Study Desk

"For the LORD has made the Jordan a border between us and you, you sons of Reuben and sons of Gad; you have no part in the LORD." So your sons (descendants) may cause our sons to stop fearing the LORD.'

"So we said, 'Let us prepare and build an altar, not for burnt offering or for sacrifice,

"So we said, 'If your descendants should say this to us or to our descendants in time to come, then we can reply, "See the copy of the altar of the LORD which our fathers made, not for burnt offering or for sacrifice, but rather it is a witness between us and you."'

"Far be it from us that we should rebel against the LORD and turn away from following the LORD this day, by building an altar for burnt offering, for grain offering or for sacrifice, besides the altar of the LORD our God which is before His tabernacle [in Shiloh]."

The sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad called the altar Witness; "For it is a witness between us that the LORD is God."

"And you have seen all that the LORD your God has done to all these nations for your sake; for the LORD your God is He who has been fighting for you.

"See, I have allotted to you these nations that remain as an inheritance for your tribes, with all the nations which I have cut off, from the Jordan [on the east] to the Great [Mediterranean] Sea toward the setting sun.

"For the LORD has driven out great and mighty nations from before you; and as for you, no man has been able to stand [in opposition] before you to this day.

"One of your men puts to flight a thousand, for the LORD your God is He who is fighting for you, just as He promised you.

"For if you ever turn back and cling to the rest of these nations, these that are left among you, and intermarry with them, so that you associate with them and they with you,

"Now behold, today I am going the way of all the earth, and you know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one word of all the good words which the LORD your God has promised concerning you has failed; all have been fulfilled for you, not one of them has failed.

"It shall come about that just as every good word which the LORD your God spoke and promised to you has been fulfilled for you, so the LORD will bring upon you every bad thing [about which He warned you], until He has destroyed and eliminated you from this good land which the LORD your God has given you.

Then 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; they presented themselves before God.

'When they cried out to the LORD [for help], He put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them and covered them; and your own eyes saw what I did in Egypt. And you lived in the wilderness a long time (forty years).

'I gave you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you did not build, and you live in them; you eat from vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.'

"If it is unacceptable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of 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."

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 who did these great signs (miracles) in our sight and kept us safe all along the way that we went and among all the peoples among whom we passed.

"The LORD drove all the peoples out from before us, even the Amorites who lived in the land. We also will serve the LORD, for He is our God."

Then Joshua said to the people, "You will not be able to serve the LORD [if you serve any other gods], for He is a holy God; He is a jealous God [demanding what is rightfully and uniquely His]. He will not forgive your transgression [of His law] or your sins.

Joshua then said to the people, "You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen for yourselves the LORD, to serve Him." And they said, "We are witnesses."