Day 106 of 730

¹Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel, for their heads, for their judges, and for their officers; and they presented themselves before God.

²Joshua said to all the people, "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, 'Your fathers lived of old time beyond the River, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nahor: and they served other gods.

³I took your father Abraham from beyond the River, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed, and gave him Isaac.

⁴I gave to Isaac Jacob and Esau: and I gave to Esau Mount Seir, to possess it. Jacob and his children went down into Egypt.

⁵I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt, according to that which I did in its midst: and afterward I brought you out.

⁶I brought your fathers out of Egypt: and you came to the sea. The Egyptians pursued after your fathers with chariots and with horsemen to the Red Sea.

⁷When they cried out to the Lord, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea on them, and covered them; and your eyes saw what I did in Egypt: and you lived in the wilderness many days.

⁸I brought you into the land of the Amorites, that lived beyond the Jordan: and they fought with you; and I gave them into your hand. You possessed their land; and I destroyed them from before you.

⁹Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and fought against Israel. He sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you;

¹⁰but I would not listen to Balaam; therefore he blessed you still. So I delivered you out of his hand.

¹¹You went over the Jordan, and came to Jericho. The men of Jericho fought against you, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Girgashite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite; and I delivered them into your hand.

¹²I sent the hornet before you, which drove them out from before you, even the two kings of the Amorites; not with your sword, nor with your bow.

¹³I gave you a land whereon you had not labored, and cities which you did not build, and you live in them. You eat of vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.'

¹⁴Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in truth. Put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River, in Egypt; and serve the Lord.

¹⁵If it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

¹⁶The people answered, "Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord, to serve other gods;

¹⁷for it is the Lord our God who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way in which we went, and among all the peoples through the midst of whom we passed.

¹⁸The Lord drove out from before us all the peoples, even the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the Lord; for he is our God."

¹⁹Joshua said to the people, "You can't serve the Lord; for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God. He will not forgive your disobedience nor your sins.

²⁰If you forsake the Lord, and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you evil, and consume you, after he has done you good."

²¹The people said to Joshua, "No; but we will serve the Lord."

²²Joshua said to the people, "You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen you the Lord, to serve him." They said, "We are witnesses."

²³"Now therefore put away the foreign gods which are among you, and incline your heart to the Lord, the God of Israel."

²⁴The people said to Joshua, "We will serve the Lord our God, and we will listen to his voice."

²⁵So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem.

²⁶Joshua wrote these words in the scroll of the Law of God; and he took a great stone, and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of the Lord.

²⁷Joshua said to all the people, "Behold, this stone shall be a witness against us; for it has heard all the words of the Lord which he spoke to us. It shall be therefore a witness against you, lest you deny your God."

²⁸So Joshua sent the people away, every man to his inheritance.

²⁹It happened after these things, that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being one hundred ten years old.

³⁰They buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnathserah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, on the north of the mountain of Gaash.

³¹Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, and had known all the work of the Lord, that he had worked for Israel.

³²They buried the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, in Shechem, in the parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred pieces of money. They became the inheritance of the children of Joseph.

³³Eleazar the son of Aaron died. They buried him in the hill of Phinehas his son, which was given him in the hill country of Ephraim.

¹It happened after the death of Joshua, the children of Israel asked of the Lord, saying, "Who should go up for us first against the Canaanites, to fight against them?"

²The Lord said, "Judah shall go up. Behold, I have delivered the land into his hand."

³Judah said to Simeon his brother, "Come up with me into my lot, that we may fight against the Canaanites; and I likewise will go with you into your lot." So Simeon went with him.

⁴Judah went up; and the Lord delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand: and they struck of them in Bezek ten thousand men.

⁵They found Adoni-Bezek in Bezek; and they fought against him, and they struck the Canaanites and the Perizzites.

⁶But Adoni-Bezek fled; and they pursued after him, and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his great toes.

⁷Adoni-Bezek said, "Seventy kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, scavenged under my table: as I have done, so God has requited me." They brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.

⁸The children of Judah fought against Jerusalem, and took it, and struck it with the edge of the sword, and set the city on fire.

⁹Afterward the children of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites who lived in the hill country, and in the South, and in the lowland.

