The Covenant Renewed at Shechem

24 Then Joshua assembledt all the tribes of Israel at Shechem.u He summonedv the elders,w leaders, judges and officials of Israel,x and they presented themselves before God.

2 Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your ancestors, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor,y lived beyond the Euphrates River and worshiped other gods.z 3 But I took your father Abraham from the land beyond the Euphrates and led him throughout Canaana and gave him many descendants.b I gave him Isaac,c 4 and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau.d I assigned the hill country of Seire to Esau, but Jacob and his family went down to Egypt.f

5 “ ‘Then I sent Moses and Aaron,g and I afflicted the Egyptians by what I did there, and I brought you out.h 6 When I brought your people out of Egypt, you came to the sea,i and the Egyptians pursued them with chariots and horsemena j as far as the Red Sea.b k 7 But they criedl to the Lord for help, and he put darknessm between you and the Egyptians; he brought the sea over them and covered them.n You saw with your own eyes what I did to the Egyptians.o Then you lived in the wilderness for a long time.p

8 “ ‘I brought you to the land of the Amoritesq who lived east of the Jordan. They fought against you, but I gave them into your hands. I destroyed them from before you, and you took possession of their land.r 9 When Balak son of Zippor,s the king of Moab, prepared to fight against Israel, he sent for Balaam son of Beort to put a curse on you.u 10 But I would not listen to Balaam, so he blessed youv again and again, and I delivered you out of his hand.

11 “ ‘Then you crossed the Jordanw and came to Jericho.x The citizens of Jericho fought against you, as did also the Amorites, Perizzites,y Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites and Jebusites,z but I gave them into your hands.a 12 I sent the hornetb ahead of you, which drove them outc before you—also the two Amorite kings. You did not do it with your own sword and bow.d 13 So I gave you a lande on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.’f

14 “Now fear the Lordg and serve him with all faithfulness.h Throw away the godsi your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt,j and serve the Lord. 15 But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites,k in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household,l we will serve the Lord.”m

16 Then the people answered, “Far be it from us to forsaken the Lord to serve other gods! 17 It was the Lord our God himself who brought us and our parents up out of Egypt, from that land of slavery,o and performed those great signsp before our eyes. He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled. 18 And the Lord drove outq before us all the nations,r including the Amorites, who lived in the land.s We too will serve the Lord, because he is our God.t”

19 Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the Lord. He is a holy God;u he is a jealous God.v He will not forgivew your rebellionx and your sins. 20 If you forsake the Lordy and serve foreign gods, he will turnz and bring disastera on you and make an end of you,b after he has been good to you.”

21 But the people said to Joshua, “No! We will serve the Lord.”

22 Then Joshua said, “You are witnessesc against yourselves that you have chosend to serve the Lord.”

“Yes, we are witnesses,e” they replied.

23 “Now then,” said Joshua, “throw away the foreign godsf that are among you and yield your heartsg to the Lord, the God of Israel.”

24 And the people said to Joshua, “We will serve the Lord our God and obey him.”h

25 On that day Joshua made a covenanti for the people, and there at Shechemj he reaffirmed for them decrees and laws.k 26 And Joshua recordedl these things in the Book of the Law of God.m Then he took a large stonen and set it up there under the oako near the holy place of the Lord.

27 “See!” he said to all the people. “This stonep will be a witnessq against us. It has heard all the words the Lord has said to us. It will be a witness against you if you are untruer to your God.”s

28 Then Joshua dismissed the people, each to their own inheritance.t

Buried in the Promised Land

24:29–31pp—Jdg 2:6–9

29 After these things, Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, diedu at the age of a hundred and ten.v 30 And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath Serahc w in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.x

31 Israel served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the eldersy who outlived him and who had experienced everything the Lord had done for Israel.

32 And Joseph’s bones,z which the Israelites had brought up from Egypt,a were buried at Shechem in the tract of landb that Jacob bought for a hundred pieces of silverd from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem. This became the inheritance of Joseph’s descendants.

33 And Eleazar son of Aaronc died and was buried at Gibeah,d which had been allotted to his son Phinehase in the hill countryf of Ephraim.

Judges

The new nation fell into a series of dismal failures. Whenever they forgot about God and disobeyed him, the Israelites suffered at the hands of their enemies. As soon as they cried out to God for help, he would raise up leaders called “judges” who led the people in victory and restored peace to the nation.

Israel Fights the Remaining Canaanites

1:11–15pp—Jos 15:15–19

1 After the deatha of Joshua, the Israelites asked the Lord, “Who of us is to go up firstb to fight against the Canaanites?c”

2 The Lord answered, “Judahd shall go up; I have given the land into their hands.e”

3 The men of Judah then said to the Simeonites their fellow Israelites, “Come up with us into the territory allotted to us, to fight against the Canaanites. We in turn will go with you into yours.” So the Simeonitesf went with them.

4 When Judah attacked, the Lord gave the Canaanites and Perizzitesg into their hands, and they struck down ten thousand men at Bezek.h 5 It was there that they found Adoni-Bezeki and fought against him, putting to rout the Canaanites and Perizzites. 6 Adoni-Bezek fled, but they chased him and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and big toes.

7 Then Adoni-Bezek said, “Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off have picked up scraps under my table. Now God has paid me backj for what I did to them.” They brought him to Jerusalem,k and he died there.

