| 1 And Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to 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. 2 And
Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, Your
fathers dwelt of old time beyond the River, even Terah, the father of
Abraham, and the father of Nahor: and they served other gods. 3 And I took
your father Abraham from beyond the River, and led him throughout all the
land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed, and gave him Isaac. 4 And I gave
unto Isaac Jacob and Esau: and I gave unto Esau mount Seir, to possess it:
and Jacob and his children went down into Egypt. 5 And I sent Moses and
Aaron, and I plagued Egypt, according to that which I did in the midst
thereof: and afterward I brought you out. 6 And I brought 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. 7 And when they
cried out unto Jehovah, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and
brought the sea upon them, and covered them; and your eyes saw what I did in
Egypt: and ye dwelt in the wilderness many days. 8 And I brought you into
the land of the Amorites, that dwelt beyond the Jordan: and they fought with
you; and I gave them into your hand, and ye possessed their land; and I
destroyed them from before you. 9 Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of
Moab, arose and fought against Israel: and he sent and called Balaam the son
of Beor to curse you; 10 but I would not hearken unto Balaam; therefore he
blessed you still: so I delivered you out of his hand. 11 And ye went over
the Jordan, and came unto Jericho: and the men of Jericho fought against you,
the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the
Girgashite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite; and I delivered them into your
hand. 12 And I sent the hornet before you, which drove them out from
before you, even the two kings of the Amorites; not with thy sword, nor with
thy bow. 13 And I gave you a land whereon thou hadst not labored, and
cities which ye built not, and ye dwell therein; of vineyards and oliveyards
which ye planted not do ye eat.
14 Now therefore fear Jehovah, 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 Jehovah. 15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve
Jehovah, choose you this 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 dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve Jehovah.
16 And the people answered and said, Far be it from us that we should
forsake Jehovah, to serve other gods; 17 for Jehovah our God, he it is
that brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house
of bondage, and that did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in
all the way wherein we went, and among all the peoples through the midst of
whom we passed; 18 and Jehovah drove out from before us all the peoples,
even the Amorites that dwelt in the land: therefore we also will serve
Jehovah; for he is our God.
19 And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve Jehovah; for he is a
holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgression nor
your sins. 20 If ye forsake Jehovah, and serve foreign gods, then he will
turn and do you evil, and consume you, after that he hath done you good.
21 And the people said unto Joshua, Nay; but we will serve Jehovah.
22 And Joshua said unto the people, Ye are witnesses against yourselves
that ye have chosen you Jehovah, 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 Jehovah, the God of Israel.
24 And the people said unto Joshua, Jehovah our God will we serve, and
unto his voice will we hearken. 25 So Joshua made a covenant with the
people that day, and set them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem.
26 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
Jehovah. 27 And Joshua said unto all the people, Behold, this stone shall
be a witness against us; for it hath heard all the words of Jehovah which he
spake unto us: it shall be therefore a witness against you, lest ye deny your
God. 28 So Joshua sent the people away, every man unto his inheritance.
29 And it came to pass after these things, that Joshua the son of Nun, the
servant of Jehovah, died, being a hundred and ten years old. 30 And they
buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnathserah, which is in the
hill-country of Ephraim, on the north of the mountain of Gaash. 31 And
Israel served Jehovah all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders
that outlived Joshua, and had known all the work of Jehovah, that he had
wrought for Israel.
32 And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of
Egypt, buried they in Shechem, in the parcel of ground which Jacob bought of
the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred pieces of money: and
they became the inheritance of the children of Joseph. 33 And Eleazar the
son of Aaron died; and they buried him in the hill of Phinehas his son, which
was given him in the hill-country of Ephraim.
Genesis - Public
Domain
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