The Eastern Tribes Return Home

22 At that time Joshua summoned the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, 2 and said to them, “You have kept ^fall that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you and have obeyed my voice in ^gall that I have commanded you. 3 You have not forsaken your brothers these many days, down to this day, but have been careful to keep the charge of the Lord your God. 4 And now the Lord your God has given ^hrest to your brothers, as he promised them. Therefore turn and go to your tents in the land where your possession lies, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you on the other side of the Jordan. 5 Only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, to ⁱlove the Lord your God, and to ^jwalk in all his ways and to keep his commandments and to ^kcling to him and to ^lserve him ^mwith all your heart and with all your soul.” 6 So ⁿJoshua blessed them and sent them away, and they went to their tents.

7 Now to the one half of the tribe of Manasseh Moses had given a possession in Bashan, but to the other half Joshua had given a possession beside their brothers in the land west of the Jordan. And when Joshua sent them away to their homes and blessed them, 8 he said to them, “Go back to your tents with much wealth and with very much livestock, with silver, gold, bronze, and iron, and with much clothing. ^oDivide the spoil of your enemies with your brothers.” 9 So the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh returned home, parting from the people of Israel at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go to the land of Gilead, their own land of which they had possessed themselves by command of the Lord through Moses.

The Eastern Tribes’ Altar of Witness

10 And when they came to the region of the Jordan that is in the land of Canaan, the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh built there an altar by the Jordan, an altar of imposing size. 11 And the people of Israel heard it said, “Behold, the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built the altar at the frontier of the land of Canaan, in the region about the Jordan, on the side that belongs to the people of Israel.” 12 And when the people of Israel heard of it, the whole assembly of the people of Israel gathered at Shiloh to make war against them.

13 Then the people of Israel sent to the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead, Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, 14 and with him ten chiefs, ^pone from each of the tribal families of Israel, every one of them the head of a family among the clans of Israel. 15 And they came to the people of Reuben, the people of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead, and they said to them, 16 “Thus says the whole congregation of the Lord, ‘What is this breach of faith that you have committed against the God of Israel in turning away this day from following the Lord ^qby building yourselves an altar this day in rebellion against the Lord? 17 Have we not had enough of ^rthe sin at Peor from which even yet we have not cleansed ourselves, and for which there came a plague upon the congregation of the Lord, 18 that you too must turn away this day from following the Lord? And if you too rebel against the Lord today then tomorrow he will be ^sangry with the whole congregation of Israel. 19 But now, if the land of your possession is unclean, pass over into the Lord’s land ^twhere the Lord’s tabernacle stands, and take for yourselves a possession among us. Only do not rebel against the Lord or make us as rebels by building for yourselves an altar other than the altar of the Lord our God. 20 ^uDid not Achan the son of Zerah break faith in the matter of the devoted things, and wrath fell upon all the congregation of Israel? And he did not perish alone for his iniquity.’”

21 Then the people of Reuben, the people of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh said in answer to the heads of the families of Israel, 22 ^v“The Mighty One, God, the Lord! The Mighty One, God, the Lord! ^wHe knows; and let Israel itself know! If it was in rebellion or in breach of faith against the Lord, do not spare us today 23 for building an altar to turn away from following the Lord. Or if we did so to offer burnt offerings or grain offerings or peace offerings on it, may the Lord himself take vengeance. 24 No, but we did it from fear that ^xin time to come your children might say to our children, ‘What have you to do with the Lord, the God of Israel? 25 For the Lord has made the Jordan a boundary between us and you, you people of Reuben and people of Gad. You have no portion in the Lord.’ So your children might make our children cease to worship the Lord. 26 Therefore we said, ‘Let us now build an altar, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice, 27 but to be a ^ywitness between us and you, and between our generations after us, that we do perform the service of the Lord in his presence with our burnt offerings and sacrifices and peace offerings, so your children will not say to our children in time to come, “You have no portion in the Lord.”’ 28 And we thought, ‘If this should be said to us or to our descendants in time to come, we should say, “Behold, the copy of the altar of the Lord, which our fathers made, not for burnt offerings, nor for sacrifice, but to be a witness between us and you.”’ 29 ^zFar be it from us that we should rebel against the Lord and turn away this day from following the Lord by building an altar for burnt offering, grain offering, or sacrifice, other than the altar of the Lord our God that stands before his tabernacle!”

