Covenant Renewal at Shechem
1Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He summoned the elders of Israel, its leaders, its judges, and its officers, and they presented themselves before God. 2Joshua said to all the people, “This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says: Long ago your fathers — Terah, the father of Abraham and Nahor — lived beyond the Euphrates and served other gods. 3But I took your father Abraham from beyond the Euphrates, led him through all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his descendants. I gave him Isaac, 4and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I gave Esau the hill country of Seir to possess, but Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt. 5Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I struck Egypt with plagues, as I did among them, and afterward I brought you out. 6I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and you came to the sea. The Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen as far as the Red Sea. 7But when they cried out to Yahweh, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, brought the sea over them, and covered them. Your own eyes saw what I did in Egypt. Then you lived in the wilderness a long time. 8I brought you into the land of the Amorites who lived east of the Jordan. They fought against you, but I gave them into your hand; you took possession of their land, and I destroyed them before you. 9Then Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, rose up and fought against Israel. He sent for Balaam son of Beor to curse you, 10but I would not listen to Balaam. So he blessed you again and again, and I delivered you from his hand. 11You crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The citizens of Jericho fought against you, along with the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, but I gave them into your hand. 12I sent the hornet ahead of you, and it drove out before you the two kings of the Amorites — not by your sword or your bow. 13I gave you a land you had not worked for, and towns you had not built, and you live in them; you eat from vineyards and olive groves you did not plant.
Choose Whom You Will Serve
14Now, therefore, fear Yahweh and serve him in sincerity and truth. Put away the gods your fathers served beyond the Euphrates and in Egypt, and serve Yahweh. 15But if it seems wrong to you to serve Yahweh, choose today whom you will serve — whether the gods your fathers served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live. But as for me and my household, we will serve Yahweh.” 16The people answered, “Far be it from us to forsake Yahweh to serve other gods! 17For it is Yahweh our God who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who performed those great signs before our eyes, and who protected us throughout our journey and among all the peoples through whom we passed. 18Yahweh drove out before us all the peoples, including the Amorites who lived in the land. We too will serve Yahweh, for he is our God.”
Joshua’s Warning
19Joshua said to the people, “You will not be able to serve Yahweh, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your rebellion or your sins. 20If you forsake Yahweh and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and consume you, after he has been good to you.” 21But the people said to Joshua, “No — we will serve Yahweh.” 22Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen Yahweh, to serve him.” They said, “We are witnesses.” 23“Now, then, put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your hearts to Yahweh, the God of Israel.” 24The people said to Joshua, “We will serve Yahweh our God, and we will obey his voice.” 25So on that day Joshua made a covenant with the people and established for them decrees and laws at Shechem. 26Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God. He took a large stone and set it up there, under the oak that was near the sanctuary of Yahweh, 27and Joshua said to all the people, “See this stone — it will be a witness against us, for it has heard every word Yahweh has spoken to us. It will be a witness against you, so that you do not deny your God.”
The Death of Joshua
28Then Joshua sent the people away, each to his own inheritance. 29After these things, Joshua son of Nun, the servant of Yahweh, died, at the age of a hundred and ten. 30They buried him within the borders of his inheritance, at Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. 31Israel served Yahweh throughout the days of Joshua, and throughout the days of the elders who outlived Joshua and who knew everything Yahweh had done for Israel. 32The bones of Joseph, which the Israelites had carried up from Egypt, were buried at Shechem, in the plot of ground Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for a hundred pieces of silver. This became the inheritance of the descendants of Joseph. 33Eleazar son of Aaron also died, and they buried him at Gibeah, the town of his son Phinehas, which had been given to him in the hill country of Ephraim.
