Joshua 24
The Covenant Renewal at Shechem
Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel ato Shechem and bsummoned the elders, the heads, the judges, and the officers of Israel. And cthey presented themselves before God. 2 And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Long ago, ayour fathers lived beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor; and bthey served other gods. 3 aThen I took your father Abraham from beyond the River and bled him through all the land of Canaan, and made his offspring many. cI gave him Isaac. 4 And to Isaac I gave aJacob and Esau. bAnd I gave Esau the hill country of Seir to possess, cbut Jacob and his children went down to Egypt. 5 aAnd I sent Moses and Aaron, band I plagued Egypt with what I did in the midst of it, and cafterward I brought you out.
6 “‘Then aI brought your fathers out of Egypt, and byou came to the sea. cAnd the Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea. 7 aAnd when they cried to the Lord, bhe put darkness between you and the Egyptians cand made the sea come upon them and cover them; dand your eyes saw what I did in Egypt. eAnd you lived in the wilderness a long time. 8 Then I brought you to the land of the Amorites, who lived on the other side of the Jordan. aThey fought with you, and I gave them into your hand, and you took possession of their land, and I destroyed them before you. 9 aThen Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and fought against Israel. bAnd he sent and invited Balaam the son of Beor to curse you, 10 abut I would not listen to Balaam. aIndeed, he blessed you. So I delivered you out of his hand. 11 aAnd you went over the Jordan and came to Jericho, band the leaders of Jericho fought against you, and also bthe Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And I gave them into your hand. 12 And I sent athe hornet before you, which drove them out before you, the two kings of the Amorites; it was bnot by your sword or by your bow. 13 I gave you a land on which you had not labored aand cities that you had not built, and you dwell in them. You eat the fruit of vineyards and olive orchards that you did not plant.’
Choose Whom You Will Serve
14 a“Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. bPut away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 aAnd if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, bchoose this day whom you will serve, whether cthe gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or dthe gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. eBut as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
16 Then the people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods, 17 for it is the Lord our God who brought us and our fathers up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight and preserved us in all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed. 18 And the Lord drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God.”
19 But Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the Lord, for he is aa holy God. He is ba jealous God; che will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. 20 aIf you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then bhe will turn and do you harm and consume you, after having done you good.” 21 And the people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve the Lord.” 22 Then Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that ayou have chosen the Lord, to serve him.” And they said, “We are witnesses.” 23 He said, “Then aput away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your heart to the Lord, the God of Israel.” 24 And the people said to Joshua, “The Lord our God we will serve, and his voice we will obey.” 25 So Joshua amade a covenant with the people that day, and put in place bstatutes and rules for them at Shechem. 26 And Joshua awrote these words in the Book of the Law of God. And bhe took a large stone and set it up there cunder the terebinth that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. 27 And Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, athis stone shall be a witness against us, for bit has heard all the words of the Lord that he spoke to us. Therefore it shall be a witness against you, lest you deal falsely with your God.” 28 So Joshua asent the people away, every man to his inheritance.
Joshua’s Death and Burial
29 aAfter these things Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being 110 years old. 30 And they buried him in his own inheritance at aTimnath-serah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gaash.
31 aIsrael served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua band had known all the work that the Lord did for Israel.
32 aAs for the bones of Joseph, which the people of Israel brought up from Egypt, they buried them at Shechem, in the piece of land bthat Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred pieces of money. It became an inheritance of the descendants of Joseph.
33 And Eleazar the son of Aaron died, and they buried him at Gibeah, the town of aPhinehas his son, which had been given him in bthe hill country of Ephraim.
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway,
a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.