Joshua 24 — FBV
24Verse 1Joshua summoned all the tribes of Israel to Shechem. Then he called the elders, leaders, judges, and officials and they came and stood before the Tabernacle of God.Verse 2Joshua said to all the people, “The Lord, the God of Israel, says this: ‘Long, long ago your forefathers, including Terah, the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River, and they worshiped other gods.Verse 3I brought your father Abraham from beyond the Euphrates and led him through all the land of Canaan and gave him many descendants. I gave him Isaac.Verse 4I gave to Isaac Jacob and Esau. I gave to Esau the hill country of Seir to own, but Jacob and his children went down to Egypt.Verse 5I sent Moses and Aaron, and I brought plagues on the people of Egypt, and I brought you+out.Verse 6Yes, I brought your forefathers out, but when you arrived at the Red Sea the Egyptians were chasing after your forefathers with chariots and horsemen.Verse 7Your forefathers called out to the Lord for help, and he placed darkness between you and the Egyptians. Then he brought the sea back over them and they drowned. You saw what I did with your own eyes in Egypt. Then you lived for many years in the wilderness.Verse 8After that I brought you to the land of the Amorites who lived on the other side of the Jordan. They fought against you but I handed them over to you to defeat and you took over their land. I destroyed them before you.Verse 9When Balak, son of Zippor, the king of Moab, wanted to fight against Israel, he sent for Balaam, son of Beor, to come and curse you.Verse 10But I wasn't willing to listen to Balaam, so instead he blessed you repeatedly, and saved you from Balak.Verse 11You crossed the Jordan and arrived at Jericho where the men of Jericho fought against you. So did the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.Verse 12But I handed them over to you to defeat. And I sent the hornet+before you to drive out the two kings of the Amorites. You did not win using your swords or your bows!Verse 13I gave you a land you didn't work for and towns you didn't build. Now you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves you didn't plant.’Verse 14So respect the Lord and worship him, sincerely and faithfully. Get rid of the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the Euphrates and in Egypt, and worship the Lord.Verse 15But if you don't want to worship the Lord, choose today who you want to worship! Is it going to be the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the Euphrates? Or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you're now living? But as for me and my family, we will worship the Lord!”Verse 16The people responded, “We are never going to give up on the Lord and worship other gods!Verse 17For the Lord our God brought us and our forefathers out of slavery in Egypt. He was the one who did great miracles before our very eyes. He looked after us on the way as we traveled through the lands of many nations.Verse 18The Lord drove out before us the Amorites and all the other nations who were living in the land. So we will worship the Lord, for he is our God!”Verse 19Joshua told the people, “Remember that the Lord is a holy and jealous God. You won't be able to worship him, and he won't forgive your rebellion and sinsVerse 20if you give up on him and worship foreign gods. He will turn against you and destroy you despite all the good he has done for you.”Verse 21“Don't say that!”+the people replied. “We will worship the Lord!”Verse 22Then Joshua cautioned the people, “You have made yourselves witnesses against yourselves by saying that you have chosen to worship the Lord.”+“Yes, we are witnesses,” the people replied.Verse 23“Then get rid of those foreign gods you have and promise to be loyal only to the Lord, the God of Israel,” Joshua told them.Verse 24The people said to Joshua, “We will worship the Lord our God and we will obey him.”Verse 25So Joshua made a solemn agreement between the people and the Lord that day in Shechem, obligating them to follow all the Lord's laws and instructions.Verse 26Joshua recorded this in the Book of the Law of God, and he set up a large stone under the oak tree near the Lord's sanctuary.Verse 27Joshua said to the people, “Look at this stone. It stands here as a witness against us for it has heard everything the Lord has told us, and it will be a witness against you if you ever deny what you have promised your God.”Verse 28Then Joshua dismissed the people, sending them to their allotted lands.Verse 29Later, after all this, Joshua, son of Nun, servant of the Lord, died at the age of one hundred and ten.Verse 30They buried him in Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash, the land he had been allocated.Verse 31The Israelites continued to worship the Lord throughout Joshua's life, and throughout the lifetimes of the elders who outlived him, those who had seen all that the Lord had done for Israel.Verse 32The bones of Joseph, which the Israelites had brought with them from Egypt, they buried in Shechem in the piece of ground Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for one hundred pieces of silver. This land was inherited by Joseph's sons.Verse 33And Eleazar, son of Aaron, died and they buried him at Gibeah, in the hill country of Ephraim, land which had been given to his son Phinehas.