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1 Joshua summoned all the tribes of Israel to Shechem. Then he called the elders, leaders, judges, and officials and they came and stood before the Tabernacle of God. 2 Joshua said to all the people, “The Lord, the God of Israel, says this: ‘Long, long ago your forefathers, including Terah, the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River, and they worshiped other gods. 3 I brought your father Abraham from beyond the Euphrates and led him through all the land of Canaan and gave him many descendants. I gave him Isaac. 4 I gave to Isaac Jacob and Esau. I gave to Esau the hill country of Seir to own, but Jacob and his children went down to Egypt.
5 I sent Moses and Aaron, and I brought plagues on the people of Egypt, and I brought you* The story uses “your forefathers” and “you” interchangeably, perhaps to enhance the involvement of the audience. out. 6 Yes, I brought your forefathers out, but when you arrived at the Red Sea the Egyptians were chasing after your forefathers with chariots and horsemen. 7 Your forefathers called out to the Lord for help, and he placed darkness between you and the Egyptians. Then he brought the sea back over them and they drowned. You saw what I did with your own eyes in Egypt. Then you lived for many years in the wilderness.
8 After that I brought you to the land of the Amorites who lived on the other side of the Jordan. They fought against you but I handed them over to you to defeat and you took over their land. I destroyed them before you.
9 When Balak, son of Zippor, the king of Moab, wanted to fight against Israel, he sent for Balaam, son of Beor, to come and curse you. 10 But I wasn't willing to listen to Balaam, so instead he blessed you repeatedly, and saved you from Balak.
11 You crossed the Jordan and arrived at Jericho where the men of Jericho fought against you. So did the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 12 But I handed them over to you to defeat. And I sent the hornet† Or “panic.” See similar statements in Exodus 23:28 and Deuteronomy 7:20. before you to drive out the two kings of the Amorites. You did not win using your swords or your bows! 13 I gave you a land you didn't work for and towns you didn't build. Now you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves you didn't plant.’
14 So respect the Lord and worship him, sincerely and faithfully. Get rid of the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the Euphrates and in Egypt, and worship the Lord. 15 But if you don't want to worship the Lord, choose today who you want to worship! Is it going to be the gods your forefathers worshipped beyond the Euphrates? Or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you're now living? But as for me and my family, we will worship the Lord!”
16 The people responded, “We are never going to give up on the Lord and worship other gods! 17 For the Lord our God brought us and our forefathers out of slavery in Egypt. He was the one who did great miracles before our very eyes. He looked after us on the way as we traveled through the lands of many nations. 18 The Lord drove out before us the Amorites and all the other nations who were living in the land. So we will worship the Lord, for he is our God!”
19 Joshua told the people, “Remember that the Lord is a holy and jealous God. You won't be able to worship him, and he won't forgive your rebellion and sins 20 if you give up on him and worship foreign gods. He will turn against you and destroy you despite all the good he has done for you.”
21 “Don't say that!”‡ “Don't say that!”: literally, “No!” the people replied. “We will worship the Lord!”
22 Then Joshua cautioned the people, “You have made yourselves witnesses against yourselves by saying that you have chosen to worship the Lord.”§ In other words they can never say they were not aware of this choice since they had publicly acknowledged it.
“Yes, we are witnesses,” the people replied.
23 “Then get rid of those foreign gods you have and promise to be loyal only to the Lord, the God of Israel,” Joshua told them.
24 The people said to Joshua, “We will worship the Lord our God and we will obey him.”
25 So Joshua made a solemn agreement between the people and the Lord that day in Shechem, obligating them to follow all the Lord's laws and instructions. 26 Joshua recorded this in the Book of the Law of God, and he set up a large stone under the oak tree near the Lord's sanctuary.
27 Joshua said to the people, “Look at this stone. It stands here as a witness against us for it has heard everything the Lord has told us, and it will be a witness against you if you ever deny what you have promised your God.” 28 Then Joshua dismissed the people, sending them to their allotted lands.
29 Later, after all this, Joshua, son of Nun, servant of the Lord, died at the age of one hundred and ten. 30 They buried him in Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash, the land he had been allocated.
31 The Israelites continued to worship the Lord throughout Joshua's life, and throughout the lifetimes of the elders who outlived him, those who had seen all that the Lord had done for Israel. 32 The bones of Joseph, which the Israelites had brought with them from Egypt, they buried in Shechem in the piece of ground Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for one hundred pieces of silver. This land was inherited by Joseph's sons. 33 And Eleazar, son of Aaron, died and they buried him at Gibeah, in the hill country of Ephraim, land which had been given to his son Phinehas.

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*24:5 The story uses “your forefathers” and “you” interchangeably, perhaps to enhance the involvement of the audience.

†24:12 Or “panic.” See similar statements in Exodus 23:28 and Deuteronomy 7:20.

‡24:21 “Don't say that!”: literally, “No!”

§24:22 In other words they can never say they were not aware of this choice since they had publicly acknowledged it.

© 2018 Dr. Jonathan Gallagher