Joshua 24:1–15

REVIEW OF ISRAEL’S HISTORY

24Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem^e and summoned Israel’s elders, leaders, judges, and officers, and they presented themselves before God.^{f 2}Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your ancestors, including Terah,^g the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River and worshiped other gods. ³But I took your father Abraham from the region beyond the Euphrates River, led him throughout the land of Canaan, and multiplied his descendants.^h I gave him Isaac,^{i 4}and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau.^j I gave the hill country of Seir to Esau as a possession.^k

“ ‘Jacob and his sons, however, went down to Egypt.^{l 5}I sent Moses and Aaron,^m and I defeated Egypt by what I did within it, and afterward I brought you out. ⁶When I brought your ancestors out of Egypt and you reached the Red Sea,ⁿ the Egyptians pursued your ancestors with chariots and horsemen as far as the sea. ⁷Your ancestors cried out to the Lord, so he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea over them, engulfing them. Your own eyes saw what I did to Egypt. After that, you lived in the wilderness a long time.

⁸“ ‘Later, I brought you to the land of the Amorites who lived beyond the Jordan.^o They fought against you, but I handed them over to you. You possessed their land, and I annihilated them before you. ⁹Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab,^p set out to fight against Israel. He sent for Balaam son of Beor to curse you, ¹⁰but I would not listen to Balaam. Instead, he repeatedly blessed you, and I rescued you from him.

¹¹“ ‘You then crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho.^q Jericho’s citizens—as well as the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hethites, Girgashites, Hivites, and Jebusites—fought against you, but I handed them over to you. ¹²I sent hornets^Cr ahead of you, and they drove out the two Amorite kings^s before you. It was not by your sword or bow. ¹³I gave you a land you did not labor for, and cities you did not build,^t though you live in them; you are eating from vineyards and olive groves you did not plant.’

THE COVENANT RENEWAL

¹⁴“Therefore, fear the Lord and worship him in sincerity and truth.^u Get rid of the gods your ancestors worshiped^v beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and worship the Lord. ¹⁵But if it doesn’t please you to worship the Lord, choose for yourselves today: Which will you worship—the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living?^w As for me and my family, we will worship the Lord.”