Discovery BoxJoshua 24:6-33
Context24:6 When I brought your fathers out of Egypt, you arrived at the sea. The Egyptians chased your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea. 24:7 Your fathers 1 cried out for help to the Lord; he made the area between you and the Egyptians dark, 2 and then drowned them in the sea. 3 You witnessed with your very own eyes 4 what I did in Egypt. You lived in the wilderness for a long time. 5 24:8 Then I brought you to the land of the Amorites who lived east of the Jordan. They fought with you, but I handed them over to you; you conquered 6 their land and I destroyed them from before you. 24:9 Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, launched an attack 7 against Israel. He summoned 8 Balaam son of Beor to call down judgment 9 on you. 24:10 I refused to respond to Balaam; he kept 10 prophesying good things about 11 you, and I rescued you from his power. 12 24:11 You crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. 13 The leaders 14 of Jericho, as well as the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites, and Jebusites, fought with you, but I handed them over to you. 24:12 I sent terror 15 ahead of you to drive out before you the two 16 Amorite kings. I gave you the victory; it was not by your swords or bows. 17 24:13 I gave you a land in 18 which you had not worked hard; you took up residence in cities you did not build and you are eating the produce of 19 vineyards and olive groves you did not plant.’
24:14 Now 20 obey 21 the Lord and worship 22 him with integrity and loyalty. Put aside the gods your ancestors 23 worshiped 24 beyond the Euphrates 25 and in Egypt and worship 26 the Lord. 24:15 If you have no desire 27 to worship 28 the Lord, choose today whom you will worship, 29 whether it be the gods whom your ancestors 30 worshiped 31 beyond the Euphrates, 32 or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. But I and my family 33 will worship 34 the Lord!”
24:16 The people responded, “Far be it from us to abandon the Lord so we can 35 worship 36 other gods! 24:17 For the Lord our God took us and our fathers out of slavery 37 in the land of Egypt 38 and performed these awesome miracles 39 before our very eyes. He continually protected us as we traveled and when we passed through nations. 40 24:18 The Lord drove out from before us all the nations, including the Amorites who lived in the land. So we too will worship 41 the Lord, for he is our God!”
24:19 Joshua warned 42 the people, “You will not keep worshiping 43 the Lord, for 44 he is a holy God. 45 He is a jealous God who will not forgive 46 your rebellion or your sins. 24:20 If 47 you abandon the Lord and worship 48 foreign gods, he will turn against you; 49 he will bring disaster on you and destroy you, 50 though he once treated you well.” 51
24:21 The people said to Joshua, “No! We really will 52 worship 53 the Lord!” 24:22 Joshua said to the people, “Do you agree to be witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to worship the Lord?” 54 They replied, “We are witnesses!” 55 24:23 Joshua said, 56 “Now put aside the foreign gods that are among you and submit to 57 the Lord God of Israel.”
24:24 The people said to Joshua, “We will worship 58 the Lord our God and obey him.” 59
24:25 That day Joshua drew up an agreement 60 for the people, and he established rules and regulations 61 for them in Shechem. 24:26 Joshua wrote these words in the Law Scroll of God. He then took a large stone and set it up there under the oak tree near the Lord’s shrine. 24:27 Joshua said to all the people, “Look, this stone will be a witness against you, for it has heard everything the Lord said to us. 62 It will be a witness against you if 63 you deny your God.” 24:28 When Joshua dismissed the people, they went to their allotted portions of land. 64
24:29 After all this 65 Joshua son of Nun, the Lord’s servant, died at the age of one hundred ten. 24:30 They buried him in his allotted territory 66 in Timnath Serah in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. 24:31 Israel worshiped 67 the Lord throughout Joshua’s lifetime and as long as the elderly men who outlived him remained alive. 68 These men had experienced firsthand everything the Lord had done for Israel. 69
24:32 The bones of Joseph, which the Israelites had brought up from Egypt, were buried at Shechem in the part of the field that Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for one hundred pieces of money. 70 So it became the inheritance of the tribe of Joseph. 71
24:33 Eleazar son of Aaron died, and they buried him in Gibeah in the hill country of Ephraim, where his son Phinehas had been assigned land. 72
[24:7] 1 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the fathers) has been specified in the translation for clarity (see the previous verse).
[24:7] 2 tn Or “put darkness between you and the Egyptians.”
[24:7] 3 tn Heb “and he brought over them the sea and covered them.”
[24:7] 4 tn Heb “your eyes saw.”
[24:8] 6 tn Or “took possession of.”
[24:9] 7 tn Heb “arose and fought.”
[24:9] 8 tn Heb “sent and called.”
[24:10] 10 tn The infinitive absolute follows the finite verb in the Hebrew text and indicates continuation or repetition of the action. Balaam pronounced several oracles of blessing over Israel (see Num 23-24).
