Joshua 24
1 [Many years later], Joshua summoned representatives of all the tribes of Israel. He gathered together the elders, the leaders, the judges, and the other officials at Shechem [city]. He told them to listen to what God wanted to tell them.
And Joshua gathered all the tribe of Israel to Selo, and convoked their elders, and their officers, and their judges, and set them before God.
2 Joshua said to all of them, “This is what Yahweh, the God we Israeli people worship, is saying: ‘Long ago, your ancestors, including Abraham’s father Terah and Abraham’s younger brother Nahor, lived on the east side of the Euphrates River.
And Joshua said to all the people, Thus says the Lord God of Israel, Your fathers at first sojourned beyond the river, [even] Thara, the father of Abraam and the father of Nachor; and they served other gods.
3 But I took your ancestor Abraham from that land east of the Euphrates River, and I led him as he lived in various places in this land of Canaan, and I enabled him to have many descendants. First, I enabled him to have a son, Isaac.
And I took your father Abraam from the other side of the river, and I guided him through all the land, and I multiplied his seed;
4 When Isaac grew up, I enabled him to have twin sons, Jacob and Esau. I enabled Esau to live in the hilly area in Seir region, but many years later Jacob and his sons and their families went down to live in Egypt.
and I gave to him Isaac, and to Isaac Jacob and Esau: and I gave to Esau mount Seir for him to inherit: and Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt, and became there a great and populous and mighty nation: and the Egyptians afflicted them.
5 “[Many years later], I sent Moses and his older brother Aaron to help your people, and I caused [the people of] Egypt to suffer very much because of what I did there. Then I enabled your ancestors to leave Egypt.
And I struck Egypt with the wonders that I wrought amongst them.
6 When I brought your ancestors out of Egypt, they came to the Red Sea. The Egyptian army pursued them, some riding in chariots and others on horses, and they also arrived at the Red Sea.
And afterwards [God] brought out our fathers from Egypt, and you entered into the Red Sea; and the Egyptians pursued after our fathers with chariots and horses into the Red Sea.
7 Then [your ancestors] pleaded with me to help them. So he caused (darkness/a very dark cloud) to come between your ancestors and the Egyptian army, so that the Egyptian army could not see your ancestors. I separated the water in the Red Sea so that your ancestors could cross it, but when the Egyptian army tried to cross in the same way to pursue them, I caused the water to come back and cover them, and the Egyptian soldiers all drowned, as your ancestors watched and were amazed [IDM]. But after that, you lived in the desert for many years.
And we cried aloud to the Lord; and he put a cloud and darkness between us and the Egyptians, and he brought the sea upon them, and covered them; and your eyes have seen all that the Lord did in the land of Egypt; and you were in the wilderness many days.
8 “Then I brought your [ancestors] to the area where the groups who were descendants of Amor lived, east of the Jordan River. They fought against you, but I enabled you to defeat them [IDM]. I [enabled you to] destroy them so that you could live in their land [IDM].
And he brought us into the land of the Amorites that lived beyond Jordan, and the Lord delivered them into our hands; and you inherited their land, and utterly destroyed them from before you.
9 Then, Zippor’s son Balak, the King of Moab, (decided that his army would fight against/opposed) the Israelis. He summoned Beor’s son Balaam and asked him to curse you.
And Balac, king of Moab, son of Sepphor, rose up, and made war against Israel, and sent and called Balaam to curse us.
10 But I would not do what Balaam asked, so he (blessed/said that I would do great things for) you four times, and I did not enable the army of Moab to defeat you [IDM].
But the Lord your God would not destroy you; and he greatly blessed us, and rescued us out of their hands, and delivered them [to us].
11 “Then you all crossed the Jordan River and came to Jericho. The people of Jericho prepared to fight against you, [and the armies of] the descendants of Amor, Periz, Canaan, Heth, Girgash, Hiv, and Jebus [all prepared to do the same thing] but I enabled you to defeat [IDM] them all.
And you crossed over Jordan, and came to Jericho; and the inhabitants of Jericho fought against us, the Amorite, and the Chananite, and the Pherezite, and the Evite, and the Jebusite, and the Chettite, and the Gergesite, and the Lord delivered them into our hands.
12 I am the one who caused them to panic as you advanced and enabled you to defeat them, as I had enabled you to do earlier to the two kings of the groups who were descendants of Amor. You did not defeat them by using your own bows and arrows and swords; [it was I who defeated them].
And he sent forth the hornet before you; and he drove them out from before you, [even] twelve kings of the Amorites, not with your sword, nor with your bow.
13 So I gave you a land that you had not tilled/planted, and I gave you cities that you did not build. [Now] you live in those [cities] and you eat the grapes from the grapevines that you did not plant, and you eat olives from trees that you did not plant.’”
And he gave you a land on which you did not labour, and cities which you did not build, and you were settled in them; and you eat [of] vineyards and olive yards which you did not plant.
14 [Then Joshua said to the people], “[Because of all that] Yahweh [has done for you], revere him, and serve/worship him very faithfully. Throw away the idols that your ancestors worshiped on the east/other side of the Euphrates River and in Egypt. Serve only Yahweh.
And now fear the Lord, and serve him in righteousness and justice; and remove the strange gods, which our fathers served beyond the river, and in Egypt; and serve the Lord.
15 But if you do not want to serve/worship Yahweh, you should decide today what [gods] you will serve/worship. You should decide whether you will serve/worship the gods that your ancestors who lived on the other/east side of the Euphrates River served, or whether you will serve/worship the gods that the descendants of Amor, who previously lived in the land where you are now living, [serve/worship]. But as for me and my family [MTY], we will serve/worship Yahweh!”
