1
And Yehoshua gathered all the tribes of Yisra’el to Shekhem, and called for the elders of Yisra’el, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers. And they stood before Elohim.
2
And Yehoshua said to all the people, “Thus says Yahuah, Elohim of Yisra’el: Beyond the River your fathers dwelt from ancient days—Terach, father of Avraham and father of Nachor—and they served other elohim.
3
And I took your father Avraham from beyond the River and caused him to walk through all the land of Kena’an, and multiplied his seed, and gave him Yitzchaq.
4
And to Yitzchaq I gave Yaaqov and Esav. And to Esav I gave Mount Seir to possess it, but Yaaqov and his sons went down to Mitzrayim.
5
And I sent Mosheh and Aharon, and I struck Mitzrayim according to what I did in its midst; and afterward I brought you out.
6
And I brought your fathers out from Mitzrayim, and you came to the sea. And Mitzrayim pursued after your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Sea of Reeds.
7
And they cried out to Yahuah, and He placed darkness between you and the Mitzrayim, and brought the sea upon them and covered them. And your eyes saw what I did in Mitzrayim. And you dwelt in the wilderness many days.
8
And I brought you into the land of the Emori who dwelt beyond the Yarden, and they fought with you. And I gave them into your hand, and you possessed their land, and I destroyed them from before your face.
9
Then Balaq son of Tzippor, king of Moav, rose and fought against Yisra’el. And he sent and called Bilam son of Beor to curse you.
10
But I was not willing to listen to Bilam, and blessing, he surely blessed you. And I delivered you from his hand.
11
And you crossed the Yarden and came to Yericho. And the masters of Yericho fought against you—the Emori, and the Perizzi, and the Kena’ani, and the Chitti, and the Girgashi, and the Chivvi, and the Yevusi—and I gave them into your hand.
12
And I sent the hornet before your face, and it drove them out from before your face, the two kings of the Emori; not by your sword and not by your bow.
13
And I gave you a land for which you did not labor, and cities that you did not build, and you dwell in them. Vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant, you eat from them.
14
And now, fear Yahuah and serve Him in wholeness and in truth, and remove the elohim that your fathers served beyond the River and in Mitzrayim, and serve Yahuah.
15
And if it is evil in your eyes to serve Yahuah, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve: whether the elohim that your fathers served beyond the River, or the elohim of the Emori in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve Yahuah.”
16
And the people answered and said, “Far be it from us to forsake Yahuah, to serve other elohim.
17
For Yahuah our Elohim—He is the One who brought us and our fathers up from the land of Mitzrayim, from the house of slavery, and who did before our eyes these great signs, and guarded us in all the way in which we walked, and among all the peoples through whose midst we passed.
18
And Yahuah drove out from before our face all the peoples, even the Emori who dwelt in the land. We also will serve Yahuah, for He is our Elohim.”
19
And Yehoshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve Yahuah, for He is a holy Elohim. He is a jealous El. He will not bear your transgressions and your sins.
20
If you forsake Yahuah and serve foreign elohim, then He will turn and do evil to you and consume you, after He has done good to you.”
21
And the people said to Yehoshua, “No, but Yahuah we will serve.”
22
And Yehoshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen Yahuah for yourselves, to serve Him.” And they said, “We are witnesses.”
23
“And now, remove the foreign elohim that are in your midst, and incline your heart to Yahuah, Elohim of Yisra’el.”
24
And the people said to Yehoshua, “Yahuah our Elohim we will serve, and His voice we will listen to.”
25
And Yehoshua cut a covenant with the people on that day, and set for them a statute and a judgment in Shekhem.
26
And Yehoshua wrote these words in the sefer of the Torah of Elohim. And he took a great stone and raised it there beneath the oak that was by the sanctuary of Yahuah.
27
And Yehoshua said to all the people, “See, this stone shall be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words of Yahuah that He spoke with us. And it shall be a witness against you, lest you deny your Elohim.”
28
And Yehoshua sent the people away, each ish to his inheritance.
29
And it came to pass after these things that Yehoshua son of Nun, servant of Yahuah, died, being one hundred and ten years old.
30
And they buried him in the border of his inheritance at Timnat-Serach, which is in the hill country of Efrayim, north of Mount Gaash.
31
And Yisra’el served Yahuah all the days of Yehoshua, and all the days of the elders whose days extended after Yehoshua, and who knew all the work of Yahuah that He had done for Yisra’el.
32
And the bones of Yosef, which the sons of Yisra’el brought up from Mitzrayim, they buried at Shekhem, in the portion of the field that Yaaqov purchased from the sons of Chamor, father of Shekhem, for one hundred qesitah. And it became an inheritance for the sons of Yosef.
33
And Elazar son of Aharon died, and they buried him in Giv’at-Pinechas his son, which had been given to him in the hill country of Efrayim.