Joshua 24:8-33

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 ¹  their land and I destroyed them from before you. 24:9 Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, launched an attack ²  against Israel. He summoned ³  Balaam son of Beor to call down judgment ⁴  on you. 24:10 I refused to respond to Balaam; he kept ⁵  prophesying good things about ⁶  you, and I rescued you from his power. ⁷  24:11 You crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. ⁸  The leaders ⁹  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 ¹⁰  ahead of you to drive out before you the two ¹¹  Amorite kings. I gave you the victory; it was not by your swords or bows. ¹²  24:13 I gave you a land in ¹³  which you had not worked hard; you took up residence in cities you did not build and you are eating the produce of ¹⁴  vineyards and olive groves you did not plant.’

24:14 Now ¹⁵  obey ¹⁶  the Lord and worship ¹⁷  him with integrity and loyalty. Put aside the gods your ancestors ¹⁸  worshiped ¹⁹  beyond the Euphrates ²⁰  and in Egypt and worship ²¹  the Lord. 24:15 If you have no desire ²²  to worship ²³  the Lord, choose today whom you will worship, ²⁴  whether it be the gods whom your ancestors ²⁵  worshiped ²⁶  beyond the Euphrates, ²⁷  or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. But I and my family ²⁸  will worship ²⁹  the Lord!”

24:16 The people responded, “Far be it from us to abandon the Lord so we can ³⁰  worship ³¹  other gods! 24:17 For the Lord our God took us and our fathers out of slavery ³²  in the land of Egypt ³³  and performed these awesome miracles ³⁴  before our very eyes. He continually protected us as we traveled and when we passed through nations. ³⁵  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 ³⁶  the Lord, for he is our God!”

24:19 Joshua warned ³⁷  the people, “You will not keep worshiping ³⁸  the Lord, for ³⁹  he is a holy God. ⁴⁰  He is a jealous God who will not forgive ⁴¹  your rebellion or your sins. 24:20 If ⁴²  you abandon the Lord and worship ⁴³  foreign gods, he will turn against you; ⁴⁴  he will bring disaster on you and destroy you, ⁴⁵  though he once treated you well.” ⁴⁶ 

24:21 The people said to Joshua, “No! We really will ⁴⁷  worship ⁴⁸  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?” ⁴⁹  They replied, “We are witnesses!” ⁵⁰  24:23 Joshua said, ⁵¹  “Now put aside the foreign gods that are among you and submit to ⁵²  the Lord God of Israel.”

24:24 The people said to Joshua, “We will worship ⁵³  the Lord our God and obey him.” ⁵⁴ 

24:25 That day Joshua drew up an agreement ⁵⁵  for the people, and he established rules and regulations ⁵⁶  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. ⁵⁷  It will be a witness against you if ⁵⁸  you deny your God.” 24:28 When Joshua dismissed the people, they went to their allotted portions of land. ⁵⁹ 

An Era Ends

24:29 After all this ⁶⁰  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 ⁶¹  in Timnath Serah in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. 24:31 Israel worshiped ⁶²  the Lord throughout Joshua’s lifetime and as long as the elderly men who outlived him remained alive. ⁶³  These men had experienced firsthand everything the Lord had done for Israel. ⁶⁴ 

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. ⁶⁵  So it became the inheritance of the tribe of Joseph. ⁶⁶ 

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. ⁶⁷ 

[24:8]  ¹ tn Or “took possession of.”

[24:9]  ² tn Heb “arose and fought.”

[24:9]  ³ tn Heb “sent and called.”

[24:9]  ⁴ tn Or “to curse.”

[24:10]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Heb “blessing.” Balaam’s “blessings” were actually prophecies of how God would prosper Israel.

[24:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “hand.”

[24:11]  ⁸ map For location see Map5 B2; Map6 E1; Map7 E1; Map8 E3; Map10 A2; Map11 A1.

[24:11]  ⁹ tn Or perhaps, “citizens.”

[24:12]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ tn Or perhaps, “for.”

[24:13]  ¹⁴ tn The words “the produce of” are supplied for clarification.

[24:14]  ¹⁵ sn Joshua quotes the Lord’s words in vv. 2b-13 (note that the Lord speaks in the first person in these verses); in vv. 14-15 Joshua himself exhorts the people (note the third person references to the Lord).

[24:14]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “fear.”

[24:14]  ¹⁷ tn Or “and serve.”

[24:14]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “your fathers.”

[24:14]  ¹⁹ tn Or “served.”

[24:14]  ²⁰ tn Heb “the river,” referring to the Euphrates. This has been specified in the translation for clarity; see v. 3.

[24:14]  ²¹ tn Or “and serve.”

[24:15]  ²² tn Heb “if it is bad in your eyes.”

[24:15]  ²³ tn Or “to serve.”

[24:15]  ²⁴ tn Or “will serve.”

[24:15]  ²⁵ tn Heb “your fathers.”

[24:15]  ²⁶ tn Or “served.”

[24:15]  ²⁷ tn Heb “the river,” referring to the Euphrates. This has been specified in the translation for clarity; see v. 3.

[24:15]  ²⁸ tn Heb “house.”

[24:15]  ²⁹ tn Or “will serve.”

[24:16]  ³⁰ tn Heb “to.”

[24:16]  ³¹ tn Or “can serve.”

[24:17]  ³² tn Heb “of the house of slavery.”

[24:17]  ³³ tn Heb “for the Lord our God, he is the one who brought up us and our fathers from the land of Egypt, from the house of slaves.”

[24:17]  ³⁴ tn Or “great signs.”

[24:17]  ³⁵ 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]  ³⁶ tn Or “will serve.”

[24:19]  ³⁷ tn Heb “said to.”

[24:19]  ³⁸ tn Heb “you are not able to serve.”

[24:19]  ³⁹ sn For an excellent discussion of Joshua’s logical argument here, see T. C. Butler, Joshua (WBC), 274-75.

[24:19]  ⁴⁰ 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]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “lift up” or “take away.”

[24:20]  ⁴² tn Or “when.”

[24:20]  ⁴³ tn Or “and serve.”

[24:20]  ⁴⁴ tn The words “against you” are added for clarification.

[24:20]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “bring you to an end.”

[24:20]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “after he did good for you.”

[24:21]  ⁴⁷ tn The translation assumes that כִּי (ki) is emphatic. Another option is to take it as explanatory, “No, for we will….”

[24:21]  ⁴⁸ tn Or “will serve.”

[24:22]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen for yourselves the Lord to serve him.”

[24:22]  ⁵⁰ 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]  ⁵¹ tn The words “Joshua said” are supplied for clarification.

[24:23]  ⁵² tn Heb “bend your heart toward.” The term לֵבָב (levav, “heart”) probably here refers to the people’s volition or will.

[24:24]  ⁵³ tn Or “will serve.”

[24:24]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “and listen to his voice.”

[24:25]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “cut a covenant.”

[24:25]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “a statute and a judgment.”

[24:27]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “all the words of the Lord which he spoke with us.”

[24:27]  ⁵⁸ tn Or “lest,” “so that you might not.”

[24:28]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “And Joshua sent the people away, each to his inheritance.”

[24:29]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “after these things.”

[24:30]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “in the territory of his inheritance.”

[24:31]  ⁶² tn Or “served.”

[24:31]  ⁶³ tn Heb “all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who outlived him.”

[24:31]  ⁶⁴ tn Heb “who knew all the work of the Lord which he had done for Israel.”

[24:32]  ⁶⁵ 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]  ⁶⁶ 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]  ⁶⁷ tn Heb “in Gibeah of Phinehas, his son, which had been given to him in the hill country of Ephraim.”