Joshua 24
24
The Covenant at Shechem
1Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to #Gen. 35:4Shechem and #Josh. 23:2called for the elders of Israel, for their heads, for their judges, and for their officers; and they #1 Sam. 10:19presented themselves before God. 2And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: #Gen. 11:7–32‘Your fathers, including Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, dwelt on the other side of the River in old times; and #Josh. 24:14they served other gods. 3#Gen. 12:1; Acts 7:2, 3Then I took your father Abraham from the other side of the River, led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his descendants and #Gen. 21:1–8; (Ps. 127:3)gave him Isaac. 4To Isaac I gave #Gen. 25:24–26Jacob and Esau. To #Gen. 36:8; Deut. 2:5Esau I gave the mountains of Seir to possess, #Gen. 46:1, 3, 6but Jacob and his children went down to Egypt. 5#Ex. 3:10Also I sent Moses and Aaron, and #Ex. 7—10I plagued Egypt, according to what I did among them. Afterward I brought you out.
6‘Then I #Ex. 12:37, 51; 14:2–31brought 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. 7So they cried out to the Lord; and He put #Ex. 14:20darkness between you and the Egyptians, brought the sea upon them, and covered them. And #Deut. 4:34your eyes saw what I did in Egypt. Then you dwelt in the wilderness #Josh. 5:6a long time. 8And I brought you into the land of the Amorites, who dwelt on the other side of the Jordan, #Num. 21:21–35and they fought with you. But I gave them into your hand, that you might possess their land, and I destroyed them from before you. 9Then #Judg. 11:25Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose to make war against Israel, and #Num. 22:2–14sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you. 10#Deut. 23:5But I would not listen to Balaam; #Num. 23:11, 20; 24:10therefore he continued to bless you. So I delivered you out of his hand. 11Then #Josh. 3:14, 17you went over the Jordan and came to Jericho. And #Josh. 6:1; 10:1the men of Jericho fought against you—also the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. But I delivered them into your hand. 12#Ex. 23:28; Deut. 7:20I sent the hornet before you which drove them out from before you, also the two kings of the Amorites, but #Ps. 44:3not with your sword or with your bow. 13I have given you a land for which you did not labor, and #Deut. 6:10, 11cities which you did not build, and you dwell in them; you eat of the vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.’
14#Deut. 10:12, 13; 1 Sam. 12:24“Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in #2 Cor. 1:12sincerity and in truth, and #Josh. 24:2, 23; Ezek. 20:18put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and #Ezek. 20:7, 8in Egypt. Serve the Lord! 15And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, #Ruth 1:15; 1 Kin. 18:21choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether #Josh. 24:2; Ezek. 20:39the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or #Ex. 23:24, 32the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. #Gen. 18:19; Ps. 101:2; (1 Tim. 3:4, 5)But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
16So the people answered and said: “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods; 17for the Lord our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way that we went and among all the people through whom we passed. 18And the Lord drove out from before us all the people, including the Amorites who dwelt in the land. #Ps. 116:16We also will serve the Lord, for He is our God.”
19But Joshua said to the people, #Matt. 6:24“You cannot serve the Lord, for He is a #Lev. 11:44, 45; 1 Sam. 6:20holy God. He is #Ex. 20:5a jealous God; #Ex. 23:21He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. 20#1 Chr. 28:9; Ezra 8:22; Is. 1:28; 63:10; 65:11, 12; Jer. 17:13If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, #Deut. 4:24–26; Josh. 23:15then He will turn and do you harm and consume you, after He has done you good.”
21And the people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve the Lord!”
22So Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that #Ps. 119:173you have chosen the Lord for yourselves, to serve Him.”
And they said, “We are witnesses!”
23“Now therefore,” he said, #Gen. 35:2; Josh. 24:14; Judg. 10:15, 16; 1 Sam. 7:3“put away the foreign gods which are among you, and #1 Kin. 8:57, 58; Ps. 119:36; 141:4incline your heart to the Lord God of Israel.”
24And the people #Ex. 19:8; 24:3, 7; Deut. 5:24–27said to Joshua, “The Lord our God we will serve, and His voice we will obey!”
25So Joshua #Ex. 15:25made a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and an ordinance #Josh. 24:1in Shechem.
26Then Joshua #Deut. 31:24wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God. And he took #Judg. 9:6a large stone, and #Gen. 28:18set it up there #Gen. 35:4under the oak that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. 27And Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, this stone shall be #Gen. 31:48a witness to us, for #Deut. 32:1it has heard all the words of the Lord which He spoke to us. It shall therefore be a witness to you, lest you deny your God.” 28So #Judg. 2:6, 7Joshua let the people depart, each to his own inheritance.
Death of Joshua and Eleazar
29#Judg. 2:8Now it came to pass after these things that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being one hundred and ten years old. 30And they buried him within the border of his inheritance at #Josh. 19:50; Judg. 2:9Timnath Serah, which is in the mountains of Ephraim, on the north side of Mount Gaash.
31#Judg. 2:7Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had #Deut. 11:2known all the works of the Lord which He had done for Israel.
32#Gen. 50:25; Ex. 13:19; Heb. 11:22The bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel had brought up out of Egypt, they buried at Shechem, in the plot of ground #Gen. 33:19; John 4:5which Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for one hundred pieces of silver, and which had become an inheritance of the children of Joseph.
33And #Ex. 28:1; Num. 20:28; Josh. 14:1Eleazar the son of Aaron died. They buried him in a hill belonging to #Ex. 6:25Phinehas his son, which was given to him in the mountains of Ephraim.
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Joshua 24: NKJV
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
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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The Holy Bible, New Century Version, Copyright © 2005 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.