Joshua’s Farewell Address

23 Now it came to pass, a long time after the Lord ^(A)had given rest to Israel from all their enemies round about, that Joshua ^(B)was old, advanced in age. ² And Joshua ^(C)called for all Israel, for their elders, for their heads, for their judges, and for their officers, and said to them:

“I am old, advanced in age. ³ You have seen all that the ^(D)Lord your God has done to all these nations because of you, for the ^(E)Lord your God is He who has fought for you. ⁴ See, ^(F)I have divided to you by lot these nations that remain, to be an inheritance for your tribes, from the Jordan, with all the nations that I have cut off, as far as the Great Sea westward. ⁵ And the Lord your God ^(G)will expel them from before you and drive them out of your sight. So you shall possess their land, ^(H)as the Lord your God promised you. ^6 (I)Therefore be very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, ^(J)lest you turn aside from it to the right hand or to the left, ⁷ and lest you ^(K)go^[a] among these nations, these who remain among you. You shall not ^(L)make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause anyone to ^(M)swear by them; you shall not ^(N)serve them nor bow down to them, ⁸ but you shall ^(O)hold fast to the Lord your God, as you have done to this day. ^9 (P)For the Lord has ^[b]driven out from before you great and strong nations; but as for you, no one has been able to stand against you to this day. ^10 (Q)One man of you shall chase a thousand, for the Lord your God is He who fights for you, ^(R)as He promised you. ^11 (S)Therefore take careful heed to yourselves, that you love the Lord your God. ¹² Or else, if indeed you do ^(T)go back, and cling to the remnant of these nations—these that remain among you—and ^(U)make marriages with them, and go in to them and they to you, ¹³ know for certain that ^(V)the Lord your God will no longer drive out these nations from before you. ^(W)But they shall be snares and traps to you, and scourges on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land which the Lord your God has given you.

¹⁴ “Behold, this day ^(X)I^[c] am going the way of all the earth. And you know in all your hearts and in all your souls that ^(Y)not one thing has failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spoke concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one word of them has failed. ^15 (Z)Therefore it shall come to pass, that as all the good things have come upon you which the Lord your God promised you, so the Lord will bring upon you ^(AA)all harmful things, until He has destroyed you from this good land which the Lord your God has given you. ^16 [d]When you have transgressed the covenant of the Lord your God, which He commanded you, and have gone and served other gods, and bowed down to them, then the ^(AB)anger of the Lord will burn against you, and you shall perish quickly from the good land which He has given you.”

Paul’s Ministry on Malta

28 Now when they had escaped, they then found out that ^(A)the island was called Malta. ² And the ^(B)natives^[a] showed us unusual kindness; for they kindled a fire and made us all welcome, because of the rain that was falling and because of the cold. ³ But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat, and fastened on his hand. ⁴ So when the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he has escaped the sea, yet justice does not allow to live.” ⁵ But he shook off the creature into the fire and ^(C)suffered no harm. ⁶ However, they were expecting that he would swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after they had looked for a long time and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds and ^(D)said that he was a god.

⁷ In that region there was an estate of the ^[b]leading citizen of the island, whose name was Publius, who received us and entertained us courteously for three days. ⁸ And it happened that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and dysentery. Paul went in to him and ^(E)prayed, and ^(F)he laid his hands on him and healed him. ⁹ So when this was done, the rest of those on the island who had diseases also came and were healed. ¹⁰ They also honored us in many ^(G)ways; and when we departed, they provided such things as were ^(H)necessary.

Arrival at Rome

¹¹ After three months we sailed in ^(I)an Alexandrian ship whose figurehead was the ^[c]Twin Brothers, which had wintered at the island. ¹² And landing at Syracuse, we stayed three days. ¹³ From there we circled round and reached Rhegium. And after one day the south wind blew; and the next day we came to Puteoli, ¹⁴ where we found ^(J)brethren, and were invited to stay with them seven days. And so we went toward Rome. ¹⁵ And from there, when the brethren heard about us, they came to meet us as far as Appii Forum and Three Inns. When Paul saw them, he thanked God and took courage.

The Covenant at Shechem^(A)

24 Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to ^(B)Shechem and ^(C)called for the elders of Israel, for their heads, for their judges, and for their officers; and they ^(D)presented themselves before God. ² And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ^(E)‘Your fathers, including Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, dwelt on the other side of ^[a]the River in old times; and ^(F)they served other gods. ^3 (G)Then I took your father Abraham from the other side of ^[b]the River, led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his ^[c]descendants and ^(H)gave him Isaac. ⁴ To Isaac I gave ^(I)Jacob and Esau. To ^(J)Esau I gave the mountains of Seir to possess, ^(K)but Jacob and his children went down to Egypt. ^5 (L)Also I sent Moses and Aaron, and ^(M)I plagued Egypt, according to what I did among them. Afterward I brought you out.

