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Chapter 24
The Covenant Renewed at Shechem
1Then Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He summoned the elders, leaders, judges and officials of Israel, and they presented themselves before God.
2Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your forefathers, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the RiverThat is, the Euphrates; also in verses 3, 14 and 15 and worshiped other gods.
3But I took your father Abraham from the land beyond the River and led him throughout Canaan and gave him many descendants. I gave him Isaac,
4and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I assigned the hill country of Seir to Esau, but Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt.
5“‘Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I afflicted the Egyptians by what I did there, and I brought you out.
6When I brought your fathers out of Egypt, you came to the sea, and the Egyptians pursued them with chariots and horsemenOr charioteers as far as the Red Sea.Hebrew Yam Suph; that is, Sea of Reeds
7But they cried to the LORD for help, and he put darkness between you and the Egyptians; he brought the sea over them and covered them. You saw with your own eyes what I did to the Egyptians. Then you lived in the desert for a long time.
8“‘I brought you to the land of the Amorites 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.
9When Balak son of Zippor, the king of Moab, prepared to fight against Israel, he sent for Balaam son of Beor to put a curse on you.
10But I would not listen to Balaam, so he blessed you again and again, and I delivered you out of his hand.
11“‘Then you crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The citizens of Jericho fought against you, as did also the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites and Jebusites, but I gave them into your hands.
12I sent the hornet ahead of you, which drove them out before you—also the two Amorite kings. You did not do it with your own sword and bow.
13So I gave you a land 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.’
14“Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.
15But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”
16Then the people answered, “Far be it from us to forsake the LORD to serve other gods!
17It was the LORD our God himself who brought us and our fathers up out of Egypt, from that land of slavery, and performed those great signs before our eyes. He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled.
18And the LORD drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites, who lived in the land. We too will serve the LORD, because he is our God.”
19Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the LORD. He is a holy God; he is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins.
20If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you, after he has been good to you.”
21But the people said to Joshua, “No! We will serve the LORD.”
22Then Joshua said, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the LORD.”
“Yes, we are witnesses,” they replied.
23“Now then,” said Joshua, “throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel.”
24And the people said to Joshua, “We will serve the LORD our God and obey him.”
25On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people, and there at Shechem he drew up for them decrees and laws.
26And Joshua recorded these things in the Book of the Law of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak near the holy place of the LORD.
27“See!” he said to all the people. “This stone will be a witness against us. It has heard all the words the LORD has said to us. It will be a witness against you if you are untrue to your God.”
Buried in the Promised Land
28Then Joshua sent the people away, each to his own inheritance.
29After these things, Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of a hundred and ten.
30And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath SerahAlso known as Timnath Heres (see Judges 2:9) in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
31Israel served the LORD throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had experienced everything the LORD had done for Israel.
32And Joseph's bones, which the Israelites had brought up from Egypt, were buried at Shechem in the tract of land that Jacob bought for a hundred pieces of silverHebrew hundred kesitahs; a kesitah was a unit of money of unknown weight and value. from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem. This became the inheritance of Joseph's descendants.
33And Eleazar son of Aaron died and was buried at Gibeah, which had been allotted to his son Phinehas in the hill country of Ephraim.
Judges
Chapter 1
Israel Fights the Remaining Canaanites
1After the death of Joshua, the Israelites asked the LORD, “Who will be the first to go up and fight for us against the Canaanites?”
2The LORD answered, “Judah is to go; I have given the land into their hands.”
3Then the men of Judah said to the Simeonites their brothers, “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 Simeonites went with them.
4When Judah attacked, the LORD gave the Canaanites and Perizzites into their hands and they struck down ten thousand men at Bezek.
5It was there that they found Adoni-Bezek and fought against him, putting to rout the Canaanites and Perizzites.
6Adoni-Bezek fled, but they chased him and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and big toes.
7Then 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 back for what I did to them.” They brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.
8The men of Judah attacked Jerusalem also and took it. They put the city to the sword and set it on fire.
9After that, the men of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites living in the hill country, the Negev and the western foothills.
10They advanced against the Canaanites living in Hebron (formerly called Kiriath Arba) and defeated Sheshai, Ahiman and Talmai.
11From there they advanced against the people living in Debir (formerly called Kiriath Sepher).
12And Caleb said, “I will give my daughter Acsah in marriage to the man who attacks and captures Kiriath Sepher.”
13Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, took it; so Caleb gave his daughter Acsah to him in marriage.
14One day when she came to Othniel, she urged himHebrew; Septuagint and Vulgate Othniel, he urged her to ask her father for a field. When she got off her donkey, Caleb asked her, “What can I do for you?”
15She replied, “Do me a special favor. Since you have given me land in the Negev, give me also springs of water.” Then Caleb gave her the upper and lower springs.
16The descendants of Moses' father-in-law, the Kenite, went up from the City of PalmsThat is, Jericho with the men of Judah to live among the people of the Desert of Judah in the Negev near Arad.
17Then the men of Judah went with the Simeonites their brothers and attacked the Canaanites living in Zephath, and they totally destroyedThe Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the LORD, often by totally destroying them. the city. Therefore it was called Hormah.Hormah means destruction.
18The men of Judah also tookHebrew; Septuagint Judah did not take Gaza, Ashkelon and Ekron—each city with its territory.
19The LORD was with the men of Judah. They took possession of the hill country, but they were unable to drive the people from the plains, because they had iron chariots.
20As Moses had promised, Hebron was given to Caleb, who drove from it the three sons of Anak.
21The Benjamites, however, failed to dislodge the Jebusites, who were living in Jerusalem; to this day the Jebusites live there with the Benjamites.
22Now the house of Joseph attacked Bethel, and the LORD was with them.
23When they sent men to spy out Bethel (formerly called Luz),
24the 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.”
25So he showed them, and they put the city to the sword but spared the man and his whole family.
26He then went to the land of the Hittites, where he built a city and called it Luz, which is its name to this day.
27But Manasseh did not drive out the people of Beth Shan or Taanach or Dor or Ibleam or Megiddo and their surrounding settlements, for the Canaanites were determined to live in that land.
28When Israel became strong, they pressed the Canaanites into forced labor but never drove them out completely.
29Nor did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites living in Gezer, but the Canaanites continued to live there among them.
30Neither did Zebulun drive out the Canaanites living in Kitron or Nahalol, who remained among them; but they did subject them to forced labor.
31Nor did Asher drive out those living in Acco or Sidon or Ahlab or Aczib or Helbah or Aphek or Rehob,
32and because of this the people of Asher lived among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land.
33Neither did Naphtali drive out those living in Beth Shemesh or Beth Anath; 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.
34The Amorites confined the Danites to the hill country, not allowing them to come down into the plain.
35And the Amorites were determined also to hold out in Mount Heres, Aijalon and Shaalbim, but when the power of the house of Joseph increased, they too were pressed into forced labor.
36The boundary of the Amorites was from ScorpionHebrew Akrabbim Pass to Sela and beyond.
Chapter 2
The Angel of the LORD at Bokim
1The angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said, “I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land that I swore to give to your forefathers. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you,
2and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall break down their altars.’ Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this?
3Now therefore I tell you that I will not drive them out before you; they will be thorns in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you.”
4When the angel of the LORD had spoken these things to all the Israelites, the people wept aloud,
5and they called that place Bokim.Bokim means weepers. There they offered sacrifices to the LORD.
Disobedience and Defeat
6After Joshua had dismissed the Israelites, they went to take possession of the land, each to his own inheritance.
7The 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.
8Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of a hundred and ten.
9And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath HeresAlso known as Timnath Serah (see Joshua 19:50 and 24:30) in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
10After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel.
11Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals.
12They forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They provoked the LORD to anger
13because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.
14In his anger against Israel the LORD handed them over to raiders who plundered them. He sold them to their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist.
15Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the LORD was against them to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them. They were in great distress.
16Then the LORD raised up judges,Or leaders; similarly in verses 17-19 who saved them out of the hands of these raiders.
17Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. Unlike their fathers, they quickly turned from the way in which their fathers had walked, the way of obedience to the LORD's commands.
18Whenever the LORD raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the LORD had compassion on them as they groaned under those who oppressed and afflicted them.
19But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their fathers, following other gods and serving and worshiping them. They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.
20Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel and said, “Because this nation has violated the covenant that I laid down for their forefathers and has not listened to me,
21I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died.
22I will use them to test Israel and see whether they will keep the way of the LORD and walk in it as their forefathers did.”
23The LORD had allowed those nations to remain; he did not drive them out at once by giving them into the hands of Joshua.

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