The covenant renewed at Shechem
1 Then Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He summoned the elders, leaders, judges and officials of Israel, and they presented themselves before God.
2 Joshua said to all the people, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: “Long ago your ancestors, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the River Euphrates and worshipped other gods.
3 But I took your father Abraham from the land beyond the Euphrates and led him throughout Canaan and gave him many descendants. I gave him Isaac,
4 and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I assigned the hill country of Seir to Esau, but Jacob and his family went down to Egypt.
5 ‘ “Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I afflicted the Egyptians by what I did there, and I brought you out.
6 When I brought your people out of Egypt, you came to the sea, and the Egyptians pursued them with chariots and horsemenas far as the Red Sea.
7 But they cried to the Lordfor help, and he put darkness between you and the Egyptians; he brought the sea over them and covered them. You saw with your own eyes what I did to the Egyptians. Then you lived in the wilderness for a long time.
8 ‘ “I brought you to the land of the Amorites who lived east of the Jordan. They fought against you, but I gave them into your hands. I destroyed them from before you, and you took possession of their land.
9 When Balak son of Zippor, the king of Moab, prepared to fight against Israel, he sent for Balaam son of Beor to put a curse on you.
10 But I would not listen to Balaam, so he blessed you again and again, and I delivered you out of his hand.
11 ‘ “Then you crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The citizens of Jericho fought against you, as did also the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites and Jebusites, but I gave them into your hands.
12 I sent the hornet ahead of you, which drove them out before you – also the two Amorite kings. You did not do it with your own sword and bow.
13 So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.”
14 ‘Now fear the Lordand serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshipped beyond the River Euphrates and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.
15 But if serving the Lordseems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.’
16 Then the people answered, ‘Far be it from us to forsake the Lordto serve other gods!
17 It was the Lordour God himself who brought us and our parents up out of Egypt, from that land of slavery, and performed those great signs before our eyes. He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we travelled.
18 And the Lorddrove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites, who lived in the land. We too will serve the Lord, because he is our God.’
19 Joshua said to the people, ‘You are not able to serve the Lord. He is a holy God; he is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins.
20 If you forsake the Lordand serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you, after he has been good to you.’
21 But the people said to Joshua, ‘No! We will serve the Lord.’
22 Then Joshua said, ‘You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the Lord.’
‘Yes, we are witnesses,’ they replied.
23 ‘Now then,’ said Joshua, ‘throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.’
24 And the people said to Joshua, ‘We will serve the Lordour God and obey him.’
25 On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people, and there at Shechem he reaffirmed for them decrees and laws.
26 And Joshua recorded these things in the Book of the Law of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak near the holy place of the Lord.
27 ‘See!’ he said to all the people. ‘This stone will be a witness against us. It has heard all the words the Lordhas said to us. It will be a witness against you if you are untrue to your God.’
28 Then Joshua dismissed the people, each to their own inheritance.
Buried in the promised land
29 After these things, Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of a hundred and ten.
30 And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath Serahin the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
31 Israel served the Lordthroughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had experienced everything the Lordhad done for Israel.
32 And Joseph’s bones, which the Israelites had brought up from Egypt, were buried at Shechem in the tract of land that Jacob bought for a hundred pieces of silverfrom the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem. This became the inheritance of Joseph’s descendants.
33 And Eleazar son of Aaron died and was buried at Gibeah, which had been allotted to his son Phinehas in the hill country of Ephraim.
Footnotes for the Book of Joshua
a4That is, about 900 metres
a1Another textual traditionwe
b3Gibeath Haaralothmeansthe hill of foreskins.
c9Gilgalsounds like the Hebrew forroll.
d12Orthe day
e14Orlord
a1The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them; also in verses 11, 12, 13 and 15.
b1See Septuagint and 1 Chron. 2:6; HebrewZabdi; also in verses 17 and 18.
c21HebrewShinar
d21That is, about 2.3 kilograms
e21That is, about 575 grams
f26Achormeanstrouble.
a4Most Hebrew manuscripts; some Hebrew manuscripts, Vulgate and Syriac (see also Septuagint)They prepared provisions and loaded their donkeys
a11The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them; also in verses 12, 20 and 21.
a8HebrewWith it(that is, with the other half of Manasseh)
b27HebrewKinnereth
a4Septuagint; Hebrewyour
b18Hebrew and some Septuagint manuscripts; other Septuagint manuscripts (see also note at Judges 1:14)Othniel, he urged her
c36OrGederah and Gederothaim
d59The Septuagint adds another district of eleven towns, including Tekoa and Ephrathah (Bethlehem).
a11That is, Naphoth Dor
a2OrBeersheba, Sheba; 1 Chron. 4:28 does not haveSheba.
b28Some Hebrew manuscripts (see also 21:30); most Hebrew manuscriptsEbron
c34Septuagint; Hebrewwest, and Judah, the Jordan,
d50Also known asTimnath Heres(see Judges 2:9)
a6Orcharioteers
b6Orthe Sea of Reeds
c30Also known asTimnath Heres(see Judges 2:9)
d32Hebrewhundred kesitahs; a kesitah was a unit of money of unknown weight and value.
—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/72/32k/JOS/24-074c900f618bc408cbeb7c97218e7dc9.mp3?version_id=113—