But if it seem not good to you to serve the Lord, choose to yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods of your fathers that were on the other side of the river, or the gods of the Amorites, amongst whom you dwell upon their land: but I and my house will serve the Lord, for he is holy.
16 The Israeli people answered, “We will never quit [serving/worshiping] Yahweh! We would never [think of] [IDM] serving/worshiping other gods!
And the people answered and said, Far be it from us to forsake the Lord, so as to serve other gods.
17 It was our God, Yahweh, who brought our parents and grandparents up out of Egypt. [He rescued them] from that land where they were slaves. As he rescued them, they saw him perform great miracles. He protected them all the time when they were traveling. He protected them from all the people-groups through whose territory they traveled.
The Lord our God, he is God; he brought up us and our fathers from Egypt, and kept us in all the way wherein we walked, and amongst all the nations through whom we passed.
18 As our forefathers advanced, Yahweh expelled the descendants of Amor and the other people-groups who lived in this land. Yahweh is our God, so [we are saying that] we also will serve/worship him.”
And the Lord cast out the Amorite, and all the nations that inhabited the land from before us: yes, we will serve the Lord, for he is our God.
19 Joshua replied to the people, “[I think that] you are not able to serve/worship Yahweh, because he is a holy God. He will not forgive your sinning and rebelling [against him]. He demands that you serve/worship only him [IDM].
And Joshua said to the people, Indeed you will not be able to serve the Lord, for God is holy; and he being jealous will not forgive your sins and your transgressions.
20 He has been good to you [in the past], but if you turn away from him and serve/worship foreign/other gods, he will turn [against you] and he will cause you to experience disasters. He will punish [IDM] you severely!”
Whenever you shall forsake the Lord and serve other gods, then he shall come upon you and afflict you, and consume you, because he has done you good.
21 But the people replied to Joshua, “No, [we will not turn away from worshiping/serving Yahweh] We will serve/worship Yahweh!”
And the people said to Joshua, Nay, but we will serve the Lord.
22 Then Joshua said, “You yourselves are saying that you have decided to serve/worship Yahweh.” They replied, “Yes, we are saying that.”
And Joshua said to the people, You [are] witnesses against yourselves, that you have chosen the Lord to serve him.
23 Then Joshua said, “Since [you have decided] that, you must throw away all the other gods/idols that you have among you. You must also promise that you will wholeheartedly give yourselves to Yahweh, the God whom we Israelis [serve/worship].”
And now take away the strange gods that are amongst you, and set your heart right towards the Lord God of Israel.
24 The people replied, “We will serve/worship Yahweh, our God, and obey him.”
And the people said to Joshua, We will serve the Lord, and we will listen to his voice.
25 That day, Joshua established an agreement between the people and Yahweh. He wrote for them all the laws that they were required to obey.
So Joshua made a covenant with the people on that day, and gave them a law and an ordinance in Selo before the tabernacle of the God of Israel.
26 He wrote all those laws on a scroll. He called it ‘The laws of God’. Then he [told some men to] set up a large stone there at Shechem, under the [large] oak tree near the place where [they worshiped] Yahweh.
And he wrote these words in the book of the laws of God: and Joshua took a great stone, and set it up under the oak before the Lord.
27 He said to all the people, “Look! [It is as though] this stone has heard everything that Yahweh said to you [and that you promised Yahweh]. It will serve as a witness against you if you rebel against your God!”
And Joshua said to the people, Behold, this stone shall be amongst you for a witness, for it has heard all the words that have been spoken to it by the Lord; for he has spoken to you this day; and this [stone] shall be amongst you for a witness in the last days, whenever you shall deal falsely with the Lord my God.
28 Then Joshua sent the people away, and all of them returned to their own areas/homes.
And Joshua dismissed the people, and they went every man to his place.
29 Some time after that, Nun’s son Joshua, the faithful servant of Yahweh, died. He was 110 years old when he died.
And it came to pass after these things that Joshua the son of Naue the servant of the Lord died, [at the age] of a hundred and ten years.
30 The Israeli people buried his body on his own property in Timnath-Serah [town] town. It is north of Gaash Mountain in the hilly area of the tribe who were descendants of Ephraim.
And they buried him by the borders of his inheritance in Thamnasarach in the mount of Ephraim, northward of the mount of Galaad.
31 The Israeli people served/worshiped Yahweh as long as Joshua was alive. After Joshua died, they continued serving/worshiping Yahweh while the elders who had experienced everything that Yahweh had done for the Israeli people were still alive.
And Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that lived as long as Joshua, and all that knew all the works of the Lord which he wrought for Israel.
32 Joseph’s bones, which the Israeli people had brought with them from Egypt, were also buried at Shechem. The people buried them in the piece of land that Jacob had bought long ago for 100 pieces of silver from Hamor, the father of Shechem. That piece of land was in the area that was given to the people who were descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh, Joseph’s sons.
And the children of Israel brought up the bones of Joseph out of Egypt, and buried [them] in Sicima, in the portion of the land which Jacob bought of the Amorites who lived in Sicima for a hundred ewe-lambs; and he gave it to Joseph for a portion.
33 Eleazar, the Supreme Priest, the son of Aaron, also died. They buried his body at Gibeah, in the area that had been given to Eleazar’s son Phinehas, in the hilly area that belonged to the people who were descendants of Ephraim.
And it came to pass afterwards that Eleazar the high-priest the son of Aaron died, and was buried in Gabaar of Phinees his son, which he gave him in mount Ephraim.