⁶ ‘Then I ^(N)brought your fathers out of Egypt, and you came to the sea; and the Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea. ⁷ So they cried out to the Lord; and He put ^(O)darkness between you and the Egyptians, brought the sea upon them, and covered them. And ^(P)your eyes saw what I did in Egypt. Then you dwelt in the wilderness ^(Q)a long time. ⁸ And I brought you into the land of the Amorites, who dwelt on the other side of the Jordan, ^(R)and they fought with you. But I gave them into your hand, that you might possess their land, and I destroyed them from before you. ⁹ Then ^(S)Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose to make war against Israel, and ^(T)sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you. ^10 (U)But I would not listen to Balaam; ^(V)therefore he continued to bless you. So I delivered you out of his hand. ¹¹ Then ^(W)you went over the Jordan and came to Jericho. And ^(X)the men of Jericho fought against you—also the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. But I delivered them into your hand. ^12 (Y)I sent the hornet before you which drove them out from before you, also the two kings of the Amorites, but ^(Z)not with your sword or with your bow. ¹³ I have given you a land for which you did not labor, and ^(AA)cities which you did not build, and you dwell in them; you eat of the vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.’

^14 (AB)“Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in ^(AC)sincerity and in truth, and ^(AD)put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of ^[d]the River and ^(AE)in Egypt. Serve the Lord! ¹⁵ And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, ^(AF)choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether ^(AG)the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of ^[e]the River, or ^(AH)the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. ^(AI)But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

¹⁶ So the people answered and said: “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods; ¹⁷ for the Lord our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way that we went and among all the people through whom we passed. ¹⁸ And the Lord drove out from before us all the people, including the Amorites who dwelt in the land. ^(AJ)We also will serve the Lord, for He is our God.”

¹⁹ But Joshua said to the people, ^(AK)“You cannot serve the Lord, for He is a ^(AL)holy God. He is ^(AM)a jealous God; ^(AN)He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. ^20 (AO)If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, ^(AP)then He will turn and do you harm and consume you, after He has done you good.”

²¹ And the people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve the Lord!”

²² So Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that ^(AQ)you have chosen the Lord for yourselves, to serve Him.”

And they said, “We are witnesses!”

²³ “Now therefore,” he said, ^(AR)“put away the foreign gods which are among you, and ^(AS)incline your heart to the Lord God of Israel.”

²⁴ And the people ^(AT)said to Joshua, “The Lord our God we will serve, and His voice we will obey!”

²⁵ So Joshua ^(AU)made^[f] a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and an ordinance ^(AV)in Shechem.

²⁶ Then Joshua ^(AW)wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God. And he took ^(AX)a large stone, and ^(AY)set it up there ^(AZ)under the oak that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. ²⁷ And Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, this stone shall be ^(BA)a witness to us, for ^(BB)it has heard all the words of the Lord which He spoke to us. It shall therefore be a witness to you, lest you deny your God.” ²⁸ So ^(BC)Joshua let the people depart, each to his own inheritance.

¹⁶ Now when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard; but ^(A)Paul was permitted to dwell by himself with the soldier who guarded him.

Paul’s Ministry at Rome

¹⁷ And it came to pass after three days that Paul called the leaders of the Jews together. So when they had come together, he said to them: “Men and brethren, ^(B)though I have done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers, yet ^(C)I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans, ¹⁸ who, ^(D)when they had examined me, wanted to let me go, because there was no cause for putting me to death. ¹⁹ But when the ^[a]Jews spoke against it, ^(E)I was compelled to appeal to Caesar, not that I had anything of which to accuse my nation. ²⁰ For this reason therefore I have called for you, to see you and speak with you, because ^(F)for the hope of Israel I am bound with ^(G)this chain.”

²¹ Then they said to him, “We neither received letters from Judea concerning you, nor have any of the brethren who came reported or spoken any evil of you. ²² But we desire to hear from you what you think; for concerning this sect, we know that ^(H)it is spoken against everywhere.”

²³ So when they had appointed him a day, many came to him at his lodging, ^(I)to whom he explained and solemnly testified of the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus ^(J)from both the Law of Moses and the Prophets, from morning till evening. ²⁴ And ^(K)some were persuaded by the things which were spoken, and some disbelieved. ²⁵ So when they did not agree among themselves, they departed after Paul had said one word: “The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah the prophet to ^[b]our fathers, ²⁶ saying,

²⁸ “Therefore let it be known to you that the salvation of God has been sent ^(M)to the Gentiles, and they will hear it!” ^29 [c]And when he had said these words, the Jews departed and had a great dispute among themselves.

³⁰ Then Paul dwelt two whole years in his own rented house, and received all who came to him, ^31 (N)preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no one forbidding him.