1And Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel, their leaders, judges, and officers; and they presented themselves before God. 2And Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the LORD God of Israel says, ‘Your ancestors dwelt on the other side of the river long ago, including Terah, the father of Abraham, and Nahor; and they served other gods. 3But I took your father, Abraham, from the other side of the Euphrates, and led him throughout the land of Canaan, and multiplied his descendants, and gave him Isaac. 4And to Isaac, I gave Jacob and Esau. And I gave to Esau, Mount Seir, as his possession; but Jacob and his children went down into Egypt. 5I also sent Moses and Aaron, and I afflicted Egypt, by what I did among them; and afterward I brought you out. 6When I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and you came to the sea, the Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea. 7And when your fathers cried unto Me, I, the LORD, put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea over the Egyptians, and covered them; and your eyes have seen what I did in Egypt; and you dwelt in the wilderness a long season. 8And I brought you into the land of the Amorites, who lived on the other side of the Jordan, and they fought with you; and I gave them into your hand, that you might possess their land; and I destroyed them from before you. 9Then Balak, son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and warred against Israel, and he (Balak) called Balaam, son of Beor, to curse you; 10But I would not listen to Balaam; therefore, he blessed you still. So, I rescued you out of his hand.’ 11And you crossed the Jordan, and came to Jericho; and the men of Jericho fought against you, as did the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites, and the Jebusites; but I delivered them into your hands. 12And I sent the hornet ahead of you, which drove them out from before you - also two Amorite kings; but not with your sword, nor with your bow. 13And so I have given you a land on which you did not toil, and cities which you did not build, and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive yards which you did not plant.’ 14Now, therefore, fear the LORD, and serve Him with all faithfulness and truth; and throw away the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates River, and in Egypt; and serve the LORD. 15And if serving the LORD seems unpleasant to you, choose you this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

16Then the people answered, “Far be it from us to forsake the LORD, to serve other gods! 17For the LORD our God, is He Who brought us and our parents up out of Egypt, from that land of slavery, and Who did those great signs in our sight, and protected us in all the journeys and among all the lands and people through which we passed. 18And the LORD drove out from before us all the people, including the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore, we will also serve the LORD; for He is our God.”

19And then Joshua warned (challenged the sincerity of) the people: “You are not able serve the LORD: for He is a holy God; He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your rebellion nor your sins. 20If you forsake the LORD, and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and bring disaster upon you, even after He has been so good to you.”

21And the people said to Joshua, “No! We will serve the LORD.” 22Then Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the LORD, to serve Him.” And they replied, “We are witnesses.” 23Then Joshua responded, “Now, then, put away the foreign gods which are among you, and turn your heart to the LORD God of Israel.” 24And the people replied, “The LORD our God will we serve, and His voice will we obey!”

25So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and reaffirmed for them the statutes and ordinances in Shechem. 26And Joshua wrote (recorded) these things in the book of the law of God, and took a large stone, and set it up there under an oak, that was near the sanctuary of the LORD. 27And Joshua said to all the people, “Look, this stone shall be a witness against us; for it has heard all the words of the LORD has spoken to us: therefore, it shall be a witness against you, if you deny your God.” 28So Joshua let the people depart, each man to his allotted inheritance.

29And after these things, Joshua, son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being a hundred ten years old. 30And they buried him in the land of his inheritance in Timnath-serah, in the hill country of Ephraim, on the north side of Mount Gaash. 31And 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 deeds of the LORD, that He had done for Israel.

32And the bones of Joseph, which the Israelites brought up out of Egypt, they buried in Shechem, in a plot of ground which Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for a hundred pieces of silver; and it became the inheritance of the progeny of Joseph.

33And Eleazar, son of Aaron, also died; and they buried him in the hill country of Ephraim in the town of Gibeah that belonged to Phinehas, his son, which was given him in Mount Ephraim.