“1 And 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; and they presented themselves before
God. 2 And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the LORD God
of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old
time, [even] Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor:
and they served other gods. 3 And I took your father Abraham from
the other side of the flood, and led him throughout all the land of
Canaan, and multiplied his seed, and gave him Isaac. 4 And I gave
unto Isaac Jacob and Esau: and I gave unto Esau mount Seir, to
possess it; but Jacob and his children went down into Egypt. 5 I
sent Moses also and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt, according to that
which I did among them: and afterward I brought you out. 6 And I
brought your fathers out of Egypt: and ye came unto the sea; and the
Egyptians pursued after your fathers with chariots and horsemen unto
the Red sea. 7 And 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. 8 And I brought you into
the land of the Amorites, which dwelt on the other side Jordan; and
they fought with you: and I gave them into your hand, that ye might
possess their land; and I destroyed them from before you. 9 Then
Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and warred against
Israel, and sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you: 10
But I would not hearken unto Balaam; therefore he blessed you still:
so I delivered you out of his hand. 11 And ye went over Jordan, and
came unto Jericho: and the men of Jericho fought against you, the
Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, and the Hittites,
and the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; and I delivered
them into your hand. 12 And I sent the hornet before you, which
drave them out from before you, [even] the two kings of the
Amorites; [but] not with thy sword, nor with thy bow. 13 And I have
given you a land for which ye did not labour, and cities which ye
built not, and ye dwell in them; of the vineyards and oliveyards
which ye planted not do ye eat. 14 Now therefore fear the LORD, and
serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which
your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt;
and serve ye the LORD.”
“15 And if it seem 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 flood, or the gods of
the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we
will serve the LORD. 16 And the people answered and said, God forbid
that we should forsake the LORD, to serve other gods; 17 For the
LORD our God, he [it is] that brought us up and our fathers out of
the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and which did those
great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way wherein we
went, and among all the people through whom we passed: 18 And the
LORD drave out from before us all the people, even the Amorites
which dwelt in the land: [therefore] will we also serve the LORD;
for he [is] our God. 19 And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot
serve the LORD: for he [is] an holy God; he [is] a jealous God; he
will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. 20 If ye forsake
the LORD, and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt,
and consume you, after that he hath done you good. 21 And the people
said unto Joshua, Nay; but we will serve the LORD. 22 And Joshua
said unto the people, Ye [are] witnesses against yourselves that ye
have chosen you the LORD, to serve him. And they said, [We are]
witnesses. 23 Now therefore put away, [said he], the strange gods
which [are] among you, and incline your heart unto the LORD God of
Israel. 24 And the people said unto Joshua, The LORD our God will we
serve, and his voice will we obey. 25 So Joshua made a covenant with
the people that day, and set them a statute and an ordinance in
Shechem. 26 And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of
God, and took a great stone, and set it up there under an oak, that
[was] by the sanctuary of the LORD. 27 And Joshua said unto all the
people, Behold, this stone shall be a witness unto us; for it hath
heard all the words of the LORD which he spake unto us: it shall be
therefore a witness unto you, lest ye deny your God. 28 So Joshua
let the people depart, every man unto his inheritance.”
“29 And it came to pass after these things, that Joshua the son of
Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, [being] an hundred and ten years
old. 30 And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in
Timnathserah, which [is] in mount Ephraim, on the north side of the
hill of Gaash. 31 And Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua,
and all the days of the elders that overlived Joshua, and which had
known all the works of the LORD, that he had done for Israel. 32 And
the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of
Egypt, buried they in Shechem, in a parcel of ground which Jacob
bought of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for an hundred
pieces of silver: and it became the inheritance of the children of
Joseph. 33 And Eleazar the son of Aaron died; and they buried him in
a hill [that pertained to] Phinehas his son, which was given him in
mount Ephraim.” (Joshua 24:1-33 AV)
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