²⁵ And then a certain lawyer arose to try (test, tempt) Him, saying, Teacher, what am I to do to inherit everlasting life [that is, to partake of eternal salvation in the Messiah’s kingdom]?

²⁶ Jesus said to him, What is written in the Law? How do you read it?

²⁷ And he replied, You must love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.^(A)

²⁸ And Jesus said to him, You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live [enjoy active, blessed, endless life in the kingdom of God].

²⁹ And he, ^[a]determined to acquit himself of reproach, said to Jesus, And who is my neighbor?

³⁰ Jesus, ^[b]taking him up, replied, A certain man was going from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him of his clothes and belongings and beat him and went their way, [^[c]unconcernedly] leaving him half dead, as it happened.

³¹ Now by ^[d]coincidence a certain priest was going down along that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

³² A Levite likewise came down to the place and saw him, and passed by on the other side [of the road].

³³ But a certain Samaritan, as he traveled along, came down to where he was; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity and sympathy [for him],

³⁴ And went to him and dressed his wounds, pouring on [them] oil and wine. Then he set him on his own beast and brought him to an inn and took care of him.

³⁵ And the next day he took out two denarii [two day’s wages] and gave [them] to the innkeeper, saying, Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, I [myself] will repay you when I return.

³⁶ Which of these three do you think proved himself a neighbor to him who fell among the robbers?

³⁷ He answered, The one who showed pity and mercy to him. And Jesus said to him, Go and do likewise.

³⁸ Now while they were on their way, it occurred that Jesus entered a certain village, and a woman named Martha received and welcomed Him into her house.

³⁹ And she had a sister named Mary, who seated herself at the Lord’s feet and was listening to His teaching.

⁴⁰ But Martha [overly occupied and too busy] was distracted with much serving; and she came up to Him and said, Lord, is it nothing to You that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me [to lend a hand and do her part along with me]!

⁴¹ But the Lord replied to her by saying, Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things;

⁴² There is need of only one or but ^[e]a few things. Mary has chosen the good portion [^[f]that which is to her advantage], which shall not be taken away from her.

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23 A long time after that, when the Lord had given Israel rest from all their enemies round about, and Joshua had grown old and advanced in years,

² Joshua summoned all Israel, their elders, heads, judges, and officers, and said to them, I am old and advanced in years.

³ And you have seen all that the Lord your God has done to all these nations for your sake; for it is the Lord your God Who has fought for you.^(A)

⁴ Behold, I have allotted to you as an inheritance for your tribes those nations that remain, with all the nations I have cut off, from the Jordan to the Great Sea on the west.

⁵ The Lord your God will thrust them out from before you and drive them out of your sight, and you shall possess their land, as the Lord your God ^[a]promised you.

⁶ So be very courageous and steadfast to keep and do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, turning not aside from it to the right hand or the left,

⁷ That you may not mix with these nations that remain among you, or make mention of the names of their gods or swear by them or serve them or bow down to them.

⁸ But cling to the Lord your God as you have done to this day.

⁹ For the Lord has driven out from before you great and strong nations; and as for you, no man has been able to withstand you to this day.

¹⁰ One man of you shall put to flight a thousand, for it is the Lord your God Who fights for you, as He promised you.

¹¹ Be very watchful of yourselves, therefore, to ^[b]love the Lord your God.

¹² For if you turn back and adhere to the remnant of these nations left among you and make marriages with them, you marrying their women and they yours,

¹³ Know with certainty that the Lord your God will not continue to drive these nations from before you; but they shall be a snare and trap to you, and a scourge in your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good land which the Lord your God has given you.

¹⁴ And behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth. Know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing has failed of all the good things which the Lord your God promised concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one thing of them has failed.

¹⁵ But just as all good things which the Lord promised you have come to you, so will the Lord carry out [His] every [warning of] evil upon you, until He has destroyed you from off this good land which the Lord your God has given you.

¹⁶ If you transgress the covenant of the Lord your God, which He commanded you, if you serve other gods and bow down to them, then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and you shall perish quickly from off the good land He has given you.

24 Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and summoned the elders of Israel and their heads, their judges, and their officers; they presented themselves before God.

² Joshua said to all the people, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt in olden times beyond the Euphrates River, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, and they served other gods.

³ And I took your father Abraham from beyond the Euphrates River and led him through all the land of Canaan and multiplied his offspring. I gave him Isaac,

⁴ And I gave to Isaac Jacob and Esau. And I gave to Esau the hill country of Seir to possess, but Jacob and his children went down to Egypt.

⁵ I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt with what I did in the midst of it; and afterward I brought you out.

⁶ I 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 When they cried to the Lord, He put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them and covered them; and your eyes saw what I did in Egypt. And you lived in the wilderness a long time [forty years].^(B)

⁸ I brought you into the land of the Amorites who lived on the other side of the Jordan; they fought with you, and I gave them into your hand, and you possessed their land, and I destroyed them before you.

⁹ Then Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and warred against Israel, and sent and called Balaam son of Beor to curse you.

¹⁰ But I would not listen to Balaam; therefore he blessed you; so I delivered you out of Balak’s hand.^(C)

¹¹ You went over the Jordan and came to Jericho; and the men of Jericho fought against you, as did the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites, and Jebusites, and I gave them into your hands.

¹² I sent the ^[c]hornet [that is, the terror of you] before you, which drove the two kings of the Amorites out before you; but it was not by your sword or by your bow.^(D)

¹³ I have given you a land for which you did not labor and cities you did not build, and you dwell in them; you eat from vineyards and olive yards you did not plant.

¹⁴ Now therefore, [reverently] fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and in truth; put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the [Euphrates] River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.

¹⁵ And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

¹⁶ The people answered, Far be it from us to forsake the Lord to serve other gods;

¹⁷ For it is the Lord our God 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 peoples through whom we passed.

¹⁸ And the Lord drove out before us all the people, the Amorites who dwelt in the land. Therefore we also will serve the Lord, for He is our God.

¹⁹ And Joshua said to the people, You cannot serve the Lord, for He is a holy God; He is a jealous God. He will not forgive your transgressions or your sins.

²⁰ If you forsake the Lord and ^[d]serve strange gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you, after having done you good.

²¹ And the people said to Joshua, No; but we will serve the Lord.

²² Then Joshua said to the people, You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord, to serve Him. And they said, We are witnesses.

²³ Then put away, said he, the foreign gods that are among you and incline your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.

²⁴ The people said to Joshua, The Lord our God we will serve; His voice we will obey.

²⁵ So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made statutes and ordinances for them at Shechem.

²⁶ And Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God; and he took a great stone and set it up there under an oak that was in [the court of] the sanctuary of the Lord.

²⁷ And Joshua said to all the people, See, this stone shall be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words the Lord spoke to us; so it shall be a witness against you, lest [afterward] you lie (pretend) and deny your God.

²⁸ So Joshua sent the people away, every man to his inheritance.

²⁹ After this, Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being 110 years old.

³⁰ They buried him at the edge of his inheritance in Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim, on the north side of the hill of Gaash.

³¹ Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua and of the elders who outlived Joshua and had known all the works the Lord had done for Israel.

³² And the bones of Joseph, which the Israelites brought up out of Egypt, they buried in Shechem in the portion of ground Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for 100 pieces of money; and it became the inheritance of the Josephites.

³³ And Eleazar son of Aaron died; and they buried him at Gibeah [on the hill] of Phinehas his son, which was given him in the hill country of Ephraim.