1. And Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel, and for its heads, and for its judges, and for its officers. And they placed themselves before God.
2. And Joshua said to all the people, So says Jehovah the God of Israel, Your fathers have in the past lived Beyond the River (Terah the father of Abraham and father of Nahor) and they served other gods.
3. And I took your father Abraham from Beyond the River, and caused him to go through all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed, and gave Isaac to him.
4. And I gave Jacob and Esau to Isaac. And I gave Mount Seir to Esau, to possess it. And Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt.
5. And I sent Moses and Aaron and plagued Egypt, as I did in its midst. And afterward I brought you out.
6. And I brought your fathers out from Egypt, and you went into the sea, and the Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and with horsemen, into the Sea of Reeds.
7. And they cried to Jehovah, and He set thick darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea on them, and covered them. And your eyes saw that which I have done in Egypt. And you lived in the wilderness many days.
8. And I brought you into the land of the Amorite who lived beyond the Jordan. And they fought with you, and I gave them into your hand, and you possessed their land. And I destroyed them before you.
9. And Balak the son of Zippor, the king of Moab, rose up and fought against Israel, and sent and called for Balaam the son of Beor to curse you.
10. And I was not willing to listen to Balaam, and he greatly blessed you. And I delivered you out of his hand.
11. And you crossed over the Jordan and came to Jericho. And the masters of Jericho fought against you, the Amorite and the Perizzite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Girgashite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite; and I gave them into your hand.
12. And I sent the hornet before you, and it cast them out before you, two kings of the Amorites, not by the sword nor by your bow.
13. And I have given you a land for which you have not labored, and cities which you have not built, and you live in them. You are eating of vineyards and oliveyards which you did not plant.
14. Now, then, fear Jehovah, and serve Him in sincerity and truth, and turn away from the gods which your fathers served Beyond the River, and in Egypt; and you serve Jehovah.
15. And if it seems evil in your eyes to serve Jehovah, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve, whether the gods whom your fathers served 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 Jehovah.
16. And the people replied and said, Far be it from us to forsake Jehovah, to serve other gods.
17. For Jehovah our God is He who has brought us and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slaves, and who has done these great signs before our eyes, and has preserved us in all the way in which we have gone, and among all the people through whom we have passed.
18. And Jehovah has cast out all the peoples, even the Amorite inhabiting the land before us. We also will serve Jehovah, for He is our God.
19. And Joshua said to the people, You cannot serve Jehovah, for He is a holy God; He is a jealous God. He will not lift up from you your transgressions or your sins.
20. When you forsake Jehovah, and shall serve strange gods, then He will turn away and do evil to you, and consume you, after He has done good to you.
21. And the people said to Joshua, No, but we will serve Jehovah.
22. And Joshua said to the people, You are witnesses against yourselves, that you have chosen Jehovah for yourselves, to serve Him (for they said, We are witnesses).
23. And now turn away from the strange gods among you, and incline your heart to Jehovah the God of Israel.
24. And the people said to Joshua, We will serve Jehovah our God, and we will listen to His voice.
25. And Joshua made a covenant with the people on that day, and laid on them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem.
26. And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the Law of God, and took a great stone and raised it up there under the oak by the sanctuary of Jehovah.
27. And Joshua said to all the people, Behold, this stone shall be a witness against us, for it has heard all the sayings of Jehovah which He has spoken with us. And it shall be against you for a witness, that you not lie against your God.
28. And Joshua sent the people away, each to his inheritance.
29. And it happened after these things, the servant of Jehovah, Joshua the son of Nun died, being a son of a hundred and ten.
30. And they buried him in the border of his inheritance, in Timnath-serah, which is in the hills of Ephraim, on the north of the Hill of Gaash.
31. And Israel served Jehovah all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders whose days were prolonged after Joshua, and who knew all the work of Jehovah which He did to Israel.
32. And the bones of Joseph which the sons of Israel brought up out of Egypt, they buried in Shechem, in the portion of the field which Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem, for a hundred silver pieces. And they were for an inheritance to the sons of Joseph.
33. And Eleazar the son of Aaron died, and they buried him in the hill of Phinehas his son, which was given to him in the hills of Ephraim.