1Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem. He summoned the elders of Israel, its heads, its judges, and its officials, and they presented themselves before God.2Joshua said to all the people: "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Long ago your fathers lived beyond the River—Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor—and they served other gods."3I took your father Abraham from beyond the River and led him through all the land of Canaan. I multiplied his offspring and gave him Isaac.4To Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. To Esau I gave Mount Seir as a possession, but Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt.5I sent Moses and Aaron, and I afflicted Egypt just as I acted in its midst; afterward I brought you out.6I brought your fathers out of Egypt. You came to the sea, and the Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen as far as the Red Sea.7They cried out to the LORD, and he placed darkness between you and the Egyptians. He brought the sea upon them and covered them. Your own eyes saw what I did in Egypt, and you lived in the wilderness for many days.8I brought you into the land of the Amorites who lived beyond the Jordan. They fought against you, yet I gave them into your hand, and you took possession of their land; I destroyed them from before you.9Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, rose up and fought against Israel. He sent for Balaam son of Beor to curse you.10I refused to listen to Balaam; instead he blessed you with a blessing, and I delivered you from his hand.11You crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The citizens of Jericho fought against you—the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Girgashite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite—and I gave them into your hand.12I sent the hornet ahead of you, and it drove them out from before you—the two Amorite kings—not by your sword and not by your bow.13I gave you land on which you had not labored and cities you had not built; you settled in them. You eat from vineyards and olive groves you did not plant.14Now therefore fear the LORD and serve him with integrity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.15If it seems wrong in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve—whether the gods your fathers served beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.16The people answered and said, "Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods."17For the LORD our God brought us and our fathers up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. He performed before our eyes these great signs and guarded us throughout the entire journey we traveled and among all the peoples we passed through.18The LORD drove out before us all the peoples, including the Amorites who inhabited the land. We also will serve the LORD, for he is our God.19Joshua said to the people, "You are not able to serve the LORD, because he is a holy God; he is a jealous God. He will not forgive your transgression or your sins."20If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster upon you and destroy you after he has done you good.21The people said to Joshua, "We will not do so; rather we will serve the LORD."22Joshua said to the people, "You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the LORD to serve him." They replied, "We are witnesses."23Now therefore put away the foreign gods that are among you and incline your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel.24The people said to Joshua, "We will serve the LORD our God and obey his voice."25On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people and established for them a statute and a rule at Shechem.26Joshua recorded these words in the book of the law of God. He took a large stone and set it up there under the oak that stands in the sanctuary of the LORD.27Joshua said to all the people, "Behold, this stone shall be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words the LORD spoke to us. It shall be a witness against you, lest you deny your God."