[ Joshua Chapter 23 ]
1 And it came to pass a long time after that the LORD had given rest unto Israel
from all their enemies round about, that Joshua waxed old and stricken in age.
2 And Joshua called for all Israel, and for their elders, and for their heads,
and for their judges, and for their officers, and said unto them, I am old and
stricken in age:
3 And ye have seen all that the LORD your God hath done unto all these nations
because of you, for the LORD your God is he that hath fought for you.
4 Behold, I have divided unto you by lot these nations that remain, to be an
inheritance for your tribes, from Jordan, with all the nations that I have cut
off, even unto the great sea westward.
5 And the LORD your God, he shall expel them from before you, and drive them
from out of your sight, and ye shall possess their land, as the LORD your God
hath promised unto you.
6 Be ye therefore very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the
book of the law of Moses, that ye turn not aside therefrom to the right hand or
to the left,
7 That ye come not among these nations, these that remain among you, neither
make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause to swear by them, neither
serve them, nor bow yourselves unto them:
8 But cleave unto the LORD your God, as ye have done unto this day.
9 For the LORD hath driven out from before you great nations and strong: but as
for you, no man hath been able to stand before you unto this day.
10 One man of you shall chase a thousand: for the LORD your God, he it is that
fighteth for you, as he hath promised you.
11 Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love the LORD your God.
12 Else if ye do in any wise go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these
nations, even these that remain among you, and shall make marriages with them,
and go in unto them, and they to you:
13 Know for a certainty that the LORD your God will no more drive out any of
these nations from before you, but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and
scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this
good land which the LORD your God hath given you.
14 And, behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth: and ye know in all
your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the
good things which the LORD your God spake concerning you, all are come to pass
unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof.
15 Therefore it shall come to pass, that as all good things are come upon you,
which the LORD your God promised you, so shall the LORD bring upon you all evil
things, until he have destroyed you from off this good land which the LORD your
God hath given you.
16 When ye have transgressed the covenant of the LORD your God, which he
commanded you, and have gone and served other gods, and bowed yourselves to
them, then shall the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and ye shall
perish quickly from off the good land which he hath given unto you.
[ Joshua Chapter 24 ]
1 And Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for the
elders of Israel, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their
officers, and they presented themselves before God.
2 And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Your
fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father
of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods.
3 And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the flood, and led him
throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed, and gave him Isaac.
4 And I gave unto Isaac Jacob and Esau: and I gave unto Esau mount Seir, to
possess it, but Jacob and his children went down into Egypt.
5 I sent Moses also and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt, according to that which I
did among them: and afterward I brought you out.
6 And I brought your fathers out of Egypt: and ye came unto the sea, and the
Egyptians pursued after your fathers with chariots and horsemen unto the Red
sea.
7 And when they cried unto the LORD, he put darkness between you and the
Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them, and covered them, and your eyes have
seen what I have done in Egypt: and ye dwelt in the wilderness a long season.
8 And I brought you into the land of the Amorites, which dwelt on the other side
Jordan, and they fought with you: and I gave them into your hand, that ye might
possess their land, and I destroyed them from before you.
9 Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and warred against Israel,
and sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you:
10 But I would not hearken unto Balaam, therefore he blessed you still: so I
delivered you out of his hand.
11 And you went over Jordan, and came unto Jericho: and the men of Jericho
fought against you, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, and
the Hittites, and the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, and I
delivered them into your hand.
12 And I sent the hornet before you, which drave them out from before you, even
the two kings of the Amorites, but not with thy sword, nor with thy bow.
13 And I have given you a land for which ye did not labour, and cities which ye
built not, and ye dwell in them, of the vineyards and oliveyards which ye
planted not do ye eat.
14 Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put
away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in
Egypt, and serve ye the LORD.
15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye
will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other
side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as
for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.
16 And the people answered and said, God forbid that we should forsake the LORD,
to serve other gods,
17 For the LORD our God, he it is that brought us up and our fathers out of the
land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and which did those great signs in our
sight, and preserved us in all the way wherein we went, and among all the people
through whom we passed:
18 And the LORD drave out from before us all the people, even the Amorites which
dwelt in the land: therefore will we also serve the LORD, for he is our God.
19 And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the LORD: for he is an holy
God, he is a jealous God, he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins.
20 If ye forsake the LORD, and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you
hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done you good.
21 And the people said unto Joshua, Nay, but we will serve the LORD.
22 And Joshua said unto the people, Ye are witnesses against yourselves that ye
have chosen you the LORD, to serve him. And they said, We are witnesses.
23 Now therefore put away, said he, the strange gods which are among you, and
incline your heart unto the LORD God of Israel.
24 And the people said unto Joshua, The LORD our God will we serve, and his
voice will we obey.
25 So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and set them a statute
and an ordinance in Shechem.
26 And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God, and took a great
stone, and set it up there under an oak, that was by the sanctuary of the LORD.
27 And Joshua said unto all the people, Behold, this stone shall be a witness
unto us, for it hath heard all the words of the LORD which he spake unto us: it
shall be therefore a witness unto you, lest ye deny your God.