¹⁰Judah went against the Canaanites who lived in Hebron (now the name of Hebron before was Kiriath Arba); and they struck Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai.

¹¹From there he went against the inhabitants of Debir. (Now the name of Debir before was Kiriath Sepher.)

¹²Caleb said, "He who strikes Kiriath Sepher, and takes it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter as wife."

¹³Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, took it: and he gave him Achsah his daughter as wife.

¹⁴It happened, when she came to him, that she got him to ask her father for a field: and she got off from her donkey; and Caleb said to her, "What would you like?"

¹⁵She said to him, "Give me a blessing; since you have given me the land in the Negev, give me also springs of water." Then Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.

¹⁶The children of the Kenite, Moses' brother-in-law, went up out of the city of palm trees with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which is in the south of Arad; and they went and lived with the people.

¹⁷Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they struck the Canaanites who inhabited Zephath, and utterly destroyed it. The name of the city was called Hormah.

¹⁸Also Judah took Gaza with its territory, and Ashkelon with its territory, and Ekron with its territory.

¹⁹The Lord was with Judah; and drove out the inhabitants of the hill country; for he could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron.

²⁰They gave Hebron to Caleb, as Moses had spoken: and he drove out there the three sons of Anak.

²¹The children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who inhabited Jerusalem; but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.

²²The house of Joseph, they also went up against Bethel; and the Lord was with them.

²³The house of Joseph sent to spy out Bethel. (Now the name of the city before was Luz.)

²⁴The watchers saw a man come forth out of the city, and they said to him, "Please show us the entrance into the city, and we will deal kindly with you."

²⁵He showed them the entrance into the city; and they struck the city with the edge of the sword; but they let the man go and all his family.

²⁶The man went into the land of the Hittites, and built a city, and called its name Luz, which is its name to this day.

²⁷Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shean and its towns, nor Taanach and its towns, nor the inhabitants of Dor and its towns, nor the inhabitants of Ibleam and its towns, nor the inhabitants of Megiddo and its towns; but the Canaanites would dwell in that land.

²⁸It happened, when Israel had grown strong, that they put the Canaanites to forced labor, and did not utterly drive them out.

²⁹Ephraim didn't drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer; but the Canaanites lived in Gezer among them.

³⁰Zebulun didn't drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol; but the Canaanites lived among them, and became subject to forced labor.

³¹Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Acco, nor the inhabitants of Sidon, nor of Ahlab, nor of Achzib, nor of Helbah, nor of Aphik, nor of Rehob;

³²but the Asherites lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; for they did not drive them out.

³³Naphtali didn't drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh, nor the inhabitants of Beth Anath; but he lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: nevertheless the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh and of Beth Anath became subject to forced labor.

³⁴The Amorites forced the children of Dan into the hill country; for they would not allow them to come down to the valley;

³⁵but 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 subject to forced labor.

³⁶The border of the Amorites was from the ascent of Akrabbim, from the rock, and upward.

¹Praise Yah! Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever.

²Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord, or fully declare all his praise?

³Blessed are those who keep justice. Blessed is one who does what is right at all times.

⁴Remember me, Lord, with the favor that you show to your people. Visit me with your salvation,

⁵that I may see the prosperity of your chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of your nation, that I may glory with your inheritance.

⁶We have sinned with our fathers. We have committed iniquity. We have done wickedly.

⁷Our fathers did not understand your wonders in Egypt. They did not remember the multitude of your loving kindnesses, but were rebellious at the sea, even at the Red Sea.

⁸Nevertheless he saved them for his name's sake, that he might make his mighty power known.

⁹He rebuked the Red Sea also, and it was dried up; so he led them through the depths, as through a desert.

¹⁰He saved them from the hand of him who hated them, and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.

¹¹The waters covered their adversaries. There was not one of them left.

¹²Then they believed his words. They sang his praise.

¹³They soon forgot his works. They did not wait for his counsel,

¹⁴but gave in to craving in the desert, and tested God in the wasteland.

¹⁵He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul.

¹⁶They envied Moses also in the camp, and Aaron, the Lord's holy one.

¹⁷The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, and covered the company of Abiram.

