Joshua 24

₁Joshua called all the tribes_of_Israel to come to him in the town of Shechem. He called the leaders, the chiefs, the judges and the managers to come and stand in front of God. ₂Joshua said to all the people: ‘The Lord God of Israel says: “Long ago your forefathers Terah and his sons, Abraham and Nahor, lived on the other side of the Euphrates River. They worshipped other gods. ₃But I took Abraham from that land and I said he must go through the land of Canaan. I gave him a son, Isaac, and many descendants. ₄I gave Isaac 2 sons, Jacob and Esau. I gave the mountains of Seir to Esau, and Jacob and his sons went to Egypt. ₅I sent Moses and Aaron to Egypt and I made the Egyptians suffer and I brought you out of Egypt. ₆When I brought your forefathers out of Egypt, you got to the sea. The Egyptians followed_and_chased your forefathers up to the Red Sea. The Egyptians had war-chariots and men on horses. ₇Your forefathers then prayed to Me and asked Me, their Lord, to help them. Then I made it dark among the Egyptians and I made the water of the sea flow over them so that they were covered with water and drowned. You saw what I had done to the people of Egypt, and after that, you lived in the desert for a very long time. ₈Then I brought you to the land of the Amorites, east of the Jordan River. They made war_against you, but I helped you defeat them. You took their land when I caused them to die so that you could live here. ₉Then Balak, son of Zippor, king of Moab, decided to go to war_against the Israelites. He called Balaam, son of Beor, to come and curse you. ₁₀But I did not listen to Balaam. I told him to bless you, again and again. That is how I saved you from Balak. ₁₁You went over the Jordan River and you came into the city of Jericho. The people of Jericho and the Amorites, the Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites and Jebusites made war_against you. But I helped you defeat all of them. ₁₂It was not your weapons that made you defeat them. No, I made them afraid and they ran away. The same happened to the 2 kings of the Amorites. ₁₃I gave you a land that you did not work for and towns that you, yourselves, did not build. You live in their houses and you eat grapes and olives from trees that you did not plant.” ’

₁₄Then Joshua said: ‘That is why you must serve the Lord. You must always be faithful to Him and do what He says. You must throw away the gods that your forefathers worshipped on the other side of the Euphrates River and in Egypt and you must serve only the Lord. ₁₅But if you decide you do not want to serve the Lord, then today you must choose who you want to serve. Do you want to serve the gods that your forefathers served on the other side of the Euphrates River? You now live in the land of the Amorites. Do you want to serve their gods? But my family and I will serve the Lord.’

₁₆The people said to Joshua: ‘We will never turn away from the Lord. We will never serve other gods. ₁₇The Lord is our God. It was He who saved our forefathers from Egypt and He brought us out of the land where we were slaves. We have seen the wonderful miracles that He has done. He has protected us all the way where we have walked. He protected us against the people of all the lands where we went. ₁₈The Lord has chased away everyone so that we can live here. He has also chased away the Amorites who lived in this land. We too will serve the Lord. He is our God.’

₁₉But then Joshua said to the people: ‘You can not serve the Lord, because He is a holy God. He wants you to serve only Him. He will not forgive you if you sin and rebel_against Him. ₂₀He will be good to you, but if you turn away from the Lord and you serve the gods of other nations, then He will make you suffer and you will all die.’

₂₁The people then said to Joshua: ‘No, we will serve the Lord only.’ ₂₂Joshua said to the people: ‘Today you have chosen to serve the Lord, and you are witnesses to what you have said.’ And the people said: ‘Yes, we are witnesses.’ ₂₃Joshua said: ‘Then you must throw away the false gods of other people and you must give yourself to the Lord. You must belong only to the God of Israel.’ ₂₄The people answered and said: ‘We will serve only our God, the Lord and we will listen only to Him.’

₂₅On that day Joshua made a covenant with the people. There in the town of Shechem he gave them rules and laws. ₂₆He wrote them down in the book_of_the_laws of God. He took a big rock and he put it upright under the big tree at the tent of the Lord. ₂₇Joshua said to all the people: ‘This stone will be a witness to us, because this stone has heard everything that the Lord has said to us. This stone will be the witness so that you will not be false to your God.’

₂₈Then Joshua let the people go home, each to his own part of the land.

₂₉Not long after this, the Lord's servant, Joshua, son of Nun, died. He was 110 years old. ₃₀They buried him on his land at the town of Timnath-Serah in the mountains of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. ₃₁While Joshua lived, the Israelites served the Lord. They continued to serve the Lord, while the leaders who knew what the Lord had done for the Israelites lived.

₃₂Long before this, when the Israelites went out of Egypt, they took the body of Joseph with them and now they buried it at the town of Shechem. It was the land that Jacob had bought from the children of Shechem, the son of Hamor. Jacob paid 100 pieces_of_silver for it. That is why that land belongs to the descendants of Joseph.

₃₃Eleazar, son of Aaron, died and they buried him in the mountains of Ephraim, on the hill that belonged to his son, Phinehas.