Beginning
22 Then Joshua called the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh,
2 and said to them, “You have kept all that Moses the servant of the LORD Commanded you and have obeyed my voice in all that I commanded you.
3 “You have not forsaken your brethren this long season, until this day, but have diligently kept the Commandment of the LORD your God.
4 “And now, the LORD has given rest to your brethren, as He promised them. Therefore, now, return. And go to your tents, to the land of your possession, which Moses, the servant of the LORD, has given you, beyond Jordan.
5 “But take diligent care to do the Commandment and Law which Moses, the servant of the LORD, commanded you: that you love the LORD your God and walk in all His ways and keep His Commandments and cling to Him and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.”
6 So Joshua blessed them and sent them away. And they went to their tents.
7 Now, to half of the tribe of Manasseh, Moses had given a possession in Bashan. And to half of it, Joshua gave from among their brethren on this side of Jordan, westward. Therefore, when Joshua sent them away to their tents and blessed them,
8 he spoke to them, saying, “Return to your tents with many riches and with a great multitude of cattle, with silver and with gold, with bronze and with iron, and with great abundance of clothing. Divide the plunder of your enemies with your brethren.”
9 So, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh returned and departed from the children of Israel, from Shiloh (which is in the land of Canaan) to go to the country of Gilead, to the land of their possession, which they had obtained according to the Word of the LORD, by the hand of Moses.
10 And when they came to the borders of Jordan (which are in the land of Canaan), then the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh built an altar there, by Jordan, a great altar to see too.
11 When the children of Israel heard say, “Behold, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh have built an altar in the front of the land of Canaan, upon the borders of Jordan, at the passage of the children of Israel,”
12 when the children of Israel heard that, then the whole Congregation of the children of Israel gathered themselves together at Shiloh, to go up to war against them.
13 Then, the children of Israel sent Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the Priest, to the children of Reuben and to the children of Gad and to the half tribe of Manasseh, into the land of Gilead.
14 And with him went ten princes, one from each chief house, according to all the tribes of Israel. For each one was chief of their father’s household among the thousands of Israel.
15 So they went to the children of Reuben and to the children of Gad and to the half tribe of Manasseh to the land of Gilead and spoke with them, saying,
16 “Thus says the whole Congregation of the LORD, ‘What transgression is this that you have transgressed against the God of Israel, to turn away from the LORD this day, in that you have built yourself an altar with which to rebel against the LORD this day?
17 “Have we too little for the wickedness of Peor of which we are not cleansed to this day, though a plague came upon the Congregation of the LORD?
18 “You also have turned away from the LORD this day. And seeing that you rebel against the LORD today, tomorrow He will be angry with all the Congregation of Israel.
19 “Nevertheless, if the land of your possession is unclean, come over to the land of the possession of the LORD, in which the LORD’s Tabernacle dwells, and take possession among us. But do not rebel against the LORD, or rebel against us, by building your own altar beside the Altar of the LORD our God.
20 “Did not Achan, the son of Zerah, trespass grievously in the secluded thing, and wrath fell on all the Congregation of Israel? But it wasn’t only this one man who perished in his wickedness.”
21 Then the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh answered and said to the heads over the thousands of Israel,
22 “The LORD, God of gods, the LORD, God of gods! He knows and Israel himself shall know! If by rebellion, or by transgression against the LORD, do not save us this day!
23 “If we have built ourselves an altar to turn away from the LORD, either to offer burnt offering on it, or meat offering, or to offer peace offerings on it, let the LORD Himself require it!
24 “But rather, we have done it out of fear, saying, ‘In time to come, your children might say to our children, “What have you to do with the LORD God of Israel?”’
25 “For the LORD has made Jordan a border between us and you, you children of Reuben and of Gad. Therefore, you have no part in the LORD. So shall your children make our children cease from fearing the LORD.
26 “Therefore we said, ‘We will now go about to make ourselves an altar, not for burnt offering or for sacrifice,
27 ‘but it shall be a witness between us and you, and between our generations after us, to execute the service of the LORD before Him, in our Burnt Offerings and in our Sacrifices and in our Peace Offerings, and so that your children would not say to our children in time to come, “You have no part in the LORD.”’
28 “Therefore we said, ‘If so be that they should so say to us or to our generations in time to come, then will we answer, “Behold, the fashion of the altar of the LORD, which our fathers made not for burnt offering or for sacrifice, but it is a witness between us and you.
29 “Far be it from us that we should rebel against the LORD and turn away from the LORD this day, to build an altar for burnt offering, for meat offering, or for sacrifice, except the Altar of the LORD our God that is before His Tabernacle.”’”
30 And when Phinehas the Priest and the princes of the Congregation, and heads over the thousands of Israel who were with him, heard the words that the children of Reuben and children of Gad and the children of Manasseh spoke, they were well content.
31 And Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the Priest, said to the children of Reuben and to the children of Gad and to the children of Manasseh, “This day we perceive that the LORD is among us, because you have not done this trespass against the LORD. Now you have delivered the children of Israel out of the hand of the LORD.”
32 Then, Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the Priest, with the princes, returned from the children of Reuben and from the children of Gad, out of the land of Gilead, to the land of Canaan, to the children of Israel, and brought them answer.
33 And the saying pleased the children of Israel. And the children of Israel blessed God and did not mind to go against them in battle, to destroy the land in which the children of Reuben and Gad dwelt.
34 Then the children of Reuben and the children of Gad called the altar: Witness. “For it shall be a witness between us that the LORD is God.”
23 And long after the LORD had given rest to Israel from all their enemies all around, when Joshua was old and stricken in age,
2 then Joshua called all Israel, their elders, and their heads, and their judges, and their officers, and said to them, “I am old and stricken in age.
