1 Then AJosh 23:2Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel and for their heads and their judges and their officers; and they presented themselves before God. 2 Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the Loʀᴅ, the God of Israel, ‘From ancient times your fathers lived beyond the 1I.e. EuphratesRiver, namely, AGen 11:27-32Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods. 3  ‘Then AGen 12:1; 24:7I took your father Abraham from beyond the 1I.e. EuphratesRiver, and led him through all the land of Canaan, and BGen 15:5multiplied his 2Lit seeddescendants and gave him CGen 21:3Isaac. 4  ‘To Isaac I gave AGen 25:25, 26Jacob and Esau, and BGen 36:8; Deut 2:5to Esau I gave Mount Seir to possess it; but CGen 46:6, 7Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt. 5  ‘Then AEx 4:14-17I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt 1Lit according toby what I did in its midst; and afterward I brought you out. 6  ‘I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and AEx 14:2-31you came to the sea; and Egypt pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the 1Lit Sea of ReedsRed Sea. 7  ‘But when they cried out to the Loʀᴅ, 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 ADeut 1:46; 2:14you lived in the wilderness for a long time. 8  ‘Then ANum 21:21-32I brought you into the land of the Amorites who lived beyond the Jordan, and they fought with you; and I gave them into your hand, and you took possession of their land when I destroyed them before you. 9  ‘Then ANum 22:2-6Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and fought against Israel, and he sent and summoned Balaam the son of Beor to curse you. 10  ‘But I ADeut 23:5was not willing to listen to Balaam. So he had to bless you, and I delivered you from his hand. 11  ‘AJosh 3:14-17You crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho; and the citizens of Jericho fought against you, and BEx 23:23, 28; Deut 7:1the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Girgashite, the Hivite and the Jebusite. Thus CEx 23:31I gave them into your hand. 12  ‘Then I AEx 23:28; Deut 7:20sent the hornet before you and it 1Lit drove them outdrove out the two kings of the Amorites from before you, but BPs 44:3not by your sword or your bow. 13  ‘ADeut 6:10, 11I gave you a land on which you had not labored, and cities which you had not built, and you have lived in them; you are eating of vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.’

14 “Now, therefore, 1Or reverenceADeut 10:12; 18:13; 1 Sam 12:24fear the Loʀᴅ and serve Him in sincerity and 2Or faithfulnesstruth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the 3I.e. EuphratesRiver and in Egypt, and serve the Loʀᴅ. 15  “If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Loʀᴅ, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or AJudg 6:10the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Loʀᴅ.”

16 The people answered and said, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Loʀᴅ to serve other gods; 17 for the Loʀᴅ our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of 1Lit bondmenbondage, and who did these great signs in our sight and preserved us through all the way in which we went and among all the peoples through whose midst we passed. 18  “The Loʀᴅ drove out from before us all the peoples, even the Amorites who lived in the land. We also will serve the Loʀᴅ, for He is our God.”

19 Then Joshua said to the people, “You will not be able to serve the Loʀᴅ, ALev 19:2; 20:7, 26for He is a holy God. He is BEx 20:5; 34:14a jealous God; CEx 23:21He will not forgive your transgression or your sins. 20  “ADeut 4:25, 26If you forsake the Loʀᴅ and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you after He has done good to you.” 21 The people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve the Loʀᴅ.” 22 Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that APs 119:173you have chosen for yourselves the Loʀᴅ, to serve Him.” And they said, “We are witnesses.” 23 “Now therefore, put away the foreign gods which are in your midst, and A1 Kin 8:57, 58; Ps 119:36; 141:4incline your hearts to the Loʀᴅ, the God of Israel.” 24 AEx 19:8; 24:3, 7; Deut 5:27The people said to Joshua, “We will serve the Loʀᴅ our God and we will 1Lit listen toobey His voice.” 25 AEx 24:8So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem. 26 And Joshua ADeut 31:24wrote these words in the book of the law of God; and he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of the Loʀᴅ. 27 Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, AJosh 22:27, 34this stone shall be for a witness against us, for it has heard all the words of the Loʀᴅ which He spoke 1Lit withto us; thus it shall be for a witness against you, so that you do not deny your God.” 28 Then Joshua dismissed the people, each to his inheritance.

29 It came about after these things that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Loʀᴅ, died, being one hundred and ten years old. 30 And they buried him in the territory of his inheritance in AJosh 19:50Timnath-serah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, on the north of Mount Gaash.

31 AJudg 2:6fIsrael served the Loʀᴅ all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who 1Lit prolonged days aftersurvived Joshua, and had known all the deeds of the Loʀᴅ which He had done for Israel.

32 Now AGen 50:24, 25; Ex 13:19they buried the bones of Joseph, which the sons of Israel brought up from Egypt, at Shechem, in the piece of ground BGen 33:19; John 4:5; Acts 7:15fwhich Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for one hundred 1Heb qesitahpieces of money; and they became the inheritance of Joseph’s sons. 33 And Eleazar the son of Aaron died; and they buried him 1Or on the hillat Gibeah of AJosh 22:13Phinehas his son, which was given him in the hill country of Ephraim.