Study Desk

`And we say, And it hath been, when they say [so] unto us, and unto our generations hereafter, that we have said, See the pattern of the altar of Jehovah, which our fathers made -- not for burnt-offering nor for sacrifice -- but a witness it [is] between us and you.

`Far be it from us to rebel against Jehovah, and to turn back to-day from after Jehovah, to build an altar for burnt-offering, for present, and for sacrifice, apart from the altar of Jehovah our God, which [is] before His tabernacle.'

and Joshua calleth for all Israel, for its elders, and for its heads, and for its judges, and for its authorities, and saith unto them, `I have become old; I have entered into days;

and ye -- ye have seen all that Jehovah your God hath done to all these nations because of you, for Jehovah your God [is] He who is fighting for you;

see, I have caused to fall to you these nations who are left for an inheritance to your tribes, from the Jordan, (and all the nations which I cut off), and the great sea, the going in of the sun.

And Jehovah is dispossessing from before you nations great and mighty; as for you, none hath stood in your presence till this day;

one man of you doth pursue a thousand, for Jehovah your God [is] He who is fighting for you, as He hath spoken to you;

and ye have been very watchful for yourselves to love Jehovah your God.

know certainly that Jehovah your God is not continuing to dispossess these nations from before you, and they have been to you for a gin, and for a snare, and for a scourge, in your sides, and for thorns in your eyes, till ye perish from off this good ground which Jehovah your God hath given to you.

And Joshua gathereth all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and calleth for the elders of Israel, and for its heads, and for its judges, and for its authorities, and they station themselves before God.

`And Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, riseth and fighteth against Israel, and sendeth and calleth for Balaam son of Beor, to revile you,

`And I give to you a land for which thou hast not laboured, and cities which ye have not built, and ye dwell in them; of vineyards and olive-yards which ye have not planted ye are eating.

and if wrong in your eyes to serve Jehovah -- choose for you to-day whom ye do serve; -- whether the gods whom your fathers served, which [are] beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorite in whose land ye are dwelling; and I and my house -- we serve Jehovah.'

for Jehovah our God [is] He who is bringing us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, out of a house of servants, and who hath done before our eyes these great signs, and doth keep us in all the way in which we have gone, and among all the peoples through whose midst we passed;

and Jehovah casteth out the whole of the peoples, even the Amorite inhabiting the land, from our presence; we also do serve Jehovah, for He [is] our God.'

And Joshua saith unto the people, `Ye are not able to serve Jehovah, for a God most holy He [is]; a zealous God He [is]; He doth not bear with your transgression and with your sins.

And Joshua saith unto the people, `Witnesses ye are against yourselves, that ye have chosen for you Jehovah to serve Him (and they say, `Witnesses!')

And Joshua saith unto all the people, `Lo, this stone is against us for a witness, for it hath heard all the sayings of Jehovah which He hath spoken with us, and it hath been against you for a witness, lest ye lie against your God.'

And the bones of Joseph, which the sons of Israel brought up out of Egypt, they buried in Shechem, in the portion of the field which Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor father of Shechem, with a hundred kesitah; and they are to the sons of Joseph for an inheritance.

And it cometh to pass, after the death of Joshua, that the sons of Israel ask at Jehovah, saying, `Who doth go up for us unto the Canaanite, at the commencement, to fight against it?'