And they buried him within the bounds of his own inheritance, in Timnath-serah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, on the north of Mount Gaash.

The Israeli people buried his body on his own property in Timnath-Serah [town] town. It is north of Gaash Mountain in the hilly area of the tribe who were descendants of Ephraim.

31 So then Israel served Yahweh all the days of Joshua, —and all the days of the elders who prolonged their days after Joshua, and who had known all the work of Yahweh, which he had wrought for Israel.

The Israeli people served/worshiped Yahweh as long as Joshua was alive. After Joshua died, they continued serving/worshiping Yahweh while the elders who had experienced everything that Yahweh had done for the Israeli people were still alive.

32 And, the bones of Joseph—which the sons of Israel had brought up out of Egypt, buried they in Shechem, in the portion of field, which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor, father of Shechem, for a hundred pieces of money, —and they belonged unto the sons of Joseph, as an inheritance.

Joseph’s bones, which the Israeli people had brought with them from Egypt, were also buried at Shechem. The people buried them in the piece of land that Jacob had bought long ago for 100 pieces of silver from Hamor, the father of Shechem. That piece of land was in the area that was given to the people who were descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh, Joseph’s sons.

33 And, Eleazar son of Aaron, died, —and they buried him in the hill of Phinehas his son, which was given to him, in the hill country of Ephraim.

Eleazar, the Supreme Priest, the son of Aaron, also died. They buried his body at Gibeah, in the area that had been given to Eleazar’s son Phinehas, in the hilly area that belonged to the people who were descendants of Ephraim.