Joshua Reviews Israel’s History
24 Then 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; they presented themselves before God. 2 Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘Your fathers, including Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, lived beyond the [Euphrates] River in ancient times; and they served other gods. 3 Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the [Euphrates] River and led him through all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his descendants, and I gave him Isaac. 4 To Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau, and to Esau I gave [the hill country of] Mount Seir to possess; but Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt. 5 Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt by what I did in its midst; and afterward I brought you out. 6 Then I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and you came to the sea; and the Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea. 7 When they cried out to the Lord [for help], He put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them and covered them; and your own eyes saw what I did in Egypt. And you lived in the wilderness [a]a long time (forty years).(A) 8 Then I brought you into the land of the Amorites who lived on the other side of the Jordan, and they fought with you; and I gave them into your hand, and you took possession of their land and I destroyed them 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 listen to Balaam. Therefore he had to bless you, so I saved you from Balak’s hand.(B) 11 You crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho; and the citizens of Jericho fought against you, as did the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Girgashite, the Hivite and the Jebusite; and so I gave them into your hand. 12 I sent the hornet [that is, the terror of you] before you, which drove the two kings of the Amorites out before you; but it was not by your sword or by your bow.(C) 13 I gave you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you did not build, and you live in them; you eat from vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.’
14 “Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and in truth; remove the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the [Euphrates] River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 If it is unacceptable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
16 The people answered, “Far be it from us to abandon (reject) the Lord to serve other gods; 17 for the Lord our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and who did these great signs (miracles) in our sight and kept us safe all along the way that we went and among all the peoples among whom we passed. 18 The Lord drove all the peoples out from before us, even the Amorites who lived in the land. We also will serve the Lord, for He is our God.”
19 Then Joshua said to the people, “You will not be able to serve the Lord [if you serve any other gods], for He is a holy God; He is a [b]jealous God [demanding what is rightfully and uniquely His]. He will not forgive your transgression [of His law] or your sins. 20 If you do abandon (reject) the Lord and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume and destroy you after He has done you good.” 21 The people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve [only] the Lord.” 22 Joshua then said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen for yourselves the Lord, to serve Him.” And they said, “We are witnesses.” 23 “Now then, remove the foreign gods which are among you, and incline your hearts toward the Lord, the God of Israel.” 24 The people said to Joshua, “We will serve the Lord our God and we will listen to and obey His voice.” 25 So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and an ordinance at Shechem. 26 And Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak that was in [the courtyard of] the sanctuary of the Lord. 27 Joshua then said to all the people, “Look, this stone shall serve as a witness against us, for it has heard all the words of the Lord which He spoke to us; so it shall be a witness against you, so that [afterward] you do not deny your God.” 28 Then Joshua sent the people away, each to [the territory of] his inheritance.
Joshua’s Death and Burial
29 It happened after these things that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, at the age of a hundred and ten years. 30 They buried him in the territory of his inheritance in Timnath-serah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, on the north side of Mount 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 works of the Lord which He had done for Israel.
32 Now they buried the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up from Egypt, at Shechem, in the plot of land which Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred pieces of money; and it became the inheritance of the sons of Joseph. 33 And Eleazar [the priest], the son of Aaron died; and they buried him at Gibeah [on the hill] of Phinehas his son, which had been given to him in the hill country of Ephraim.
Footnotes
- Joshua 24:7 Lit many days.
- Joshua 24:19 I.e. intolerant of unfaithfulness.