Joshua 24
24
1Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel together at Shechem. He called the elders, heads of families, judges, and officers of Israel to stand before God.
2Then Joshua said to all the people, “Here’s what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to you: ‘A long time ago your ancestors lived on the other side of the Euphrates River. Terah, the father of Abraham and Nahor, worshiped other gods. 3But I, the Lord, took your ancestor Abraham from the other side of the river and led him through the land of Canaan. And I gave him many children, including his son Isaac. 4I gave Isaac two sons named Jacob and Esau. I gave the land around the mountains of Edom to Esau, but Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt. 5Then I sent Moses and Aaron to Egypt, where I brought many disasters on the Egyptians. Afterwards I brought you out. 6When I brought your ancestors out of Egypt, they came to the Red Sea, and the Egyptians chased them with chariots and men on horses. 7So the people called out to the Lord. And I brought darkness between you and the Egyptians and made the sea to cover them. You yourselves saw what I did to the army of Egypt. After that, you lived in the desert for a long time.
8“ ‘Then I brought you to the land of the Amorites, east of the Jordan River. They fought against you, but I handed them over to you. I destroyed them before you, and you took control of that land. 9But the king of Moab, Balak son of Zippor, prepared to fight against the Israelites. The king sent for Balaam son of Beor to curse you, 10but I refused to listen to Balaam. So he asked for good things to happen to you! I saved you and brought you out of his power.
11“ ‘Then you crossed the Jordan River and came to Jericho, where the people of Jericho fought against you. Also, the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites, and Jebusites fought against you. But I handed them over to you. 12I sent terror ahead of you to force out two Amorite kings. You took the land without using swords and bows. 13I gave you that land where you did not have to work. I gave you cities that you did not have to build. And now you live in that land and in those cities, and you eat from vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant.’ ”
14Then Joshua said to the people, “Now respect the Lord and serve him fully and sincerely. Throw away the gods that your ancestors worshiped on the other side of the Euphrates River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord. 15But if you don’t want to serve the Lord, you must choose for yourselves today whom you will serve. You may serve the gods that your ancestors worshiped when they lived on the other side of the Euphrates River, or you may serve the gods of the Amorites who lived in this land. As for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.”
16Then the people answered, “We will never stop following the Lord to serve other gods! 17It was the Lord our God who brought our ancestors out of Egypt. We were slaves in that land, but the Lord did great things for us there. He brought us out and protected us while we traveled through other lands. 18Then he forced out all the people living in these lands, even the Amorites. So we will serve the Lord, because he is our God.”
19Then Joshua said, “You are not able to serve the Lord, because he is a holy God and a jealous God. If you turn against him and sin, he will not forgive you. 20If you leave the Lord and serve other gods, he will send you great trouble. The Lord may have been good to you, but if you turn against him, he will destroy you.”
21But the people said to Joshua, “No! We will serve the Lord.”
22Then Joshua said, “You are your own witnesses that you have chosen to serve the Lord.”
The people said, “Yes, we are.”
23Then Joshua said, “Now throw away the gods that you have. Love the Lord, the God of Israel, with all your heart.”
24Then the people said to Joshua, “We will serve the Lord our God, and we will obey him.”
25On that day at Shechem Joshua made an agreement for the people. He made rules and laws for them to follow. 26Joshua wrote these things in the Book of the Teachings of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up under the oak tree near the Lord’s Holy Tent.
27Joshua said to all the people, “See this stone! It will remind you of what we did today. It was here the Lord spoke to us today. It will remind you of what happened so you will not turn against your God.”
Joshua Dies
28Then Joshua sent the people back to their land.
29After that, Joshua son of Nun died at the age of one hundred ten. 30They buried him in his own land at Timnath Serah, in the mountains of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
31The Israelites served the Lord during the lifetime of Joshua and during the lifetimes of the elders who lived after Joshua who had seen what the Lord had done for Israel.
Joseph Comes Home
32When the Israelites left Egypt, they carried the bones of Joseph with them. They buried them at Shechem, in the land Jacob had bought for a hundred pieces of silver from the sons of Hamor (Hamor was the father of Shechem). This land now belonged to Joseph’s children.
