Day 64 of 365

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.

¹The angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim. He said, "I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you to the land which I swore to your fathers; and I said, 'I will never break my covenant with you:

²and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall break down their altars.' But you have not listened to my voice: why have you done this?

³Therefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you."

⁴It happened, when the angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice, and wept.

⁵They called the name of that place Bochim: and they sacrificed there to the Lord.

⁶Now when Joshua had sent the people away, the children of Israel went every man to his inheritance to possess the land.

⁷The people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of the Lord that he had worked for Israel.

⁸Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being one hundred ten years old.

⁹They buried him in the territory of his inheritance in Timnath Heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, on the north of the mountain of Gaash.

¹⁰Also all that generation were gathered to their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, who didn't know the Lord, nor yet the work which he had worked for Israel.

¹¹The children of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, and served the Baals;

¹²and they forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed themselves down to them: and they provoked the Lord to anger.

¹³They forsook the Lord, and served Baal and the Ashtaroth.

¹⁴The anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers who despoiled them; and he sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies.

¹⁵Wherever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for harm, as the Lord had spoken, and as the Lord had sworn to them: and they were sore distressed.

¹⁶The Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who despoiled them.

¹⁷Yet they did not listen to their judges; for they played the prostitute after other gods, and bowed themselves down to them: they turned aside quickly out of the way in which their fathers walked, obeying the commandments of the Lord; but they did not do so.

¹⁸When the Lord raised them up judges, then the Lord was with the judge, and saved them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for it grieved the Lord because of their groaning by reason of those who oppressed them and troubled them.

¹⁹But it happened, when the judge was dead, that they turned back, and dealt more corruptly than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down to them; they did not cease from their doings, nor from their stubborn way.

²⁰The anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel; and he said, "Because this nation have transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not listened to my voice;

²¹I also will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the nations that Joshua left when he died;

²²that by them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of the Lord to walk therein, as their fathers kept it, or not."

²³So the Lord left those nations, without driving them out hastily; neither delivered he them into the hand of Joshua.

¹Now these are the nations which the Lord left, to prove Israel by them, even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan;

²only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at the least such as before knew nothing of it:

³namely, the five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal Hermon to the entrance of Hamath.

⁴They were left, to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would listen to the commandments of the Lord, which he commanded their fathers by Moses.

⁵The children of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites:

⁶and they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their own daughters to their sons and served their gods.

⁷The children of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, and forgot the Lord their God, and served the Baals and the Asheroth.

⁸Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cushan Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia: and the children of Israel served Cushan Rishathaim eight years.

⁹When the children of Israel cried to the Lord, the Lord raised up a savior to the children of Israel, who saved them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother.

¹⁰The Spirit of the Lord came on him, and he judged Israel; and he went out to war, and the Lord delivered Cushan Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand: and his hand prevailed against Cushan Rishathaim.

¹¹The land had rest forty years. Othniel the son of Kenaz died.

¹²The children of Israel again did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord: and the Lord strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done that which was evil in the sight of the Lord.

¹³He gathered to him the children of Ammon and Amalek; and he went and struck Israel, and they possessed the city of palm trees.

¹⁴The children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.

¹⁵But when the children of Israel cried to the Lord, the Lord raised them up a savior, Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a man left-handed. The children of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the king of Moab.

¹⁶Ehud made him a sword which had two edges, a cubit in length; and he girded it under his clothing on his right thigh.

¹⁷He offered the tribute to Eglon king of Moab: now Eglon was a very fat man.

¹⁸When he had made an end of offering the tribute, he sent away the people who bore the tribute.

¹⁹But he himself turned back from the quarries that were by Gilgal, and said, "I have a secret message for you, king." The king said, "Keep silence!" All who stood by him went out from him.

²⁰Ehud came to him; and he was sitting by himself alone in the cool upper room. Ehud said, "I have a message from God to you." He arose out of his seat.

²¹Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his body:

²²and the handle also went in after the blade; and the fat closed on the blade, for he didn't draw the sword out of his body; and it came out behind.

²³Then Ehud went forth into the porch, and shut the doors of the upper room on him, and locked them.

²⁴Now when he was gone out, his servants came; and they saw, and behold, the doors of the upper room were locked; and they said, "Surely he is covering his feet in the upper room."

²⁵They waited until they were ashamed; and behold, he did not open the doors of the upper room: therefore they took the key, and opened them, and behold, their lord was fallen down dead on the earth.

²⁶Ehud escaped while they waited, and passed beyond the quarries, and escaped to Seirah.

²⁷It happened, when he had come, that he blew a trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim; and the children of Israel went down with him from the hill country, and he before them.

²⁸He said to them, "Follow after me; for the Lord has delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand." They went down after him, and took the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites, and did not allow a man to pass over.

²⁹They struck of Moab at that time about ten thousand men, every lusty man, and every man of valor; and there escaped not a man.

³⁰So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. The land had rest eighty years.

³¹After him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who struck of the Philistines six hundred men with an oxgoad: and he also saved Israel.