Chapter 24
1 Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem , and called for the elders of Israel , for their heads , for their judges , and for their officers ; and they presented themselves before God.
2 Joshua said to all the people , " The LORD , the God of Israel , says , ‘ Your fathers lived of old time beyond the River , even Terah , the father of Abraham, and the father of Nahor . They served other gods.
3 I took your father Abraham from beyond the River , and led him throughout all the land of Canaan , and multiplied his offspring , and gave him Isaac .
4 I gave to Isaac Jacob and Esau : and I gave to Esau Mount Seir , to possess it . Jacob and his children went down into Egypt .
5 "‘ I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt , according to that which I did amongst them : and afterward I brought you out .
6 I brought your fathers out of Egypt : and you came to the sea . The Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and with horsemen to the Red Sea .
7 When they cried out to the LORD , he put darkness between you and the Egyptians , and brought the sea on them , and covered them ; and your eyes saw what I did in Egypt . You lived in the wilderness many days .
8 "‘ I brought you into the land of the Amorites, that lived beyond the Jordan . They fought with you , and I gave them into your hand . You 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 . He sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you ,
10 but I would not listen to Balaam ; therefore he blessed you still . So I delivered you out of his hand .
11 "‘ You went over the Jordan , and came to Jericho . The men of Jericho fought against you , the Amorite, the Perizzite , the Canaanite , the Hittite , the Girgashite , the Hivite , and the Jebusite ; and I delivered them into your hand .
12 I sent the hornet before you , which drove them out from before you , even the two kings of the Amorites; not with your sword , nor with your bow .
13 I gave you a land on which you had not laboured , and cities which you didn’t build , and you live in them . You eat of vineyards and olive groves which you didn’t plant .’
14 " Now therefore fear the LORD , and serve him in sincerity and in truth. Put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River , in Egypt ; and serve the LORD .
15 If it seems evil to you to serve the LORD , choose today whom you will serve ; whether the gods which your fathers served that were beyond the River , or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell ; but as for me and my house , we will serve the LORD ."
16 The people answered , " Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD , to serve other gods;
17 for it is the LORD our God who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt , from the house of bondage , and who did those great signs in our sight , and preserved us in all the way in which we went , and amongst all the peoples through the middle of whom we passed .
18 The LORD drove out from before us all the peoples , even the Amorites who lived in the land . Therefore we also will serve the LORD ; for he is our God ."
19 Joshua said to the people , " You can ’t serve the LORD , for he is a holy God . He is a jealous God . He will not forgive your disobedience nor your sins .
20 If you forsake the LORD , and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you evil , and consume you , after he has done you good ."
21 The people said to Joshua , " No , but we will serve the LORD ."
22 Joshua said to the people , " You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the LORD yourselves , to serve him ." They said, " We are witnesses ."
23 " Now therefore put away the foreign gods which are amongst you , and incline your heart to the LORD , the God of Israel ."
24 The people said to Joshua , " We will serve the LORD our God , and we will listen to his voice ."
25 So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day , and made for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem .
26 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 Joshua said to all the people , " Behold , this stone shall be a witness against us , for it has heard all the LORD ’s words which he spoke to us . It shall be therefore a witness against you , lest you deny your God ."
28 So Joshua sent the people away , each to his own inheritance .
29 After these things , Joshua the son of Nun , the servant of the LORD , died , being one hundred and ten years old .
30 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 Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua , and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua , and had known all the work of the LORD , that he had worked for Israel .
32 They buried the bones of Joseph , which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt , in Shechem , in the parcel of ground which Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred pieces of silver . They became the inheritance of the children of Joseph .
33 Eleazar the son of Aaron died . They buried him in the hill of Phinehas his son , which was given him in the hill country of Ephraim.