Joshua 24

24 ¹ Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem. He summoned the elders of Israel, their heads, their judges, and their officers, and they presented themselves before our Father.

² Joshua said to all the people, "This is what our Father, the God of Israel, says: 'Long ago your ancestors lived beyond the Euphrates River—Terah, the father of Abraham and Nahor—and they served other gods.'" ³ 'But I took your father Abraham from beyond the River and led him through all the land of Canaan. I multiplied his children and gave him Isaac,' ⁴ 'To Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I gave Esau the hill country of Seir to possess, but Jacob and his children went down to Egypt.'

⁵ 'Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I struck Egypt with what I did among them; and afterward I brought you out.' ⁶ 'I brought your ancestors out of Egypt, and you came to the sea. The Egyptians pursued your ancestors with chariots and horsemen as far as the Red Sea.' ⁷ 'When they cried out to me, I put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and I brought the sea over them and covered them. Your own eyes saw what I did in Egypt. Then you lived in the wilderness for a long time.'

⁸ 'I brought you to the land of the Amorites who lived beyond the Jordan. They fought against you, but I gave them into your hand. You took possession of their land, and I destroyed them before you.' ⁹ 'Then Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, rose up and fought against Israel. He sent and called Balaam son of Beor to curse you,' ¹⁰ 'but I would not listen to Balaam. So he blessed you again and again, and I delivered you from his hand.'

¹¹ 'Then you crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The citizens of Jericho fought against you, as did the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites, and Jebusites; but I gave them into your hand.' ¹² 'I sent the hornet ahead of you, and it drove them out before you—the two kings of the Amorites. It was not by your sword or your bow.' ¹³ 'So I gave you a land for which you did not labor, and cities you did not build, and you live in them. You eat from vineyards and olive groves you did not plant.'

Choose This Day Whom You Will Serve

¹⁴ Now then, fear our Father and serve him with integrity and faithfulness. Put away the gods your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve our Father. ¹⁵ But if it seems wrong in your eyes to serve our Father, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve—whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live. But as for me and my household, we will serve our Father.

¹⁶ Then the people answered, "Far be it from us to forsake our Father to serve other gods!" ¹⁷ "For our Father is the one who brought us and our ancestors up out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did these great signs before our eyes. He protected us along the whole way we traveled and among all the peoples through whom we passed." ¹⁸ "And our Father drove out before us all the peoples, including the Amorites who lived in the land. We too will serve him, for he is our Father."

¹⁹ But Joshua said to the people, "You are not able to serve our Father, for he is a holy God; he is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins." ²⁰ "If you forsake our Father and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and bring harm to you and consume you, after he has done you good."

²¹ But the people said to Joshua, "No! We will serve our Father." ²² Then Joshua said to the people, "You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen our Father, to serve him." "We are witnesses," they said.

²³ "Now then, put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your hearts to our Father, the God of Israel."

²⁴ And the people said to Joshua, "We will serve our Father, and we will obey his voice."

²⁵ So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and he set for them a statute and an ordinance at Shechem. ²⁶ Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of our Father. He took a large stone and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of our Father. ²⁷ And Joshua said to all the people, "Look, this stone will be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words our Father spoke to us. It will be a witness against you, so that you do not deny your Father." ²⁸ Then Joshua sent the people away, each to his own inheritance.

Joshua, the Father's Servant, Rests

²⁹ After these things, Joshua son of Nun, the servant of our Father, died, being a hundred and ten years old. ³⁰ They buried him within the territory of his inheritance at Timnath-serah, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. ³¹ Israel served our Father all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua and who had known all the work our Father had done for Israel. ³² And the bones of Joseph, which the Israelites had brought up from Egypt, they buried at Shechem, in the plot of ground Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for a hundred pieces of silver. It became the inheritance of the children of Joseph. ³³ And Eleazar son of Aaron died, and they buried him at Gibeah of Phinehas his son, which had been given to him in the hill country of Ephraim.