1: And Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and
called for the elders of Israel, and for their heads, and for their judges, and
for their officers; and they presented themselves before God. |
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2: And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the LORD God of
Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even
Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other
gods. |
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3:
And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the flood, and
led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed, and gave him
Isaac. |
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4: And I gave unto Isaac Jacob and Esau: and I gave unto Esau mount Seir,
to possess it; but Jacob and his children went down into Egypt. |
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5: I sent Moses also and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt, according to that
which I did among them: and afterward I brought you out. |
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6: And I brought your fathers out of Egypt: and ye came unto the sea; and
the Egyptians pursued after your fathers with chariots and horsemen unto the Red
sea. |
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7: And when they cried unto the LORD, he put darkness between you and the
Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them, and covered them; and your eyes have
seen what I have done in Egypt: and ye dwelt in the wilderness a long season.
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8: And I brought you into the land of the Amorites, which dwelt on the
other side Jordan; and they fought with you: and I gave them into your hand,
that ye might possess their land; and I destroyed them from before you. |
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9: Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and warred against
Israel, and sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you: |
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10: But I would not hearken unto Balaam; therefore he blessed you still:
so I delivered you out of his hand. |
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11: And ye went over Jordan, and came unto Jericho: and the men of
Jericho fought against you, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the
Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the
Jebusites; and I delivered them into your hand. |
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12: And I sent the hornet before you, which drave them out from before
you, even the two kings of the Amorites; but not with thy sword, nor with thy
bow. |
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13: And I have given you a land for which ye did not labour, and cities
which ye built not, and ye dwell in them; of the vineyards and oliveyards which
ye planted not do ye eat. |
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14: Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth:
and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood,
and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD. |
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15: And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day
whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the
other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell:
but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. |
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16: And the people answered and said, God forbid that we should forsake
the LORD, to serve other gods; |
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17: For the LORD our God, he it is that brought us up and our fathers out
of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and which did those great signs
in our sight, and preserved us in all the way wherein we went, and among all the
people through whom we passed: |
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18: And the LORD drave out from before us all the people, even the
Amorites which dwelt in the land: therefore will we also serve the LORD; for he
is our God. |
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19: And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the LORD: for he is
an holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor
your sins. |
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20: If ye forsake the LORD, and serve strange gods, then he will turn and
do you hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done you good. |
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21: And the people said unto Joshua, Nay; but we will serve the LORD.
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22: And Joshua said unto the people, Ye are witnesses against yourselves
that ye have chosen you the LORD, to serve him. And they said, We are witnesses.
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23: Now therefore put away, said he, the strange gods which are among
you, and incline your heart unto the LORD God of Israel. |
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24: And the people said unto Joshua, The LORD our God will we serve, and
his voice will we obey. |
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25: So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and set them a
statute and an ordinance in Shechem. |
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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 by the sanctuary of
the LORD. |
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27: And Joshua said unto all the people, Behold, this stone shall be a
witness unto us; for it hath heard all the words of the LORD which he spake unto
us: it shall be therefore a witness unto you, lest ye deny your God. |
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28: So Joshua let the people depart, every man unto his inheritance.
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29: And it came to pass after these things, that Joshua the son of Nun,
the servant of the LORD, died, being an hundred and ten years old. |
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30: And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath-serah,
which is in mount Ephraim, on the north side of the hill of Gaash. |
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31: And Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days
of the elders that overlived Joshua, and which had known all the works of the
LORD, that he had done for Israel. |
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32: And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out
of Egypt, buried they in echem, in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought of
the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for an hundred pieces of silver: and it
became the inheritance of the children of Joseph. |
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33: And Eleazar the son of Aaron died; and they buried him in a hill that
pertained to Phinehas his son, which was given him in mount Ephraim. |