Joshua Reviews Israel’s History 2 UST Joshua told all the Israelites,“This is what Yahweh, the God we Israelite people worship, wants me to tell you:‘Long ago, your ancestors, including Abraham’ s father Terah and Abraham’ s younger brother Nahor, lived far beyond the Euphrates River. There they worshiped other gods. BSB BSB: And Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your fathers, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates and worshiped other gods.
3 UST But I took your ancestor Abraham from beyond the Euphrates River, and I led him into the land of Canaan. I gave him many descendants through his son Isaac. BSB BSB: But I took your father Abraham from beyond the Euphrates and led him through all the land of Canaan, and I multiplied his descendants. I gave him Isaac,
4 UST I gave Isaac his own sons, Jacob and Esau. I gave Esau the hill country of Seir to live in. But I sent Jacob and his children down to Egypt, and they lived there for many years. BSB BSB: and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I gave Esau Mount Seir to possess, but Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt.
5 UST { When the Egyptians made your ancestors slaves,} I sent Moses and his brother Aaron to Egypt{ to rescue them}. I caused many terrible plagues that made the people of Egypt suffer. After that, I brought your people out of Egypt. BSB BSB: Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I afflicted the Egyptians by what I did there, and afterward I brought you out.
6 UST When I brought your ancestors out of Egypt, they came to the sea. The Egyptian army pursued them with chariots and on horseback as far as the Sea of Reeds. BSB BSB: When I brought your fathers out of Egypt and you reached the Red Sea, the Egyptians pursued them with chariots and horsemen as far as the Red Sea.
7 UST Then you pleaded with me to help you, and I caused darkness to come between you Israelites and the Egyptian army.{ I made a dry path through the sea so that the Israelites could go through it, but when the Egyptians tried to follow them,} I made the water come back and it covered the Egyptian army{ so all the soldiers drowned}. You Israelites saw what I did to the Egyptians. After that you lived in the desert for many years. BSB BSB: So your fathers cried out to the LORD, and He put darkness between you and the Egyptians, over whom He brought the sea and engulfed them. Your very eyes saw what I did to the Egyptians. Then you lived in the wilderness for a long time.
8 UST Then I brought you to the land where the Amorites lived, on the east side of the Jordan River. They attacked you, but I enabled you to defeat them and capture their land. You saw everything that I did for you. BSB BSB: Later, I brought you to the land of the Amorites who lived beyond the Jordan. They fought against you, but I delivered them into your hand, that you should possess their land when I destroyed them before you.
9 UST Then Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, prepared his army and attacked Israel. He sent for Balaam son of Beor and told him to get me to curse your people. BSB BSB: Then Balak son of Zippor, the king of Moab, set out to fight against Israel. He sent for Balaam son of Beor to curse you,
10 UST But I would not do what Balaam asked. Instead, I made him bless you, so that he was not able to harm you. BSB BSB: but I would not listen to Balaam. So he blessed you again and again, and I delivered you from his hand.
11 UST Then you all crossed the Jordan River and came to Jericho. The army of Jericho fought against you, as did the armies of the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. But I enabled you to conquer them all. BSB BSB: After this, you crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The people of Jericho fought against you, as did the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites, and Jebusites, and I delivered them into your hand.
12 UST I sent swarms of hornets ahead of you, and this helped you two Amorite kings. You did not do this with your own weapons.{ I, Yahweh, was the one who actually defeated them.} BSB BSB: I sent the hornet ahead of you, and it drove out the two Amorite kings before you, but not by your own sword or bow.
13 UST So I gave you a land that you had not cleared or plowed, and I gave you cities that you did not build. Now you live in those cities, and you eat the grapes from grapevines that you did not plant and olives from trees that you did not plant.’ BSB BSB: So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities that you did not build, and now you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.’
Choose Whom You Will Serve (Deuteronomy 10:12–22)
14 UST { That was what Yahweh wanted me, Joshua, to tell all of you.} Now you must worship Yahweh and obey him genuinely and consistently. Throw away the idols that your ancestors worshiped when they lived on the far side of the Euphrates River and when they lived in Egypt. Worship Yahweh alone. BSB BSB: Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth; cast aside the gods your fathers served beyond the Euphrates and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.
15 UST Now if you do not want to worship Yahweh, then you must decide today what gods you will worship. You may decide that you want to worship the gods that your ancestors worshiped when they lived on the other side of the Euphrates River. You may decide that you want to worship the gods that the Amorites worshiped who used to live in this land. But as for me and my family, we will worship Yahweh.” BSB BSB: But if it is unpleasing in your sight to serve the LORD, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD!”
