Joshua Reviews Israel’s History

24 Then ^(A)Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel at Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel, their heads, their judges, and their officers; and they presented themselves before God. ² Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: ‘From ancient times your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates River, namely, ^(B)Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods. ³ Then ^(C)I took your father Abraham from beyond the Euphrates River and led him through all the land of Canaan, and ^(D)multiplied his ^[a]descendants and gave him ^(E)Isaac. ⁴ To Isaac I gave ^(F)Jacob and Esau, and ^(G)to Esau I gave Mount Seir, to possess it; but ^(H)Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt. ⁵ Then ^(I)I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt ^[b]by what I did in its midst; and afterward I brought you out. ⁶ So I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and ^(J)you came to the sea; and Egypt pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the ^[c]Red Sea. ⁷ But when they cried out to the Lord, He put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them and covered them; and your own eyes saw what I did in Egypt. And ^(K)you lived in the wilderness for a long time. ⁸ Then ^(L)I brought you into the land of the Amorites, who lived beyond the Jordan, and they fought with you; but I handed them over to you, and you took possession of their land when I eliminated them before you. ⁹ Then ^(M)Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, rose up and fought against Israel, and he sent messengers and summoned Balaam the son of Beor to curse you. ¹⁰ But I ^(N)was not willing to listen to Balaam. So he had to bless you, and I saved you from his hand. ^11 (O)You crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho; and the citizens of Jericho fought against you, and ^(P)the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Girgashite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Therefore ^(Q)I handed them over to you. ¹² Then I ^(R)sent the hornet before you and it ^[d]drove out the two kings of the Amorites from you—^(S)not by your sword nor your bow. ¹³ And ^(T)I gave you a land on which you had not labored, and cities which you had not built, and you have lived in them; you are eating of vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.’

“We Will Serve the Lord”

¹⁴ “Now, therefore, ^[e](U)fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and ^[f]truth; and do away with the gods which your fathers served beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. ¹⁵ But if it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served, which were beyond the Euphrates River, or ^(V)the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

¹⁶ The people answered and said, “Far be it from us that we would abandon 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 slaves, and did these great signs in our sight and watched over us through all the way in which we went and among all the peoples through whose midst we passed. ¹⁸ The Lord drove out from before us all the peoples, even the Amorites who lived in the land. We also will serve the Lord, for He is our God.”

¹⁹ Then Joshua said to the people, “You will not be able to serve the Lord, ^(W)for He is a holy God. He is ^(X)a jealous God; ^(Y)He will not forgive your wrongdoing or your sins. ^20 (Z)If you abandon the Lord and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and destroy you after He has done good to you.” 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 ^(AA)you have chosen for yourselves the Lord, to serve Him.” And they said, “We are witnesses.” ²³ “Now then, do away with the foreign gods which are in your midst, and ^(AB)incline your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.” ²⁴ And ^(AC)the people said to Joshua, “We will serve the Lord our God and ^[g]obey His voice.” ^25 (AD)So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem. ²⁶ And Joshua ^(AE)wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God; and he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. ²⁷ Then Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, ^(AF)this stone shall be a witness against us, because it has heard all the words of the Lord which He spoke ^[h]to us; so it shall be a witness against you, so that you do not deny your God.” ²⁸ Then Joshua dismissed the people, each to his inheritance.

Joshua’s Death and Burial

²⁹ Now it came about after these things that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being 110 years old. ³⁰ And they buried him in the territory of his inheritance, in ^(AG)Timnath-serah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, on the north of Mount Gaash.

^31 (AH)Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who ^[i]survived Joshua, and had known every deed of the Lord which He had done for Israel.

³² Now ^(AI)they buried the bones of Joseph, which the sons of Israel brought up from Egypt, at Shechem, in the plot of land ^(AJ)which Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred ^[j]pieces of money; and they became the inheritance of Joseph’s sons. ³³ And Eleazar the son of Aaron died; and they buried him at Gibeah, the town of his son ^(AK)Phinehas, which was given to him in the hill country of Ephraim.

