Josue assembleth the people, and reneweth the covenant between them and
God. His death and burial.
24:1. And Josue gathered together all the tribes of Israel in Sichem,
and called for the ancients, and the princes and the judges, and the
masters: and they stood in the sight of the Lord:
24:2. And he spoke thus to the people: Thus saith the Lord the God of
Israel: Your fathers dwelt of old on the other side of the river, Thare
the father of Abraham, and Nachor: and they served strange gods.
Of the river.... The Euphrates.
24:3. And I took your father Abraham from the borders of Mesopotamia:
and brought him into the land of Chanaan: and I multiplied his seed,
24:4. And gave him Isaac: and to him again I gave Jacob and Esau. And I
gave to Esau mount Seir for his possession: but Jacob and his children
went down into Egypt.
24:5. And I sent Moses and Aaron, and I struck Egypt with many signs
and wonders.
24:6. And I brought you and your fathers out of Egypt, and you came to
the sea: and the Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and
horsemen, as far as the Red Sea.
24:7. And the children of Israel cried to the Lord: and he put darkness
between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them, and
covered them. Your eyes saw all that I did in Egypt, and you dwelt in
the wilderness a long time.
24:8. And I brought you into the land of the Amorrhite, who dwelt
beyond the Jordan. And when they fought against you, I delivered them
into your hands, and you possessed their land, and slew them.
24:9. And Balac son of Sephor king of Moab arose and fought against
Israel. And he sent and called for Balaam son of Beor, to curse you:
24:10. And I would not hear him, but on the contrary I blessed you by
him, and I delivered you out of his hand.
24:11. And you passed over the Jordan, and you came to Jericho. And the
men of that city fought against you, the Amorrhite, and the Pherezite,
and the Chanaanite, and the Hethite, and the Gergesite, and the Hevite,
and the Jebusite: and I delivered them into your hands.
24:12. And I sent before you hornets: and I drove them out from their
places, the two kings of the Amorrhites, not with thy sword nor with
thy bow,
24:13. And I gave you a land, in which you had not laboured, and cities
to dwell in which you built not, vineyards and oliveyards, which you
planted not.
24:14. Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve him with a perfect and
most sincere heart: and put away the gods which your fathers served in
Mesopotamia and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.
24:15. But if it seem evil to you to serve the Lord, you have your
choice: choose this day that which pleaseth you, whom you would rather
serve, whether the gods which your fathers served in Mesopotamia, or
the gods of the Amorrhites, in whose land you dwell: but as for me and
my house we will serve the Lord,
24:16. And the people answered, and said, God forbid we should leave
the Lord, and serve strange gods.
24:17. The Lord our God he brought us and our fathers out of the land
of Egypt, out of the house of bondage: and did very great signs in our
sight, and preserved us in all the way by which we journeyed, and among
all the people through whom we passed.
24:18. And he hath cast out all the nations, the Amorrhite the
inhabitant of the land into which we are come. Therefore we will serve
the Lord, for he is our God.
24:19. And Josue said to the people: You will not be able to serve the
Lord: for he is a holy God, and mighty and jealous, and will not
forgive your wickedness and sins.
You will not be able to serve the Lord, etc.... This was not said by
way of discouraging them; but rather to make them more earnest and
resolute, by setting before them the greatness of the undertaking, and
the courage and constancy necessary to go through with it.
24:20. If you leave the Lord, and serve strange gods, he will turn, and
will afflict you, and will destroy you after all the good he hath done
you.
24:21. And the people said to Josue: No, it shall not be so as thou
sayest, but we will serve the Lord.
24:22. And Josue said to the people, You are witnesses, that you
yourselves have chosen you the Lord to serve him. And they answered: We
are witnesses.
24:23. Now therefore, said he, put away strange gods from among you,
and incline your hearts to the Lord the God of Israel.
24:24. And the people said to Josue: We will serve the Lord our God,
and we will be obedient to his commandments.
24:25. Josue therefore on that day made a covenant, and set before the
people commandments and judgments in Sichem.
24:26. And he wrote all these things in the volume of the law of the
Lord: and he took a great stone, and set it under the oak that was in
the sanctuary of the Lord.
24:27. And he said to all the people: Behold this stone shall be a
testimony unto you, that it hath heard all the words of the Lord, which
he hath spoken to you: lest perhaps hereafter you will deny it, and lie
to the Lord your God.
It hath heard.... This is a figure of speech, by which sensation is
attributed to inanimate things; and they are called upon, as it were,
to bear witness in favour of the great Creator, whom they on their part
constantly obey.
24:28. And he sent the people away every one to their own possession,
24:29. And after these things Josue the son of Nun the servant of the
Lord died, being a hundred and ten years old:
And after, etc.... If Josue wrote this book, as is commonly believed,
these last verses were added by Samuel, or some other prophet.
24:30. And they buried him in the border of his possession in
Thamnathsare, which is situate in mount Ephraim, on the north side of
mount Gaas.
24:31. And Israel served the Lord all the days of Josue, and of the
ancients that lived a long time after Josue, and that had known all the
works of the Lord which he had done in Israel.
24:32. And the bones of Joseph which the children of Israel had taken
out of Egypt, they buried in Sichem, in that part of the field which
Jacob had bought of the sons of Hemor the father of Sichem, for a
hundred young ewes, and it was in the possession of the sons of Joseph.
24:33. Eleazar also the son of Aaron died: and they buried him in
Gabaath that belongeth to Phinees his son, which was given him in mount
Ephraim.