28 So Joshua let the people depart, every man unto his inheritance.
29 And it came to pass after these things, that Joshua the son of Nun, the
servant of the LORD, died, being an hundred and ten years old.
30 And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnathserah, which
is in mount Ephraim, on the north side of the hill of Gaash.
31 And Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the
elders that overlived Joshua, and which had known all the works of the LORD,
that he had done for Israel.
32 And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of
Egypt, buried they in Shechem, in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the
sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for an hundred pieces of silver: and it
became the inheritance of the children of Joseph.
33 And Eleazar the son of Aaron died, and they buried him in a hill that
pertained to Phinehas his son, which was given him in mount Ephraim.
[ Judges Chapter 1 ]
1 Now after the death of Joshua it came to pass, that the children of Israel
asked the LORD, saying, Who shall go up for us against the Canaanites first, to
fight against them?
2 And the LORD said, Judah shall go up: behold, I have delivered the land into
his hand.
3 And Judah said unto Simeon his brother, Come up with me into my lot, that we
may fight against the Canaanites, and I likewise will go with thee into thy lot.
So Simeon went with him.
4 And Judah went up, and the LORD delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites
into their hand: and they slew of them in Bezek ten thousand men.
5 And they found Adonibezek in Bezek: and they fought against him, and they slew
the Canaanites and the Perizzites.
6 But Adonibezek fled, and they pursued after him, and caught him, and cut off
his thumbs and his great toes.
7 And Adonibezek said, Threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and their
great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table: as I have done, so God
hath requited me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and there he died.
8 Now the children of Judah had fought against Jerusalem, and had taken it, and
smitten it with the edge of the sword, and set the city on fire.
9 And afterward the children of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites,
that dwelt in the mountain, and in the south, and in the valley.
10 And Judah went against the Canaanites that dwelt in Hebron: (now the name of
Hebron before was Kirjatharba:) and they slew Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai.
11 And from thence he went against the inhabitants of Debir: and the name of
Debir before was Kirjathsepher:
12 And Caleb said, He that smiteth Kirjathsepher, and taketh it, to him will I
give Achsah my daughter to wife.
13 And Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, took it: and he gave
him Achsah his daughter to wife.
14 And it came to pass, when she came to him, that she moved him to ask of her
father a field: and she lighted from off her ass, and Caleb said unto her, What
wilt thou?
15 And she said unto him, Give me a blessing: for thou hast given me a south
land, give me also springs of water. And Caleb gave her the upper springs and
the nether springs.
16 And the children of the Kenite, Moses' father in law, went up out of the city
of palm trees with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which
lieth in the south of Arad, and they went and dwelt among the people.
17 And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they slew the Canaanites that
inhabited Zephath, and utterly destroyed it. And the name of the city was called
Hormah.
18 Also Judah took Gaza with the coast thereof, and Askelon with the coast
thereof, and Ekron with the coast thereof.
19 And the LORD was with Judah, and he drave out the inhabitants of the
mountain, but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they
had chariots of iron.
20 And they gave Hebron unto Caleb, as Moses said: and he expelled thence the
three sons of Anak.
21 And the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited
Jerusalem, but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem
unto this day.
22 And the house of Joseph, they also went up against Bethel: and the LORD was
with them.
23 And the house of Joseph sent to descry Bethel. (Now the name of the city
before was Luz.)
24 And the spies saw a man come forth out of the city, and they said unto him,
Shew us, we pray thee, the entrance into the city, and we will shew thee mercy.
25 And when he shewed them the entrance into the city, they smote the city with
the edge of the sword, but they let go the man and all his family.
26 And the man went into the land of the Hittites, and built a city, and called
the name thereof Luz: which is the name thereof unto this day.
27 Neither did Manasseh drive out the inhabitants of Bethshean and her towns,
nor Taanach and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Dor and her towns, nor the
inhabitants of Ibleam and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Megiddo and her
towns: but the Canaanites would dwell in that land.
28 And it came to pass, when Israel was strong, that they put the Canaanites to
tribute, and did not utterly drive them out.
29 Neither did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer, but the
Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them.
30 Neither did Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants
of Nahalol, but the Canaanites dwelt among them, and became tributaries.
31 Neither did Asher drive out the inhabitants of Accho, nor the inhabitants of
Zidon, nor of Ahlab, nor of Achzib, nor of Helbah, nor of Aphik, nor of Rehob:
32 But the Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land:
for they did not drive them out.
33 Neither did Naphtali drive out the inhabitants of Bethshemesh, nor the
inhabitants of Bethanath, but he dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of
the land: nevertheless the inhabitants of Bethshemesh and of Bethanath became
tributaries unto them.
34 And the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountain: for they would
not suffer them to come down to the valley:
35 But the Amorites would dwell in mount Heres in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim: yet
the hand of the house of Joseph prevailed, so that they became tributaries.
36 And the coast of the Amorites was from the going up to Akrabbim, from the
rock, and upward.
Return
to Bible Reading Links
Return to Home
Page