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Renewal of the Covenant at Shechem

Joshua 24:1-27

24
Chapter 24
1 And Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem and called the elders of Israel and its heads and its judges and its officers, and they stationed themselves before God. 2 And Joshua said to all the people, "Thus says the LORD God of Israel: On the other side of the River your fathers dwelt from eternity, Terah father of Abraham and father of Nahor, and they served other gods." 3 And I took your father Abraham from beyond the river and led him through all the land of Canaan and multiplied his seed and gave him Isaac. 4 And I gave Isaac Jacob and Esau, and I gave Esau Mount Seir to possess it, and Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt. 5 And I sent Moses and Aaron, and I struck Egypt just as I did in its midst, and afterward I brought you out. 6 And I brought your fathers out from Egypt, and you came to the Red Sea, and the Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen. 7 And they cried out to the LORD, and he put darkness between you and the Egyptians. And he brought the sea upon them and covered them, and your eyes saw what I did in Egypt. And you lived in the wilderness many days. 8 And I brought you to the land of the Amorites, those dwelling beyond the Jordan. And they fought you, and I gave them into your hand, and you possessed their land, and I destroyed them from before you. 9 Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and fought against Israel. He sent and called Balaam son of Beor to curse you. 10 And I did not consent to listen to Balaam, and he blessed you with blessing, and I delivered you from his hand. 11 And you crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho, and the lords of Jericho, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites fought against you, and I gave them into your hand. 12 And I sent the hornet before you, and it drove them out from before you, the two kings of the Amorites—not by your sword and not by your bow. 13 And I gave to you land which you did not toil in and cities which you did not build, and you dwell in them—vineyards and olives which you did not plant—and you eat them. 14 And now fear the LORD and serve him in perfection and in truth, and remove the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. 15 And if it seems evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods that your fathers served, which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are dwelling. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. 16 The people answered, "Far be it from us to abandon the LORD to serve other gods!" 17 for the LORD our God, he is the one who brought us and our fathers up from the land of Egypt, from the house of slaves, and who did these great signs before our eyes, and kept us in all the way in which we walked and among all the peoples through whose midst we passed. 18 And the LORD drove out all the peoples and the Amorite who dwelt in the earth from before us; also we will serve the LORD, for he is our God. 19 And 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 bear your transgression and your sins." 20 for you abandon the LORD and serve foreign gods, and he turns and does evil to you and finishes you off after he has done good to you. 21 And he said to Joshua, "The people said, 'No, for the LORD we will serve.'" 22 And Joshua said to the people, "You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the LORD for yourselves to serve him." And they said, "We are witnesses." 23 "Now remove the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel." 24 And the people said to Joshua, "The LORD our God we will serve, and to his voice we will listen." 25 Joshua made a covenant for the people that day, and he set a statute and judgment for them at Shechem. 26 And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the Torah of God, and he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak that was in the sanctuary of the LORD. 27 Joshua said to all the people, "See, this stone will be a witness among us, for it has heard all the words of the LORD that he spoke to us. It will be a witness among you, lest you deny your God."