Joshua 24

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 to all the people, “Thus says the LORD God of Israel, ‘Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the River Euphrates in old times, Terah the father of Abraham, and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods.

3. And I took your father Abraham from beyond the RiverEuphrates and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed and gave him Isaac.

4. And I gave to Isaac Jacob and Esau. And I gave Esau Mount Seir for his own, but Jacob and his sons went down to 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 you came to the sea, and the Egyptians followed after your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea.

7. And when they cried to 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 you lived in the wilderness a long time.

8. And I brought you into the land of the Amorites who lived on the other side of Jordan. And they fought with you, and I gave them into your hand so that you 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 listen to Balaam. And he still blessed you. And I delivered you out of his hand.

11. And you went over Jordan and came to 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 drove them out from before you, the two kings of the Amorites, not with your sword, nor with your bow.

13. And I have given you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you did not build, and you live in them. You now eat of the vineyards and oliveyards which you did not plant.’

14. Now, therefore, fear the LORD, and serve Him in sincerity and truth. And put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River, and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.

15. And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served beyond 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. And the people answered and said, “Far be it from us to forsake 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 He did those great wonders in our sight, and kept us in all our way in which we went and among all the people through whom we passed.

18. And the LORD drove out from before us all the people, even the Amorites who lived in the land. We will also serve the LORD, for He is our God.”

19. And Joshua said to the people, “You cannot serve the LORD, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God. He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins

20. If you forsake the LORD and serve strange gods. Then He will turn and do you harm, and destroy you after He has done you good.”

21. And the people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve the LORD.”

22. And Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the LORD, to serve Him.” And they said, “We are witnesses.”

23. “And now put away the strange gods which are among you, and incline your heart to the LORD God of Israel.”

24. And the people said to Joshua, “The LORD our God will we serve, and His voice will we obey.”

25. And 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 to all the people, “Behold, this stone shall be a witness to us, for it 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.”

28. And Joshua sent away the people, each man to his inheritance.

29. And it came to pass after these things, Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being a hundred and ten years old.

30. And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath Serah on 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 who outlived Joshua, and who 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, they buried in Shechem, in a piece of ground which Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a 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 on a hill belonging to Phinehas his son, which was given him in Mount Ephraim