241 Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem , and called for the elders of Israel and for their heads and their judges and their officers ; and they presented themselves before God . 2 Joshua said to all the people , "Thus says the Lord , the God of Israel , 'From ancient times your fathers lived beyond the River , namely, Terah , the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor , and they served other gods . 3 'Then I took your father Abraham from beyond e the River , and led him through all the land of Canaan , and multiplied his descendants and gave him Isaac . 4 'To Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau , and to Esau I gave Mount Seir to possess it; but Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt . 5 'Then I sent Moses and Aaron , and I plagued Egypt by what I did in its midst ; and afterward I brought you out. 6 'I brought your fathers out of Egypt , and you came to the sea ; and Egypt pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red e Sea . 7 'But when they cried out to the Lord , He put darkness between you and the Egyptians , and brought the sea upon them and covered them; and your own eyes saw what I did in Egypt . And you lived in the wilderness for a long time . 8 'Then I brought you into the land of the Amorites who lived beyond the Jordan , and they fought with you; and I gave them into your hand , and you took possession of their land when I destroyed them before you. 9 'Then Balak the son of Zippor , king of Moab , arose and fought against Israel , and he sent and summoned Balaam the son of Beor to curse you. 10 'But I was not willing to listen to Balaam . So he had to bless you, and I delivered you from his hand . 11 ' You crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho ; and the citizens of Jericho fought against you, and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Girgashite , the Hivite and the Jebusite . Thus I gave them into your hand . 12 'Then I sent the hornet before you and it drove out the two kings of the Amorites from before e you, but not by your sword or your bow . 13 ' I gave you a land on which you had not labored , and cities which you had not built , and you have lived in them; you are eating of vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant .' 14 "Now , therefore, fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and truth ; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt , and serve the Lord .
15 "If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord , choose for yourselves today whom you will serve : whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River , or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living ; but as for me and my house , we will serve the Lord ." 16 The people answered and said , "Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods ; 17 for the Lord our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt , from the house of bondage , and who did these great signs in our sight and preserved us through all the way in which we went and among all the peoples through whose midst we passed . 18 "The Lord drove out from before us all the peoples , even the Amorites who lived in the land . We also will serve the Lord , for He is our God ." 19 Then Joshua said to the people , "You will not be able to serve the Lord , for He is a holy God . He is a jealous God ; He will not forgive your transgression or your sins . 20 " If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods , then He will turn and do you harm and consume you after He has done good to you." 21 The people said to Joshua , "No , but we will serve the Lord ." 22 Joshua said to the people , "You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen for yourselves the Lord , to serve Him." And they said , "We are witnesses ." 23 "Now therefore, put away the foreign gods which are in your midst , and incline your hearts to the Lord , the God of Israel ." 24 The people said to Joshua , "We will serve the Lord our God and we will obey His voice ." 25 So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day , and made for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem . 26 And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God ; and he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of the Lord . 27 Joshua said to all the people , "Behold , this stone shall be for a witness against us, for it has heard all the words of the Lord which He spoke to us; thus it shall be for a witness against you, so that you do not deny your God ." 28 Then Joshua dismissed the people , each to his inheritance .
29 It came about after these things that Joshua the son of Nun , the servant of the Lord , died , being one hundred and ten years old . 30 And they buried him in the territory of his inheritance in Timnath-serah , which is in the hill country of Ephraim , on the north of Mount Gaash . 31 Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who survived e e Joshua , and had known all the deeds of the Lord which He had done for Israel .
32 Now they buried the bones of Joseph , which the sons of Israel brought up from Egypt , at Shechem , in the piece of ground which Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for one hundred pieces of money ; and they became the inheritance of Joseph's sons .
33 And Eleazar the son of Aaron died ; and they buried him at Gibeah of Phinehas his son , which was given him in the hill country of Ephraim .
