Joshua 24 Iosua gathered all the trybes of Israel together vnto Sichem, and called the Elders of Israel, the heades, iudges and officers. And wha they were come before God,

Coverdale⁽ⁱ⁾ ¹ Iosua gathered all the trybes of Israel together vnto Sichem, and called the Elders of Israel, the heades, iudges and officers. And wha they were come before God, ² he sayde vnto all the people: Thus sayeth the LORDE the God of Israel: Yor fathers dwelt afore time beyode ye water, Abraha & Nahor wt Tarah their father & serued other goddes. ³ Then toke I yor father Abraham beyonde the water, & caused him to walke in the londe of Canaan, & multiplied his sede, and gaue him Isaac, ⁴ and vnto Isaac I gaue Iacob and Esau, and gaue Esau mout Seir to possesse As for Iacob, & his childre, they wente downe in to Egipte. ⁵ Then sent I Moses and Aaron, and plaged Egipte as I haue done amonge the. ⁶ After yt brought I you and youre fathers out of Egipte. And whan ye came to ye see, and the Egipcians folowed vpon youre fathers with charettes and horse men vnto the reed see, ⁷ then cryed they vnto the LORDE, which put a darcknesse betwene you and the Egipcians, and broughte the see vpon them, and ouerwhelmed them. And youre eyes haue sene what I dyd to ye Egipcians, & ye dwelt in ye wildernes a loge season. ⁸ And I broughte you in to ye londe of the Amorites, which dwelt beionde Iordane: & wha they fought agaynst you, I delyuered them into yor hande, that ye mighte haue their countre in possession, and I destroyed them before you. ⁹ Then Balac the sonne of Ziphor the kynge of the Moabites gat him vp, and foughte agaynst Israel: and he sente and bad call Balaam the sonne of Beor, to curse you, ¹⁰ neuertheles I wolde not heare him, but I blessed you, and delyuered you out of his hande. ¹¹ And whan ye wente ouer Iordane, and came vnto Iericho, the citesyns of Iericho foughte agaynst you, the Amorites, Pheresites, Cananites, Hethites, Girgosites, Heuites, & Iebusites: howbeit I delyuered the into youre hande. ¹² And I sent hornettes before you, which droue them out before you, namely the two kynges of ye Amorites: not thorow thy swerde, ner thorow thy bowe. ¹³ And I haue geuen you a londe whervpon ye bestowed no laboure, and cities which ye haue not buylded, that ye might dwell therin, and that ye might eate of the vynyardes and olyue trees which ye haue not planted. ¹⁴ Feare the LORDE now therfore, and serue him perfectly and in the trueth, and let go the goddes, whom youre fathers serued beyonde the water and in Egipte, and serue ye ye LORDE. ¹⁵ But yf ye like not to serue the LORDE, the chose you this daye whom ye wyll serue: the God whom youre fathers serued beionde ye water, or ye goddes of the Amorites, in whose lode ye dwell. As for me and my house, we wyll serue the LORDE. ¹⁶ Then answered the people, and saide: God forbidde, that we shulde forsake the LORDE, & serue other goddes. ¹⁷ For the LORDE oure God brought vs and oure fathers out of the londe of Egipte fro the house of bondage, and did soch greate tokens before oure eyes, and preserued vs all ye waye that we wente, and amonge all the nacions, whom we trauayled by. ¹⁸ And the LORDE thrust out before vs all the people of the Amorites that dwelt in the londe. Therfore wyll we also serue the LORDE, for he is oure God. ¹⁹ Iosua sayde vnto the people: Ye can not serue the LORDE: for he is an holy God, mightie, and gelous, which spareth not youre trangressions and synnes. ²⁰ But yf ye forsake the LORDE, and serue a straunge god, then shall the LORDE turne him, and do you euell, and consume you, after that he hath done you good. ²¹ The people sayde vnto Iosua: Not so, but we will serue the LORDE. ²² Then sayde Iosua vnto the people: Ye are witnesses ouer youre selues, that ye haue chosen you the LORDE, to serue him. And they sayde: Yee. ²³ Then put awaye from you (sayde he) the straunge goddes yt are amonge you, and enclyne youre hert vnto the LORDE the God of Israel. ²⁴ And the people sayde vnto Iosua: We wyll serue the LORDE oure God, and be obedient vnto his voyce. ²⁵ So Iosua made a couenaunt with the people ye same daye, and laied statutes & lawes before them at Sichem. ²⁶ And Iosua wrote this acte in the boke of the lawe of God, and toke a greate stone, & set it vp there vnder an oke, which was in ye Sanctuary of ye LORDE, ²⁷ and sayde vnto all the people: Beholde, this stone shall be witnesse ouer you: For it hath herde all the wordes of the LORDE, which he hath spoken vnto vs, and shall be a witnesse ouer you, that ye denye not youre God. ²⁸ So Iosua let the people go euery one to his enheritauce. ²⁹ And it fortuned after these actes, yt Iosua the sonne of Nun ye seruaut of the LORDE dyed, whan he was an hundreth and ten yeare olde, ³⁰ and was buried in the border of his enheritauce at Thimnath Serah, which lyeth on the mount Ephraim, on the north side of mount Gaas. ³¹ And the children of Israel serued the LORDE as longe as Iosua lyued, and the Elders (that lyued longe after Iosua) which knewe all the workes of ye LORDE, that he had done vnto Israel. ³² The bones of Ioseph, which the children of Israel had broughte out of Egipte, buried they at Sichem, in the pece of the londe, yt Iacob boughte of the children of Hemor ye father of Sichem for an hundreth pens, and was the enheritaunce of the children of Ioseph. ³³ Eleasar the sonne of Aaron died also, and they buried him at Gibeath, which was Phineas his sonnes, that was geuen him vpon mount Ephraim.