33And Eleazar son of Aaron died and was buried at Gibeah in the mountains of Ephraim, which had been given to Eleazar’s son Phinehas.
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Joshua 24: NCV
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The Holy Bible, New Century Version, Copyright © 2005 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Joshua 24
24
Joshua 24
1¶ And Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem and called for the elders of Israel and for their princes and for their judges and for their officers, and they presented themselves before God.
2And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Long ago your fathers dwelt on the other side of the river, even Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nachor, and they served other gods.
3And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the river and led him throughout all the land of Canaan and multiplied his generation and gave him Isaac.
4And to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau, and to Esau I gave Mount Seir to possess it; but Jacob and his sons went down into Egypt.
5I sent Moses also and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt, according to that which I did among them; and afterward I brought you out.
6And I brought your fathers out of Egypt; and when ye came to the sea, the Egyptians pursued after your fathers with chariots and horsemen unto the Red Sea.
7And when they cried unto the Lord, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians and brought the sea upon them and covered them; and your eyes have seen what I have done in Egypt; and ye dwelt in the wilderness a long season.
8And I brought you into the land of the Amorites, who dwelt on the other side of the Jordan, and they fought with you, but I delivered them into your hands that ye might possess their land, and I destroyed them from before you.
9Then Balak, the son of Zippor, king of the Moabites, arose and warred against Israel and sent and called Balaam, the son of Beor, to curse you.
10But I would not hearken unto Balaam; to the contrary, he blessed you repeatedly, and I delivered you out of his hand.
11And ye passed the Jordan and came to Jericho; and the lords of Jericho fought against you: the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; and I delivered them into your hands.
12And I sent hornets before you, which drove them out from before you, even the two kings of the Amorites, but not with thy sword, nor with thy bow.
13And I have given you a land for which ye did not labour and cities which ye did not build, and ye dwell in them and eat of vineyards and oliveyards which ye did not plant.
14Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in perfection and in truth and put away from among you the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the river and in Egypt, and serve ye the Lord.
15¶ And if it seems evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye 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 ye dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
16Then the people answered and said, May it never happen that we should forsake the Lord, to serve other gods.
17For the Lord our God, he it is that brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt from the house of slavery and who did those great signs in our sight and has kept us in all the way in which we went and among all the peoples through whom we passed.
18And the Lord drove out from before us all the peoples, even the Amorites which dwelt in the land; therefore, will we also serve the Lord, for he is our God.
19Then Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the Lord, for he is a holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not allow your rebellions nor your sins.
20If ye forsake the Lord and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt and consume you, after he has done you good.
21And the people said unto Joshua, No, but we will serve the Lord.
22And Joshua said unto the people, Ye shall be witnesses against yourselves that ye have chosen the Lord, to serve him. And they said, We shall be witnesses.
23Now, therefore, take away, the strange gods which are among you and incline your heart unto the Lord God of Israel.
24And the people replied unto Joshua, We will serve the Lord our God and hear his voice.
25So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day and set them statutes and laws in Shechem.
26And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God, and taking a great stone, he set it up there under an oak that was in the sanctuary of the Lord.
27And Joshua said unto all the people, Behold, this stone shall be a witness unto us, for it has heard all the words of the Lord which he spoke unto us: it shall be, therefore, a witness unto you lest ye deny your God.
28So Joshua sent the people, each one unto his inheritance.
29¶ And after these things, Joshua, the son of Nun, the slave of the Lord, died, being one hundred and ten years old.
30And they buried him within the border of his inheritance in Timnathserah, which is in Mount Ephraim, on the north side of the Mountain of Gaash.
31And Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua and who had known all the works of the Lord that he had done with Israel.
32And the bones of Joseph, which the sons of Israel had brought up out of Egypt, they buried in Shechem in the part of the field which Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for one hundred ewes, and it became the inheritance of the sons of Joseph.
33And Eleazar, the son of Aaron, died, and they buried him in the hill of Phinehas, his son, which was given to him in the mountain of Ephraim.
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The Jubilee Bible 2000 (JUB) by Ransom Press International