[24:10] 11 tn Heb “blessing.” Balaam’s “blessings” were actually prophecies of how God would prosper Israel.
[24:11] 13 map For location see Map5 B2; Map6 E1; Map7 E1; Map8 E3; Map10 A2; Map11 A1.
[24:11] 14 tn Or perhaps, “citizens.”
[24:12] 15 tn Traditionally, “the hornet” (so KJV, NKJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV) but the precise meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain (cf. NEB “panic”).
[24:12] 16 tn The LXX has “twelve,” apparently understanding this as a reference to Amorite kings west of the Jordan (see Josh 5:1, rather than the trans-Jordanian Amorite kings Sihon and Og (see Josh 2:10; 9:10).
[24:12] 17 tn Heb “and it drove them out from before you, the two kings of the Amorites, not by your sword and not by your bow.” The words “I gave you the victory” are supplied for clarification.
[24:13] 18 tn Or perhaps, “for.”
[24:13] 19 tn The words “the produce of” are supplied for clarification.
[24:14] 20 sn Joshua quotes the
[24:14] 23 tn Heb “your fathers.”
[24:14] 25 tn Heb “the river,” referring to the Euphrates. This has been specified in the translation for clarity; see v. 3.
[24:15] 27 tn Heb “if it is bad in your eyes.”
[24:15] 29 tn Or “will serve.”
[24:15] 30 tn Heb “your fathers.”
[24:15] 32 tn Heb “the river,” referring to the Euphrates. This has been specified in the translation for clarity; see v. 3.
[24:15] 34 tn Or “will serve.”
[24:17] 37 tn Heb “of the house of slavery.”
[24:17] 38 tn Heb “for the
[24:17] 39 tn Or “great signs.”
[24:17] 40 tn Heb “and he guarded us in all the way in which we walked and among all the peoples through whose midst we passed.”
[24:18] 41 tn Or “will serve.”
[24:19] 43 tn Heb “you are not able to serve.”
[24:19] 44 sn For an excellent discussion of Joshua’s logical argument here, see T. C. Butler, Joshua (WBC), 274-75.
[24:19] 45 tn In the Hebrew text both the divine name (אֱלֹהִים, ’elohim) and the adjective (קְדֹשִׁים, qÿdoshim, “holy”) are plural. Normally the divine name, when referring to the one true God, takes singular modifiers, but this is a rare exception where the adjective agrees grammatically with the honorific plural noun. See GKC §124.i and IBHS 122.
[24:19] 46 tn Heb “lift up” or “take away.”
[24:20] 49 tn The words “against you” are added for clarification.
[24:20] 50 tn Heb “bring you to an end.”
[24:20] 51 tn Heb “after he did good for you.”
[24:21] 52 tn The translation assumes that כִּי (ki) is emphatic. Another option is to take it as explanatory, “No, for we will….”
[24:21] 53 tn Or “will serve.”
[24:22] 54 tn Heb “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen for yourselves the
[24:22] 55 sn Like witnesses in a court of law, Israel’s solemn vow to worship the Lord will testify against them in the divine court if the nation ever violates its commitment.
[24:23] 56 tn The words “Joshua said” are supplied for clarification.
[24:23] 57 tn Heb “bend your heart toward.” The term לֵבָב (levav, “heart”) probably here refers to the people’s volition or will.
[24:24] 58 tn Or “will serve.”
[24:24] 59 tn Heb “and listen to his voice.”
[24:25] 60 tn Heb “cut a covenant.”
[24:25] 61 tn Heb “a statute and a judgment.”
[24:27] 62 tn Heb “all the words of the
[24:27] 63 tn Or “lest,” “so that you might not.”
[24:28] 64 tn Heb “And Joshua sent the people away, each to his inheritance.”
[24:29] 65 tn Heb “after these things.”
[24:30] 66 tn Heb “in the territory of his inheritance.”
[24:31] 68 tn Heb “all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who outlived him.”
[24:31] 69 tn Heb “who knew all the work of the
[24:32] 70 tn Heb “one hundred qesitahs.” The Hebrew word קְשִׂיטָה (qesitah) is generally understood to refer to a unit of money, but the value and/or weight is unknown. The word occurs only here and in Gen 33:19 and Job 42:11.
[24:32] 71 tn Heb “and they became for the sons of Joseph an inheritance.” One might think “bones” is the subject of the verb “they became,” but the verb is masculine, while “bones” is feminine. The translation follows the emendation suggested in the BHS note, which appeals to the Syriac and Vulgate for support. The emended reading understands “the part (of the field)” as the subject of the verb “became.” The emended verb is feminine singular; this agrees with “the part” (of the field), which is feminine in Hebrew.
[24:33] 72 tn Heb “in Gibeah of Phinehas, his son, which had been given to him in the hill country of Ephraim.”
