Joshua 24

Great(i) 1 And Iosua geathered all the trybes of Israell to Sichem, and called for the elders of Israell, and for theyr heades, Iudges and officers, and they presented them selues before God. 2 And Iosua sayde vnto all the people: thus sayth the Lord God of Israell: youre fathers dwelt on the other syde of the floud in olde tyme: euen Thareh the father of Abraham & of Nachor, and serued straunge goddes. 3 And I toke youre father Abraham from the other syde of the floude, & brought him thorow out all the lande of Canaan, & multiplied his seed, and gaue him Isahac. 4 And I gaue vnto Isahac, Iacob & Esau. And I gaue vnto Esau mount Seir, to possesse it. But Iacob and his children went downe into Egypte. 5 I sent Moses also & Aaron. And I plaged Egypte: & whan I had so done among them, 6 I brought you out, and I brought youre fathers out of Egypte. And as they came vnto the see, the Egypcians folowed after youre fathers with charettes & horsmen, vnto the redd see. 7 And whan they cried vnto the Lord, the Lord put darcknesse betwene you and the Egypcians, and brought the see vpon them, and couered them. And youre eyes haue sene what I haue done to the Egypcians. And ye dwelt in the wildernesse a longe ceason. 8 And I brought you into the lande of the Amorites, which dwelt on the other syde Iordan. And they fought with you: and I gaue them into your hand, that ye myght conquere their contre. And I destroyed them from out of youre syght. 9 Then Balak the sonne of Ziphor, king of Moab arose, & warred agaynst Israell, & sent & called Balaam the sonne of Beor for to cursse you. 10 But I wolde not herken vnto Balaam, & therfore he rather blessed you: And so I deliuered you out of his hande. 11 And ye went ouer Iordan, and came vnto Iericho, and the men of Iericho fought agaynst you: the Amorites, Pheresites, Canaanites, Hethites, Girgosites, Heuites, & Iebusites, and I deliuered them in to youre hande. 12 And I sent hornettes before you, whych cast them out of youre sight: euen the two kinges of the Amorites: but not with your owne swerde, or with youre owne bowe. 13 And I haue geuen you a lande, in which ye dyd no laboure, and cyties which you bilt not, and which ye dwell in: vineyardes also, and Olyue trees which ye planted not, and whereof ye do eate. 14 Now therfore feare the Lorde, & serue him in perfectnesse and truthe: And put awaye the goddes, whych youre fathers serued on the other syde of the floude, and in Egypte, and serue ye the Lorde. 15 And yf it seme euell vnto you to serue the Lorde, then chose you this daye whom you will serue: whether the goddes which youre fathers serued (that were on the other syde of the floude) ether the Goddes of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell. As for me and my howse, we will serue the Lorde. 16 The people answered and sayde: God forbyd, that we shulde forsake the Lorde, and serue straunge goddes. 17 For the Lorde oure God, he it is that brought vs and oure fathers out of the lande of Egypte, and from the howse of bondage, and which dyd those great miracles in oure syght, & preserued vs in all the waye that we went, & amonge all the nacions which we came thorow. 18 And the Lorde dyd cast out before vs all the nacions, specially the Amorites, which dwelt in the lande. And therfore will we also serue the Lorde, for he is oure God. 19 And Iosua sayd vnto the people, Ye can not serue the Lorde: for he is an holye God, and a gelous God, and cannot beare youre iniquite and synne. 20 Yf ye forsake the Lorde and serue straunge goddes, he will turne and do you euell, and consume you, after that he hath done you good. 21 And the people sayde vnto Iosua: naye, but we will serue the Lorde. 22 And Iosua sayde vnto the people: ye are witnesses youre selues, that ye haue chosen you the Lorde, to serue him: and they sayd: we are wytnesses. 23 Then put awaye (sayde he) the straunge goddes which are amonge you, and bowe youre hertes vnto the Lorde God of Israell. 24 The people sayde vnto Iosua: the Lord oure God will we serue, and his voyce will we obeye, 25 And so Iosua made a couenant with the people the same daye, and set an ordinaunce and lawe before them in Sichem. 26 And Iosua wrote these wordes in the boke of the lawe of God, and toke a great stone, and pitched it on ende in the sayde place, euen vnder an oke that was in the sanctuarye of the Lorde. 27 And Iosua sayde vnto all the people: beholde, this stone shalbe a witnesse vnto vs, for it hath hearde all the wordes of the Lorde which he spake wyth vs, It shalbe therfore a witnesse vnto you, lest ye denye youre God. 28 And so Iosua let the people departe, euery man vnto his enheritaunce. 29 And after these thinges it came to passe, that Iosua the sonne of Nun, the seruaunt of the Lorde died, beyng an hundreth and ten yeres olde. 30 And they buryed hym in the contrey of hys enheritaunce, euen in Thamnath Sareth, which is in mount Ephraim, on the northsyde of the hill of Gaas. 31 And Israel serued the Lord all the dayes of Iosua, & all the dayes of the elders that ouer lyued Iosua, and whych had knowne all the worckes of the Lorde that he had done for Israel. 32 And the bones of Ioseph, which the children of Israell brought out of Egypte, buryed they in Sichem in a parcell of grounde, whych Iacob bought of the sonnes of Hemor the father of Sichem, for an hundreth peaces of syluer, and it became the enheritaunce of the children of Ioseph. 33 And Eleazar the sonne of Aaron dyed, whom they buryed in a hill that pertayned to Phinehes his sonne, which (hill) was geuen him in mount Ephraim.