The Covenant at Shechem
1 Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel toShechem andcalled for the elders of Israel, for their heads, for their judges, and for their officers; and theypresented themselves before God.
2 And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says theLordGod of Israel:‘Your fathers,includingTerah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, dwelt on the other side of the River in old times; andthey served other gods.
3 Then I took your father Abraham from the other side of the River, led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his descendants andgave him Isaac.
4 To Isaac I gaveJacob and Esau. ToEsau I gave the mountains of Seir to possess,but Jacob and his children went down to Egypt.
5 Also I sent Moses and Aaron, andI plagued Egypt, according to what I did among them. Afterward I brought you out.
6 ‘Then Ibrought your fathers out of Egypt, and you came to the sea; and the Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea.
7 So they cried out to theLord; and He putdarkness between you and the Egyptians, brought the sea upon them, and covered them. Andyour eyes saw what I did in Egypt. Then you dwelt in the wildernessa long time.
8 And I brought you into the land of the Amorites, who dwelt on the other side of the Jordan,and they fought with you. But I gave them into your hand, that you might possess their land, and I destroyed them from before you.
9 ThenBalak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose to make war against Israel, andsent and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you.
10 But I would not listen to Balaam;therefore he continued to bless you. So I delivered you out of his hand.
11 Thenyou went over the Jordan and came to Jericho. Andthe men of Jericho fought against you—alsothe Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. But I delivered them into your hand.
12 I sent the hornet before you which drove them out from before you,alsothe two kings of the Amorites,butnot with your sword or with your bow.
13 I have given you a land for which you did not labor, andcities which you did not build, and you dwell in them; you eat of the vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.’
14 “Now therefore, fear theLord, serve Him insincerity and in truth, andput away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River andin Egypt. Serve theLord!
15 And if it seems evil to you to serve theLord,choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whetherthe gods which your fathers served thatwereon the other side of the River, orthe gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell.But as for me and my house, we will serve theLord.”
16 So the people answered and said: “Far be it from us that we should forsake theLordto serve other gods;
17 for theLordour GodisHe who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way that we went and among all the people through whom we passed.
18 And theLorddrove out from before us all the people, including the Amorites who dwelt in the land.We also will serve theLord, for Heisour God.”
19 But Joshua said to the people,“You cannot serve theLord, for Heisaholy God. Heisa jealous God;He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins.
20 If you forsake theLordand serve foreign gods,then He will turn and do you harm and consume you, after He has done you good.”
21 And the people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve theLord!”
22 So Joshua said to the people, “Youarewitnesses against yourselves thatyou have chosen theLordfor yourselves, to serve Him.”
And they said, “Wearewitnesses!”
23 “Now therefore,”hesaid,“put away the foreign gods whichareamong you, andincline your heart to theLordGod of Israel.”
24 And the peoplesaid to Joshua, “TheLordour God we will serve, and His voice we will obey!”
25 So Joshuamade a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and an ordinancein Shechem.
26 Then Joshuawrote these words in the Book of the Law of God. And he tooka large stone, andset it up thereunder the oak thatwasby the sanctuary of theLord.
27 And Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, this stone shall bea witness to us, forit has heard all the words of theLordwhich He spoke to us. It shall therefore be a witness to you, lest you deny your God.”
28 SoJoshua let the people depart, each to his own inheritance.
Death of Joshua and Eleazar
29 Now it came to pass after these things that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of theLord, died,beingone hundred and ten years old.
30 And they buried him within the border of his inheritance atTimnath Serah, whichisin the mountains of Ephraim, on the north side of Mount Gaash.
31 Israel served theLordall the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who hadknown all the works of theLordwhich He had done for Israel.
32 The bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel had brought up out of Egypt, they buried at Shechem, in the plot of groundwhich Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for one hundred pieces of silver, and which had become an inheritance of the children of Joseph.
33 AndEleazar the son of Aaron died. They buried him in a hillbelongingtoPhinehas his son, which was given to him in the mountains of Ephraim.