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Review of Israel’s History

¹ Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem^(C1) and summoned Israel’s elders, leaders, judges, and officers, and they presented themselves before God.^{(C2) 2} Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your ancestors, including Terah,^(C1) the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River and worshiped other gods. ³ But I took your father Abraham from the region beyond the Euphrates River, led him throughout the land of Canaan, and multiplied his descendants.^(C1) I gave him Isaac,^{(C2) 4} and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau.^(C1) I gave the hill country of Seir to Esau as a possession.^(C2)

“‘Jacob and his sons, however, went down to Egypt.^{(C3) 5} I sent Moses and Aaron,^(C1) and I defeated Egypt by what I did within it, and afterward I brought you out. ⁶ When I brought your fathers out of Egypt and you reached the Red Sea,^(C1) the Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen as far as the sea. ⁷ Your fathers cried out to the Lord, so he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea over them, engulfing them. Your own eyes saw what I did to Egypt. After that, you lived in the wilderness a long time.

⁸ “‘Later, I brought you to the land of the Amorites who lived beyond the Jordan.^(C1) They fought against you, but I handed them over to you. You possessed their land, and I annihilated them before you. ⁹ Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab,^(C1) set out to fight against Israel. He sent for Balaam son of Beor to curse you, ¹⁰ but I would not listen to Balaam. Instead, he repeatedly blessed you, and I rescued you from him.

¹¹ “‘You then crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho.^(C1) Jericho’s citizens—as well as the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hethites, Girgashites, Hivites, and Jebusites—fought against you, but I handed them over to you. ¹² I sent hornets^(F1)(C1) ahead of you, and they drove out the two Amorite kings^(C2) before you. It was not by your sword or bow. ¹³ I gave you a land you did not labor for, and cities you did not build,^(C1) though you live in them; you are eating from vineyards and olive groves you did not plant.’

The Covenant Renewal

¹⁴ “Therefore, fear the Lord and worship him in sincerity and truth.^(C1) Get rid of the gods your fathers worshiped^(C2) beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and worship the Lord. ¹⁵ But if it doesn’t please you to worship the Lord, choose for yourselves today: Which will you worship—the gods your fathers worshiped beyond the Euphrates River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living?^(C1) As for me and my family, we will worship the Lord.”

¹⁶ The people replied, “We will certainly not abandon the Lord to worship other gods! ¹⁷ For the Lord our God brought us and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery,^(C1) and performed these great signs before our eyes. He also protected us all along the way we went and among all the peoples whose lands we traveled through. ¹⁸ The Lord drove out before us all the peoples, including the Amorites who lived in the land. We too will worship the Lord, because he is our God.”

¹⁹ But Joshua told the people, “You will not be able to worship the Lord, because he is a holy God. He is a jealous God;^(C1) he will not forgive your transgressions and sins.^{(C2) 20} If you abandon the Lord and worship foreign gods, he will turn against you, harm you, and completely destroy^(C1) you, after he has been good to you.”

²¹ “No!” the people answered Joshua. “We will worship the Lord.”

²² Joshua then told the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you yourselves have chosen to worship the Lord.”

“We are witnesses,” they said.

²³ “Then get rid of the foreign gods that are among you and turn your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.”

²⁴ So the people said to Joshua, “We will worship the Lord our God and obey him.”

²⁵ On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people at Shechem and established a statute and ordinance for them. ²⁶ Joshua recorded these things in the book of the law of God;^(C1) he also took a large stone and set it up there under the oak at the sanctuary of the Lord. ²⁷ And Joshua said to all the people, “You see this stone—it will be a witness against us,^(C1) for it has heard all the words the Lord said to us, and it will be a witness against you, so that you will not deny your God.” ²⁸ Then Joshua sent the people away, each to his own inheritance.

Burial of Three Leaders

²⁹ After these things, the Lord’s servant, Joshua son of Nun, died at the age of 110. ³⁰ They buried him in his allotted territory at Timnath-serah, in the hill country of Ephraim^(C1) north of Mount Gaash. ³¹ Israel worshiped the Lord throughout Joshua’s lifetime and during the lifetimes of the elders who outlived Joshua^(C1) and who had experienced all the works the Lord had done for Israel.

³² Joseph’s bones, which the Israelites had brought up from Egypt,^(C1) were buried at Shechem in the parcel of land Jacob had purchased from the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for a hundred pieces of silver.^(F1)(C2) It was an inheritance for Joseph’s descendants.

³³ And Eleazar son of Aaron died, and they buried him at Gibeah,^(F1) which had been given to his son Phinehas^(C1) in the hill country of Ephraim.