8 The men of Judah attacked Jerusaleml also and took it. They put the city to the sword and set it on fire.

9 After that, Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites living in the hill country,m the Negevn and the western foothills. 10 They advanced against the Canaanites living in Hebrono (formerly called Kiriath Arbap) and defeated Sheshai, Ahiman and Talmai.q 11 From there they advanced against the people living in Debirr (formerly called Kiriath Sepher).

12 And Caleb said, “I will give my daughter Aksah in marriage to the man who attacks and captures Kiriath Sepher.” 13 Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, took it; so Caleb gave his daughter Aksah to him in marriage.

14 One day when she came to Othniel, she urged hima to ask her father for a field. When she got off her donkey, Caleb asked her, “What can I do for you?”

15 She replied, “Do me a special favor. Since you have given me land in the Negev, give me also springs of water.” So Caleb gave her the upper and lower springs.s

16 The descendants of Moses’ father-in-law,t the Kenite,u went up from the City of Palmsb v with the people of Judah to live among the inhabitants of the Desert of Judah in the Negev near Arad.w

17 Then the men of Judah went with the Simeonitesx their fellow Israelites and attacked the Canaanites living in Zephath, and they totally destroyedc the city. Therefore it was called Hormah.d y 18 Judah also tooke Gaza,z Ashkelona and Ekron—each city with its territory.

19 The Lord was withb the men of Judah. They took possession of the hill country,c but they were unable to drive the people from the plains, because they had chariots fitted with iron.d 20 As Moses had promised, Hebrone was given to Caleb, who drove from it the three sons of Anak.f 21 The Benjamites, however, did not drive outg the Jebusites, who were living in Jerusalem;h to this day the Jebusites live there with the Benjamites.

22 Now the tribes of Josephi attacked Bethel,j and the Lord was with them. 23 When they sent men to spy out Bethel (formerly called Luz),k 24 the spies saw a man coming out of the city and they said to him, “Show us how to get into the city and we will see that you are treated well.l” 25 So he showed them, and they put the city to the sword but sparedm the man and his whole family. 26 He then went to the land of the Hittites,n where he built a city and called it Luz,o which is its name to this day.

27 But Manasseh did notp drive out the people of Beth Shan or Taanach or Dorq or Ibleamr or Megiddos and their surrounding settlements, for the Canaanitest were determined to live in that land. 28 When Israel became strong, they pressed the Canaanites into forced labor but never drove them out completely.u 29 Nor did Ephraimv drive out the Canaanites living in Gezer,w but the Canaanites continued to live there among them.x 30 Neither did Zebulun drive out the Canaanites living in Kitron or Nahalol, so these Canaanites lived among them, but Zebulun did subject them to forced labor. 31 Nor did Ashery drive out those living in Akko or Sidonz or Ahlab or Akziba or Helbah or Aphekb or Rehob.c 32 The Asherites lived among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land because they did not drive them out. 33 Neither did Naphtali drive out those living in Beth Shemeshd or Beth Anathe; but the Naphtalites too lived among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land, and those living in Beth Shemesh and Beth Anath became forced laborers for them. 34 The Amoritesf confined the Danitesg to the hill country, not allowing them to come down into the plain.h 35 And the Amorites were determined also to hold out in Mount Heres,i Aijalonj and Shaalbim,k but when the power of the tribes of Joseph increased, they too were pressed into forced labor. 36 The boundary of the Amorites was from Scorpion Passl to Selam and beyond.n

The Angel of the Lord at Bokim

2 The angel of the Lordo went up from Gilgalp to Bokimq and said, “I brought you up out of Egyptr and led you into the land I swore to give to your ancestors.s I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you,t 2 and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land,u but you shall break down their altars.v’ Yet you have disobeyedw me. Why have you done this? 3 And I have also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you;x they will become trapsy for you, and their gods will become snaresz to you.’ ”

4 When the angel of the Lord had spoken these things to all the Israelites, the people wept aloud,a 5 and they called that place Bokim.a b There they offered sacrifices to the Lord.

Disobedience and Defeat

2:6–9pp—Jos 24:29–31

6 After Joshua had dismissed the Israelites, they went to take possession of the land, each to their own inheritance. 7 The people served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things the Lord had done for Israel.c

8 Joshua son of Nun,d the servant of the Lord, died at the age of a hundred and ten. 9 And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath Heresb e in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.

10 After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel.f 11 Then the Israelites did evilg in the eyes of the Lordh and served the Baals.i 12 They forsook the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various godsj of the peoples around them.k They arousedl the Lord’s angerm 13 because they forsookn him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.o 14 In his angerp against Israel the Lord gave them into the handsq of raiders who plunderedr them. He sold thems into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist.t 15 Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the Lord was against themu to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them. They were in great distress.v

16 Then the Lord raised up judges,c w who savedx them out of the hands of these raiders. 17 Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostitutedy themselves to other godsz and worshiped them.a They quickly turnedb from the ways of their ancestors, who had been obedient to the Lord’s commands.c 18 Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and savedd them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the Lord relentede because of their groaningf under those who oppressed and afflictedg them. 19 But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupth than those of their ancestors,i following other gods and serving and worshiping them.j They refused to give up their evil practices and stubbornk ways.

20 Therefore the Lord was very angryl with Israel and said, “Because this nation has violated the covenantm I ordained for their ancestors and has not listened to me, 21 I will no longer drive outn before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died. 22 I will use them to testo Israel and see whether they will keep the way of the Lord and walk in it as their ancestors did.” 23 The Lord had allowed those nations to remain; he did not drive them out at once by giving them into the hands of Joshua.p