16 UST The Israelites responded,“We would never abandon Yahweh and worship other gods! BSB BSB: The people replied, “Far be it from us to forsake the LORD to serve other gods!
17 UST Yahweh is our God! After all, he was the one who brought our ancestors here from Egypt. He rescued them from that land where they were slaves. We saw him perform great miracles, and he protected us when we were traveling, even though we had to pass through the territory of many other nations. BSB BSB: For the LORD our God brought us and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and performed these great signs before our eyes. He also protected us throughout our journey and among all the nations through which we traveled.
18 UST Yahweh forced all the people who were here to leave so that we could live here. He defeated the Amorites who lived in this land. So we will worship only Yahweh. He is our God.” BSB BSB: And the LORD drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites who lived in the land. We too will serve the LORD, because He is our God!”
19 UST But Joshua replied to the people,“You do not seem to realize what is involved in worshiping Yahweh! He is a holy God, and he will not allow you to worship any other gods. He will not overlook it if you break his laws or sin against him. BSB BSB: But Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the LORD, for He is a holy God; He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your rebellion or your sins.
20 UST If you abandon Yahweh and worship other gods, then he will stop helping you and instead he will harm you until he has destroyed you. He will do that even after he has done such good things for you.” BSB BSB: If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, He will turn and bring disaster on you and consume you, even after He has been good to you.”
21 UST But the people answered Joshua,“Even so, we want to worship Yahweh.” BSB BSB: “No!” replied the people. “We will serve the LORD!”
22 UST Then Joshua said,“You are making a promise to what you have said. You have chosen Yahweh, and you are promising to worship him alone.” They replied,“Yes, that is what we promise to do.” BSB BSB: Then Joshua told them, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the LORD.” “We are witnesses!” they said.
23 UST So Joshua told them,“Then you must throw away any other idols you have, and devote yourselves entirely to Yahweh, the God who has done so much for us Israelites.” BSB BSB: “Now, therefore,” he said, “get rid of the foreign gods among you and incline your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel.”
24 UST The people replied,“We will worship Yahweh as our God, and we will obey what he tells us to do.” BSB BSB: So the people said to Joshua, “We will serve the LORD our God and obey His voice.”
25 UST On that same day, Joshua made a covenant with the people. There at Shechem, he wrote down for them all the decrees and laws that Yahweh commanded them to obey. BSB BSB: On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people, and there at Shechem he established for them a statute and ordinance.
26 UST He wrote all those things down in the book of the law of God. Then he got a large stone and set it up there at Shechem, under the large oak tree that grew beside the place where Yahweh’ s sacred tent was. BSB BSB: Joshua recorded these things in the Book of the Law of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak that was near the sanctuary of the LORD.
27 UST Joshua told all the people,“Look! This stone will always be a reminder to us. This is the place where I told you what Yahweh wanted to say to you{ and you promised that you would serve him}. This stone will remind you of your promise so that you are not disloyal to God.” BSB BSB: And Joshua said to all the people, “You see this stone. It will be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words the LORD has spoken to us, and it will be a witness against you if you ever deny your God.”
28 UST Then Joshua sent the people back to their homes in the places that the leaders had assigned to them. BSB BSB: Then Joshua sent the people away, each to his own inheritance.
Joshua’s Death and Burial (Judges 2:6–9)
29 UST After this, Joshua son of Nun, the servant of Yahweh, died. He was 110 years old when he died. BSB BSB: Some time later, Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of 110.
30 UST The Israelites buried his body on his own property in Timnath Serah. That is in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. BSB BSB: And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
31 UST The people of Israel continued to worship Yahweh during Joshua’ s lifetime and during the lifetimes of the elders who outlived Joshua. Those elders had seen everything that Yahweh had done for Israel. BSB BSB: Israel had served the LORD throughout the days of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had experienced all the works that the LORD had done for Israel.
32 UST The people of Israel had brought Joseph’ s bones with them when they left Egypt. Now they buried his bones at Shechem, in the piece of land that Jacob had bought long ago for the price of 100 pieces of silver. He had bought it from Hamor, the father of Shechem. That piece of land became a permanent possession for Joseph’ s descendants. BSB BSB: And the bones of Joseph, which the Israelites had brought up out of Egypt, were buried at Shechem in the plot of land that Jacob had purchased from the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for a hundred pieces of silver. So it became an inheritance for Joseph’s descendants.
33 UST Eleazar son of Aaron also died. The Israelites buried his body at Gibeah, the city that belonged to his son Phinehas, in the hill country of Ephraim. BSB BSB: Eleazar son of Aaron also died, and they buried him at Gibeah, which had been given to his son Phinehas in the hill country of Ephraim.
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