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 .
15 But 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 .'
16 Then the people answered, 'Far be it from us to forsake the Lord to serve other gods!
17 It 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.
18 And 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.'
19 Joshua 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.
20 If 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.'
21 But the people said to Joshua, 'No! We will serve the Lord .'
22 Then 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.'
24 And the people said to Joshua, 'We will serve the Lord our God and obey him.'
25 On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people, and there at Shechem he drew up for them decrees and laws.
26 And 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.'
28 Then Joshua sent the people away, each to his own inheritance.
29 After these things, Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord , died at the age of a hundred and ten.
30 And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath Serah in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
31 Israel 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.
32 And 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 silver from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem. This became the inheritance of Joseph's descendants.
33 And 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
1 After the death of Joshua, the Israelites asked the LORD , 'Who will be the first to go up and fight for us against the Canaanites?'
2 The LORD answered, 'Judah is to go; I have given the land into their hands.'
3 Then 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.
4 When Judah attacked, the LORD gave the Canaanites and Perizzites into their hands and they struck down ten thousand men at Bezek.
5 It was there that they found Adoni-Bezek and fought against him, putting to rout the Canaanites and Perizzites.
6 Adoni-Bezek fled, but they chased him and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and big toes.
7 Then 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.
8 The men of Judah attacked Jerusalem also and took it. They put the city to the sword and set it on fire.
9 After that, the men of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites living in the hill country, the Negev and the western foothills.
10 They advanced against the Canaanites living in Hebron (formerly called Kiriath Arba) and defeated Sheshai, Ahiman and Talmai.
11 From there they advanced against the people living in Debir (formerly called Kiriath Sepher).