¹⁸A fire was kindled in their company. The flame burned up the wicked.

¹⁹They made a calf in Horeb, and worshiped a molten image.

²⁰Thus they exchanged their glory for an image of a bull that eats grass.

²¹They forgot God, their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt,

²²Wondrous works in the land of Ham, and awesome things by the Red Sea.

²³Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had Moses, his chosen, not stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, so that he wouldn't destroy them.

²⁴Yes, they despised the pleasant land. They did not believe his word,

²⁵but murmured in their tents, and did not listen to the Lord's voice.

²⁶Therefore he swore to them that he would overthrow them in the wilderness,

²⁷that he would overthrow their seed among the nations, and scatter them in the lands.

²⁸They joined themselves also to Baal Peor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead.

²⁹Thus they provoked him to anger with their deeds. The plague broke in on them.

³⁰Then Phinehas stood up, and executed judgment, so the plague was stopped.

³¹That was credited to him for righteousness, for all generations to come.

³²They angered him also at the waters of Meribah, so that Moses was troubled for their sakes;

³³because they were rebellious against his spirit, he spoke rashly with his lips.

³⁴They did not destroy the peoples, as the Lord commanded them,

³⁵but mixed themselves with the nations, and learned their works.

³⁶They served their idols, which became a snare to them.

³⁷Yes, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons.

³⁸They shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan. The land was polluted with blood.

³⁹Thus were they defiled with their works, and prostituted themselves in their deeds.

⁴⁰Therefore the Lord burned with anger against his people. He abhorred his inheritance.

⁴¹He gave them into the hand of the nations. Those who hated them ruled over them.

⁴²Their enemies also oppressed them. They were brought into subjection under their hand.

⁴³Many times he delivered them, but they were rebellious in their counsel, and were brought low in their iniquity.

⁴⁴Nevertheless he regarded their distress, when he heard their cry.

⁴⁵He remembered for them his covenant, and repented according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses.

⁴⁶He made them also to be pitied by all those who carried them captive.

⁴⁷Save us, Lord, our God, gather us from among the nations, to give thanks to your holy name, to triumph in your praise!

⁴⁸Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting even to everlasting! Let all the people say, "Amen." Praise the Lord!

¹A wise son listens to his father's instruction, but a scoffer doesn't listen to rebuke.

²By the fruit of his lips, a man enjoys good things; but the unfaithful crave violence.

³He who guards his mouth guards his soul. One who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.

⁴The soul of the sluggard desires, and has nothing, but the desire of the diligent shall be fully satisfied.

⁵A righteous man hates lies, but a wicked man brings shame and disgrace.

⁶Righteousness guards the way of integrity, but wickedness overthrows the sinner.

⁷There are some who pretend to be rich, yet have nothing. There are some who pretend to be poor, yet have great wealth.

⁸The ransom of a man's life is his riches, but the poor hear no threats.

⁹The light of the righteous shines brightly, but the lamp of the wicked is snuffed out.

¹⁰Pride only breeds quarrels, but with ones who take advice is wisdom.

¹¹Wealth gained dishonestly dwindles away, but he who gathers by hand makes it grow.

¹²Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when longing is fulfilled, it is a tree of life.

¹³Whoever despises instruction will pay for it, but he who respects a command will be rewarded.

¹⁴The teaching of the wise is a spring of life, to turn from the snares of death.

¹⁵Good understanding wins favor; but the way of the unfaithful is hard.

¹⁶Every prudent man acts from knowledge, but a fool exposes folly.

¹⁷A wicked messenger falls into trouble, but a trustworthy envoy gains healing.

¹⁸Poverty and shame come to him who refuses discipline, but he who heeds correction shall be honored.

¹⁹Longing fulfilled is sweet to the soul, but fools detest turning from evil.

²⁰One who walks with wise men grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.

²¹Misfortune pursues sinners, but prosperity rewards the righteous.

²²A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, but the wealth of the sinner is stored for the righteous.

²³An abundance of food is in poor people's fields, but injustice sweeps it away.

²⁴One who spares the rod hates his son, but one who loves him is careful to discipline him.

²⁵The righteous one eats to the satisfying of his soul, but the belly of the wicked goes hungry.