Israel Renews its Commitment to the Lord
24:1 Joshua assembled all the Israelite tribes at Shechem. He summoned Israel’s elders, rulers, judges, and leaders, and they appeared before God. 24:2 Joshua told all the people, “Here is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘In the distant past your ancestors 1 lived beyond the Euphrates River, 2 including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor. They worshiped 3 other gods, 24:3 but I took your father Abraham from beyond the Euphrates 4 and brought him into 5 the entire land of Canaan. I made his descendants numerous; I gave him Isaac, 24:4 and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. To Esau I assigned Mount Seir, 6 while Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt. 24:5 I sent Moses and Aaron, and I struck Egypt down when I intervened in their land. 7 Then I brought you out. 24:6 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 8 cried out for help to the Lord; he made the area between you and the Egyptians dark, 9 and then drowned them in the sea. 10 You witnessed with your very own eyes 11 what I did in Egypt. You lived in the wilderness for a long time. 12 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 13 their land and I destroyed them from before you. 24:9 Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, launched an attack 14 against Israel. He summoned 15 Balaam son of Beor to call down judgment 16 on you. 24:10 I refused to respond to Balaam; he kept 17 prophesying good things about 18 you, and I rescued you from his power. 19 24:11 You crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. 20 The leaders 21 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 22 ahead of you to drive out before you the two 23 Amorite kings. I gave you the victory; it was not by your swords or bows. 24 24:13 I gave you a land in 25 which you had not worked hard; you took up residence in cities you did not build and you are eating the produce of 26 vineyards and olive groves you did not plant.’
24:14 Now 27 obey 28 the Lord and worship 29 him with integrity and loyalty. Put aside the gods your ancestors 30 worshiped 31 beyond the Euphrates 32 and in Egypt and worship 33 the Lord. 24:15 If you have no desire 34 to worship 35 the Lord, choose today whom you will worship, 36 whether it be the gods whom your ancestors 37 worshiped 38 beyond the Euphrates, 39 or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. But I and my family 40 will worship 41 the Lord!”
24:16 The people responded, “Far be it from us to abandon the Lord so we can 42 worship 43 other gods! 24:17 For the Lord our God took us and our fathers out of slavery 44 in the land of Egypt 45 and performed these awesome miracles 46 before our very eyes. He continually protected us as we traveled and when we passed through nations. 47 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 48 the Lord, for he is our God!”
24:19 Joshua warned 49 the people, “You will not keep worshiping 50 the Lord, for 51 he is a holy God. 52 He is a jealous God who will not forgive 53 your rebellion or your sins. 24:20 If 54 you abandon the Lord and worship 55 foreign gods, he will turn against you; 56 he will bring disaster on you and destroy you, 57 though he once treated you well.” 58
24:21 The people said to Joshua, “No! We really will 59 worship 60 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?” 61 They replied, “We are witnesses!” 62 24:23 Joshua said, 63 “Now put aside the foreign gods that are among you and submit to 64 the Lord God of Israel.”
24:24 The people said to Joshua, “We will worship 65 the Lord our God and obey him.” 66
24:25 That day Joshua drew up an agreement 67 for the people, and he established rules and regulations 68 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. 69 It will be a witness against you if 70 you deny your God.” 24:28 When Joshua dismissed the people, they went to their allotted portions of land. 71
An Era Ends
24:29 After all this 72 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 73 in Timnath Serah in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. 24:31 Israel worshiped 74 the Lord throughout Joshua’s lifetime and as long as the elderly men who outlived him remained alive. 75 These men had experienced firsthand everything the Lord had done for Israel. 76
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. 77 So it became the inheritance of the tribe of Joseph. 78
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. 79
The Dispersion of the Nations at Babel
11:1 The whole earth 1 had a common language and a common vocabulary. 2 11:2 When the people 3 moved eastward, 4 they found a plain in Shinar 5 and settled there. 11:3 Then they said to one another, 6 “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” 7 (They had brick instead of stone and tar 8 instead of mortar.) 9 11:4 Then they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens 10 so that 11 we may make a name for ourselves. Otherwise 12 we will be scattered 13 across the face of the entire earth.”
11:5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the people 14 had started 15 building. 11:6 And the Lord said, “If as one people all sharing a common language 16 they have begun to do this, then 17 nothing they plan to do will be beyond them. 18 11:7 Come, let’s go down and confuse 19 their language so they won’t be able to understand each other.” 20
11:8 So the Lord scattered them from there across the face of the entire earth, and they stopped building 21 the city. 11:9 That is why its name was called 22 Babel 23 – because there the Lord confused the language of the entire world, and from there the Lord scattered them across the face of the entire earth.
The Genealogy of Shem
11:10 This is the account of Shem.
Shem was 100 old when he became the father of Arphaxad, two years after the flood. 11:11 And after becoming the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and had other 24 sons and daughters.
11:12 When Arphaxad had lived 35 years, he became the father of Shelah. 11:13 And after he became the father of Shelah, Arphaxad lived 403 years and had other 25 sons and daughters. 26
11:14 When Shelah had lived 30 years, he became the father of Eber. 11:15 And after he became the father of Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and had other 27 sons and daughters.
11:16 When Eber had lived 34 years, he became the father of Peleg. 11:17 And after he became the father of Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters.
11:18 When Peleg had lived 30 years, he became the father of Reu. 11:19 And after he became the father of Reu, Peleg lived 209 years and had other sons and daughters.
11:20 When Reu had lived 32 years, he became the father of Serug. 11:21 And after he became the father of Serug, Reu lived 207 years and had other sons and daughters.
11:22 When Serug had lived 30 years, he became the father of Nahor. 11:23 And after he became the father of Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and had other sons and daughters.
11:24 When Nahor had lived 29 years, he became the father of Terah. 11:25 And after he became the father of Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and had other sons and daughters.
11:26 When Terah had lived 70 years, he became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
The Record of Terah
11:27 This is the account of Terah.
Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot. 11:28 Haran died in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans, 28 while his father Terah was still alive. 29 11:29 And Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, 30 and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah; 31 she was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milcah and Iscah. 11:30 But Sarai was barren; she had no children.
11:31 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (the son of Haran), and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and with them he set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. When they came to Haran, they settled there. 11:32 The lifetime 32 of Terah was 205 years, and he 33 died in Haran.