Peter and John Arrested

4 As they were speaking to the people, the priests and ^(A)the captain of the temple guard and ^(B)the Sadducees ^(C)came up to them, ² being greatly disturbed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming ^[a](D)in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. ³ And they laid hands on them and ^(E)put them in prison until the next day, for it was already evening. ⁴ But many of those who had heard the ^[b]message believed; and ^(F)the number of the men came to be about five thousand.

⁵ On the next day, their ^(G)rulers and elders and scribes were gathered together in Jerusalem; ⁶ and ^(H)Annas the high priest was there, and ^(I)Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and all who were of high-priestly descent. ⁷ When they had placed them in the center, they began to inquire, “By what power, or in what name, have you done this?” ⁸ Then Peter, ^[c](J)filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “^[d](K)Rulers and elders of the people, ⁹ if we are ^[e]on trial today for ^(L)a benefit done to a sick man, as to ^[f]how this man has been made well, ¹⁰ let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that ^[g](M)by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom ^(N)God raised from the dead—^[h]by ^[i]this name this man stands here before you in good health. ^11 [j](O)He is the ^(P)stone which was ^(Q)rejected by you, the builders, but which became the chief cornerstone. ¹² And there is salvation in ^(R)no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among mankind by which we must be saved.”

Threat and Release

¹³ Now as they observed the ^(S)confidence of ^(T)Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and ^(U)began to recognize them ^[k]as having been with Jesus. ¹⁴ And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they had nothing to say in reply. ¹⁵ But when they had ordered them to leave the ^[l](V)Council, they began to confer with one another, ¹⁶ saying, “^(W)What are we to do with these men? For the fact that a ^(X)noteworthy ^[m]miracle has taken place through them is apparent to all who live in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. ¹⁷ But so that it will not spread any further among the people, let’s warn them not to speak any longer to any person ^(Y)in this name.” ¹⁸ And when they had summoned them, they ^(Z)commanded them not to speak or teach at all ^[n]in the name of Jesus. ¹⁹ But ^(AA)Peter and John answered and said to them, “^(AB)Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, make your own judgment; ²⁰ for ^(AC)we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.” ²¹ When they had threatened them further, they let them go (finding no basis on which to punish them) ^(AD)on account of the people, because they were all ^(AE)glorifying God for what had happened; ²² for the man on whom this ^[o]miracle of healing had been performed was more than forty years old.

²³ When they had been released, they went to their own companions and reported everything that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. ²⁴ And when they heard this, they raised their voices to God with one mind and said, “^[p]Lord, it is You who ^(AF)made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything that is in them, ²⁵ who ^(AG)by the Holy Spirit, through the mouth of our father David Your servant, said,

²⁷ For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy ^[t](AK)servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both ^(AL)Herod and ^(AM)Pontius Pilate, along with ^(AN)the ^[u]Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, ²⁸ to do whatever Your hand and ^(AO)purpose predestined to occur. ²⁹ And ^[v]now, Lord, look at their threats, and grant it to Your bond-servants to ^(AP)speak Your word with all ^(AQ)confidence, ³⁰ while You extend Your hand to heal, and ^[w](AR)signs and wonders take place through the name of Your holy ^[x](AS)servant Jesus.” ³¹ And when they had prayed, the ^(AT)place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all ^(AU)filled with the Holy Spirit and began to ^(AV)speak the word of God with ^(AW)boldness.

Sharing among Believers

³² And the ^[y]congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul; and not one of them ^[z]claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but ^(AX)all things were common property to them. ³³ And ^(AY)with great power the apostles were giving ^(AZ)testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all. ³⁴ For there was not a needy person among them, for all who were owners of land or houses ^(BA)would sell them and bring the ^[aa]proceeds of the sales ³⁵ and ^(BB)lay them at the apostles’ feet, and they would be ^(BC)distributed to each to the extent that any had need.

³⁶ Now Joseph, a Levite of ^(BD)Cyprian birth, who was also called ^(BE)Barnabas by the apostles (which translated means Son of ^[ab](BF)Encouragement), ^37 [ac]owned a tract of land. So he sold it, and brought the money and ^(BG)laid it at the apostles’ feet.