B.
Joshua's parting word to all the tribes of Israel with their elders, heads, judges, and officers
24:1-33
Josh. 24
:1
24:1
Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel together at 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.
Josh. 24
:2
24:2
And Joshua said to all the people, Thus says Jehovah the God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt across the
1River long ago,
aTerah the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor; and they served other gods.
Josh. 24
:3
24:3
And I took your father
aAbraham from across the River and brought him throughout all the land of
bCanaan; and I multiplied his seed and gave him
cIsaac.
Josh. 24
:4
24:4
And I gave
aJacob and Esau to Isaac. And I gave
bMount Seir to Esau, that he might possess it; but Jacob and his sons went down into
cEgypt.
Josh. 24
:5
24:5
And I
asent Moses and Aaron, and I
bplagued Egypt by what I did in the midst of it; and afterward I
cbrought you out.
Josh. 24
:6
24:6
And I brought your fathers out from Egypt, and you came to the
asea; and the Egyptians
bpursued after your fathers with chariots and with horsemen unto the Red Sea.
Josh. 24
:7
24:7
And when they
acried out to Jehovah, He put deep
bdarkness between you and the Egyptians; and He brought the sea upon them and
ccovered them. And your eyes saw what I did to Egypt. And you dwelt in the
dwilderness for many days.
Josh. 24
:8
24:8
And I brought you into the
aland of the Amorites, who dwelt beyond the Jordan, and they fought with you. And I gave them into your hand, and you possessed their land; and I destroyed them before you.
Josh. 24
:9
24:9
Then aBalak the son of Zippor, the king of Moab, rose up and fought against Israel; and he sent
men and called for
bBalaam the son of Beor to curse you.
Josh. 24
:10
24:10
But I would not listen to Balaam; therefore he altogether
ablessed you, and I delivered you out of his hand.
Josh. 24
:11
24:11
And you
acrossed over the Jordan and came to
bJericho; and the lords of Jericho fought against you,
and also the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites
and the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Hivites and the Jebusites; and I gave them into your hand.
Josh. 24
:12
24:12
And I sent the
ahornet before you, and it drove them out from before you,
that is, the two kings of the Amorites;
it was not by your
bsword or by your bow.
Josh. 24
:13
24:13
And I gave you a land on which you had not labored, and cities which you did not
abuild, and you dwell in them; you eat of vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.
Josh. 24
:14
24:14
Now therefore fear Jehovah, and
aserve Him in sincerity and faithfulness; and put away the gods whom your fathers served across the River and in Egypt, and serve Jehovah.
Josh. 24
:15
24:15
And aif it seems wrong in your sight to serve Jehovah, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve, either the gods
from across the River, whom your fathers served, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But
bas for me and my house, we will serve Jehovah.
Josh. 24
:16
24:16
And the people answered and said, Far be it from us that we would forsake Jehovah to serve other gods;
Josh. 24
:17
24:17
For Jehovah our God is the One who brought us and our fathers out from the land of Egypt, from the
aslave house, and who did those great signs in our sight and preserved us in all the way that we went and among all the peoples through whose midst we passed;
Josh. 24
:18
24:18
And Jehovah
adrove out all the peoples from before us, that is, the Amorites who inhabit the land. We also will serve Jehovah, for He is our God.
Josh. 24
:19
24:19
Then Joshua said to the people, You are not able to serve Jehovah, for He is a
aholy God. He is a
bjealous God; He will not forgive your transgression or your sins.
Josh. 24
:20
24:20
If you forsake Jehovah and serve foreign gods, He will turn and do you harm and consume you after He has done good to you.
Josh. 24
:21
24:21
And the people said to Joshua, No; but we will serve Jehovah.
Josh. 24
:22
24:22
Then Joshua said to the people, You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen Jehovah on your own, to serve Him. And they said,
We are witnesses.
Josh. 24
:23
24:23
Now therefore
aput away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your hearts to Jehovah the God of Israel.
Josh. 24
:24
24:24
And the people said to Joshua, Jehovah our God we will serve, and to His voice we will listen.
Josh. 24
:25
24:25
So Joshua made a
acovenant for the people that day, and he made a statute and an ordinance for them in Shechem.
Josh. 24
:26
24:26
And Joshua
awrote these words in the book of the law of God, and he took a great
bstone and erected it there under the terebinth that was at the sanctuary of Jehovah.
Josh. 24
:27
24:27
And Joshua said to all the people, This stone here shall be as a
awitness against us; for it has heard all the words of Jehovah, which He has spoken to us; and it shall be as a witness against you, lest you act deceptively against your God.
Josh. 24
:28
24:28
Then Joshua sent the people away, each to his own inheritance.
Josh. 24
:29
24:29
aAnd after these things Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Jehovah, died at the age of one hundred and ten years.
Josh. 24
:30
24:30
And they buried him in the territory of his inheritance, in Timnath-serah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
Josh. 24
:31
24:31
aAnd Israel served Jehovah throughout all the days of Joshua and throughout all the days of the elders whose days extended after Joshua’s and who knew all the work of Jehovah that He had done for Israel.
Josh. 24
:32
24:32
And Joseph’s
abones, which the children of Israel had brought up from Egypt, were buried in Shechem, in the portion of the field that Jacob had
bbought from the children of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred pieces of money; and
1it became the
cinheritance of the children of Joseph.
Josh. 24
:33
24:33
And aEleazar the son of Aaron died; and they buried him in
1the hill of Phinehas his son, which had been given to him in the hill country of Ephraim.