Joshua 24

Recounting God’s Faithfulness Joshua 24:3–7

³Verse 3. I took your father Abraham from beyond the River, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his offspring, and gave him Isaac. ⁴Verse 4. I gave to Isaac Jacob and Esau: and I gave to Esau Mount Seir, to possess it. Jacob and his children went down into Egypt. ⁵Verse 5. “‘I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt, according to that which I did among them: and afterward I brought you out. ⁶Verse 6. I brought your fathers out of Egypt: and you came to the sea. The Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and with horsemen to the Red Sea.

⁷Verse 7. When they cried out to Yahweh, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea on them, and covered them; and your eyes saw what I did in Egypt. You lived in the wilderness many days.

Victory Over Enemies and the Promised Land Joshua 24:8–13

⁸Verse 8. “‘I brought you into the land of the Amorites, that lived beyond the Jordan. They fought with you, and I gave them into your hand. You possessed their land, and I destroyed them from before you. ⁹Verse 9. Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and fought against Israel. He sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you, ¹⁰Verse 10. but I would not listen to Balaam; therefore he blessed you still. So I delivered you out of his hand. ¹¹Verse 11. “‘You went over the Jordan, and came to Jericho. The men of Jericho fought against you, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Girgashite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite; and I delivered them into your hand.

¹²Verse 12. I sent the hornet before you, which drove them out from before you, even the two kings of the Amorites; not with your sword, nor with your bow. ¹³Verse 13. I gave you a land whereon you had not labored, and cities which you didn’t build, and you live in them. You eat of vineyards and olive groves which you didn’t plant.’

Call to Choose Whom to Serve Joshua 24:14–15

¹⁴Verse 14. “Now therefore fear Yahweh, and serve him in sincerity and in truth. Put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River, in Egypt; and serve Yahweh. ¹⁵Verse 15. If it seems evil to you to serve Yahweh, choose today whom you will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve Yahweh.”

People’s Commitment to Serve Yahweh Joshua 24:16–20

¹⁶Verse 16. The people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake Yahweh, to serve other gods; ¹⁷Verse 17. for it is Yahweh our God who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way in which we went, and among all the peoples through the middle of whom we passed. ¹⁸Verse 18. Yahweh drove out from before us all the peoples, even the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve Yahweh; for he is our God.”

¹⁹Verse 19. Joshua said to the people, “You can’t serve Yahweh, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God. He will not forgive your disobedience nor your sins. ²⁰Verse 20. If you forsake Yahweh, and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you evil, and consume you, after he has done you good.”

Witnesses to Their Choice Joshua 24:21–24

²¹Verse 21. The people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve Yahweh.” ²²Verse 22. Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen Yahweh yourselves, to serve him.” They said, “We are witnesses.” ²³Verse 23. “Now therefore put away the foreign gods which are among you, and incline your heart to Yahweh, the God of Israel.” ²⁴Verse 24. The people said to Joshua, “We will serve Yahweh our God, and we will listen to his voice.”

Covenant Established and Final Actions Joshua 24:25–33

²⁵Verse 25. So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem. ²⁶Verse 26. Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God; and he took a great stone, and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of Yahweh. ²⁷Verse 27. Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, this stone shall be a witness against us, for it has heard all Yahweh’s words which he spoke to us. It shall be therefore a witness against you, lest you deny your God.” ²⁸Verse 28. So Joshua sent the people away, each to his own inheritance.

²⁹Verse 29. After these things, Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Yahweh, died, being one hundred ten years old. ³⁰Verse 30. They buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnathserah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, on the north of the mountain of Gaash. ³¹Verse 31. Israel served Yahweh all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, and had known all the work of Yahweh, that he had worked for Israel. ³²Verse 32. They buried the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, in Shechem, in the parcel of ground which Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred pieces of silver. They became the inheritance of the children of Joseph.

³³Verse 33. Eleazar the son of Aaron died. They buried him in the hill of Phinehas his son, which was given him in the hill country of Ephraim.