3 “You have seen all that the LORD your God has done to all these nations before you, how the LORD your God Himself has fought for you.
4 “Behold, I have divided to you, by lot, these nations that remain, to be an inheritance according to your tribes, from Jordan, with all the nations that I have destroyed, even to the Great Sea, westward.
5 “And the LORD your God shall expel them before you and cast them out of your sight. And you shall possess their land, as the LORD your God has said to you.
6 “Be, therefore, of a valiant courage, to observe and do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, so that you do not turn from there to the right hand or to the left,
7 “or associate with these nations, with those who are left with you, or make mention of the name of their gods, or swear by them, or serve them, or bow to them.
8 “But hold fast to the LORD your God, as you have done to this day.
9 “For the LORD has cast out before you great nations and mighty; and no man has stood before your face to this day.
10 “One man of you shall chase a thousand. For the LORD your God, He fights for you, as He has promised you.
11 “Take good heed, therefore, to yourselves, that you love the LORD your God.
12 “Or else, if you go back and cling to the rest of these nations, of those that remain with you, and make marriages with them, and go to them, and they to you,
13 “know for certain that the LORD your God will cast out no more of these nations from before you. But they shall be a snare and destruction to you, and a whip on your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until you perish out of this good land which the LORD your God has given you.
14 And behold, this day I enter into the way of all the world. And you know in all your hearts and in all your souls that nothing has failed of all the good things which the LORD your God promised you. All has come to pass to you. Nothing of it has failed.
15 “Therefore, as all good things have come upon you which the LORD your God promised you, so shall the LORD bring upon you every miserable thing, until He has destroyed you out of this good land which the LORD your God has given you.
16 “When you shall transgress the Covenant of the LORD your God, which He Commanded you, and shall go and serve other gods, and bow yourselves to them, then shall the wrath of the LORD grow hot against you. And you shall quickly perish out of the good land which He has given you.”
24 And Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called the elders of Israel, and their heads, and their judges, and their officers; and they presented themselves before God.
2 Then, Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘Your fathers—Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor—dwelt beyond the river in old time and served other gods.
3 ‘And I took your father, Abraham, from beyond the river and brought him through all the land of Canaan and multiplied his seed and gave him Isaac.
4 ‘And I gave Jacob and Esau to Isaac. And I gave Mount Seir to Esau, to possess it. But Jacob and his children went down into Egypt.
5 ‘I also sent Moses and Aaron and I plagued Egypt. And when I had done so among them, I brought you out.
6 ‘So I brought your fathers out of Egypt. And you came to the Sea. And the Egyptians pursued after your fathers with chariots and horsemen, to the Red Sea.’
7 “Then they cried to the LORD, and He put a darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the Sea upon them, and covered them. ‘So, your eyes have seen what I have done in Egypt. Also, you dwelt in the wilderness for a long season.
8 ‘Afterward, I brought you into the land of the Amorites, who dwelt beyond Jordan. And they fought with you. But I gave them into your hand; and you possessed their country; and I destroyed them out of your sight.
9 ‘Also, Balak, the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and warred against Israel and sent to Balaam, the son of Beor, to curse you.
10 ‘But I would not hear Balaam. Therefore, he blessed you; and I delivered you out of his hand.
11 ‘And you went over Jordan and came to Jericho. And the men of Jericho fought against you, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And I delivered them into your hand.
12 ‘And I sent hornets before you, which cast them out before you (the two kings of the Amorites, that is) not your sword or your bow.
13 ‘And I have given you a land in which you did not labor, and cities which you did not build. And you dwell in them and eat from the vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant.’
14 “Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in uprightness and in truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the river, and in Egypt. And serve the LORD.
15 “And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served (that were beyond the river) or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But I and my House will serve the LORD.”
16 Then the people answered and said, “May it never be that we should forsake the LORD, to serve other gods!
17 “For the LORD our God, He brought us and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; and he did those great miracles in our sight and preserved us in all the ways that we went and among all the people through whom we came!
18 “And the LORD cast all the people out before us, even the Amorites who dwelt in the land. 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 pardon your iniquity or your sins.
20 “If you forsake the LORD and serve strange gods, then He will return and bring misery upon you, and consume you, after He has done you good.”
21 And the people said to Joshua, “No! But we will serve the LORD!”
22 And Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the LORD, to serve Him.” And they said, “Witnessed!”
23 “Then put away, now, the strange gods which are among you, and bow your hearts to the LORD God of Israel.”
24 And the people said to Joshua, “The LORD our God we will serve, and His Voice we will obey!”
25 So Joshua made a covenant with the people that same day and gave them an Ordinance and Law in Shechem.
26 And Joshua wrote these Words in the Book of the Law of God and took a great stone and set it up there under an oak that was in the Sanctuary of the LORD.
27 And Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, this stone shall be a witness to us! For it has heard all the Words of the LORD which He spoke with us! It shall, therefore, be a witness against you, lest you deny your God!”
28 Then Joshua let the people depart, every man to his inheritance.
29 And after these things, Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD died, being a hundred and ten years old.
30 And they buried him on the border of his inheritance, in Timnath Serah, which is on Mount Ephraim, on the North side of Mount Gaash.
31 And Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua and who had known all the works of the LORD that He had done for Israel.
32 And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought out of Egypt, they buried in Shechem, in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for a hundred pieces of silver. And the children of Joseph had them in their inheritance.
33 Also, Eleazar, the son of Aaron, died. And they buried him on the hill of Phinehas, his son, which was given to him on Mount Ephraim.
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