06:024:001 And 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; and they presented
themselves before God.
06:024:002 And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the LORD God
of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood
in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father
of Nachor: and they served other gods.
06:024:003 And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the
flood, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and
multiplied his seed, and gave him Isaac.
06:024:004 And I gave unto Isaac Jacob and Esau: and I gave unto Esau
mount Seir, to possess it; but Jacob and his children went
down into Egypt.
06:024:005 I sent Moses also and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt, according to
that which I did among them: and afterward I brought you out.
06:024:006 And I brought your fathers out of Egypt: and ye came unto the
sea; and the Egyptians pursued after your fathers with
chariots and horsemen unto the Red sea.
06:024:007 And when they cried unto the LORD, he put darkness between you
and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them, and covered
them; and your eyes have seen what I have done in Egypt: and
ye dwelt in the wilderness a long season.
06:024:008 And I brought you into the land of the Amorites, which dwelt
on the other side Jordan; and they fought with you: and I gave
them into your hand, that ye might possess their land; and I
destroyed them from before you.
06:024:009 Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and warred
against Israel, and sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to
curse you:
06:024:010 But I would not hearken unto Balaam; therefore he blessed you
still: so I delivered you out of his hand.
06:024:011 And you went over Jordan, and came unto Jericho: and the men
of Jericho fought against you, the Amorites, and the
Perizzites, and the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the
Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; and I delivered
them into your hand.
06:024:012 And I sent the hornet before you, which drave them out from
before you, even the two kings of the Amorites; but not with
thy sword, nor with thy bow.
06:024:013 And I have given you a land for which ye did not labour, and
cities which ye built not, and ye dwell in them; of the
vineyards and oliveyards which ye planted not do ye eat.
06:024:014 Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in
truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the
other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD.
06:024:015 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you
this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your
fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or
the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for
me and my house, we will serve the LORD.
06:024:016 And the people answered and said, God forbid that we should
forsake the LORD, to serve other gods;
06:024:017 For the LORD our God, he it is that brought us up and our
fathers out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage,
and which did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us
in all the way wherein we went, and among all the people
through whom we passed:
06:024:018 And the LORD drave out from before us all the people, even the
Amorites which dwelt in the land: therefore will we also serve
the LORD; for he is our God.
06:024:019 And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the LORD: for
he is an holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive
your transgressions nor your sins.
06:024:020 If ye forsake the LORD, and serve strange gods, then he will
turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done
you good.
06:024:021 And the people said unto Joshua, Nay; but we will serve the
LORD.
06:024:022 And Joshua said unto the people, Ye are witnesses against
yourselves that ye have chosen you the LORD, to serve him. And
they said, We are witnesses.
06:024:023 Now therefore put away, said he, the strange gods which are
among you, and incline your heart unto the LORD God of Israel.
06:024:024 And the people said unto Joshua, The LORD our God will we
serve, and his voice will we obey.
06:024:025 So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and set
them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem.
06:024:026 And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God,
and took a great stone, and set it up there under an oak, that
was by the sanctuary of the LORD.
06:024:027 And Joshua said unto all the people, Behold, this stone shall
be a witness unto us; for it hath heard all the words of the
LORD which he spake unto us: it shall be therefore a witness
unto you, lest ye deny your God.
06:024:028 So Joshua let the people depart, every man unto his
inheritance.
06:024:029 And it came to pass after these things, that Joshua the son of
Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being an hundred and ten
years old.
06:024:030 And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in
Timnathserah, which is in mount Ephraim, on the north side of
the hill of Gaash.
06:024:031 And Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the
days of the elders that overlived Joshua, and which had known
all the works of the LORD, that he had done for Israel.
06:024:032 And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought
up out of Egypt, buried they in Shechem, in a parcel of ground
which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem
for an hundred pieces of silver: and it became the inheritance
of the children of Joseph.
06:024:033 And Eleazar the son of Aaron died; and they buried him in a
hill that pertained to Phinehas his son, which was given him
in mount Ephraim.