30 When Phinehas the priest and the chiefs of the congregation, the heads of the families of Israel who were with him, heard the words that the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the people of Manasseh spoke, it was good in their eyes. 31 And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said to the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the people of Manasseh, “Today we know that the Lord is in our midst, because you have not committed this breach of faith against the Lord. Now you have delivered the people of Israel from the hand of the Lord.”

32 Then Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, and the chiefs, returned from the people of Reuben and the people of Gad in the land of Gilead to the land of Canaan, to the people of Israel, and brought back word to them. 33 And the report was good in the eyes of the people of Israel. And the people of Israel blessed God and spoke no more of making war against them to destroy the land where the people of Reuben and the people of Gad were settled. 34 The people of Reuben and the people of Gad called the altar Witness, “For,” they said, “it is a witness between us that the Lord is God.”

Joshua’s Charge to Israel’s Leaders

23 A long time afterward, when the Lord had given ^arest to Israel from all their surrounding enemies, and ^bJoshua was old and well advanced in years, 2 ^cJoshua summoned all Israel, its elders and heads, its judges and ^dofficers, and said to them, “I am now old and well advanced in years. 3 And you have seen all that the Lord your God has done to all these nations for your sake, for it is the Lord your God who has ^efought for you. 4 Behold, I have allotted to you as an inheritance for your tribes ^fthose nations that remain, along with all the nations that I have already cut off, from the Jordan to the Great Sea in the west. 5 ^gThe Lord your God will push them back before you and drive them out of your sight. And you shall possess their land, ^hjust as the Lord your God promised you. 6 Therefore, be very strong to keep and to ⁱdo all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, ^jturning aside from it neither to the right hand nor to the left, 7 that you may not ^kmix with these nations remaining among you or ^lmake mention of the names of their gods or ^mswear by them or serve them or bow down to them, 8 but you shall ⁿcling to the Lord your God just as you have done to this day. 9 For the Lord has driven out before you great and strong nations. And as for you, ^ono man has been able to stand before you to this day. 10 ^pOne man of you puts to flight a thousand, since it is the Lord your God who fights for you, ^qjust as he promised you. 11 Be very careful, therefore, to ^rlove the Lord your God. 12 For if you turn back and cling to the remnant of these nations remaining among you and make marriages with them, so that you associate with them and they with you, 13 know for certain that the Lord your God will ^sno longer drive out these nations before you, but they shall be a ^tsnare and a trap for you, a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good ground that the Lord your God has given you.

14 “And now ^uI am about to go the way of all the earth, and you know in your hearts and souls, all of you, that ^vnot one word has failed of all the good things¹ that the Lord your God promised concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one of them has failed. 15 But just as ^wall the good things that the Lord your God promised concerning you have been fulfilled for you, so the Lord will bring upon you ^xall the evil things, until he has destroyed you from off this good land that the Lord your God has given you, 16 if you transgress the covenant of the Lord your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them. Then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and you shall perish ^yquickly from off the good land that he has given to you.”

The Covenant Renewal at Shechem

24 ^zJoshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem and summoned the elders, the heads, the judges, and the officers of Israel. And they presented themselves before God. 2 And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ^a‘Long ago, your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates,¹ Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor; and they served other gods. 3 ^bThen I took your father Abraham from beyond the River² and led him through all the land of Canaan, and made his offspring many. ^cI gave him Isaac. 4 And ^dto Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. And ^eI gave Esau the hill country of Seir to possess, but ^fJacob and his children went down to Egypt. 5 ^gAnd I sent Moses and Aaron, ^hand I plagued Egypt with what I did in the midst of it, ⁱand afterward I brought you out.

6 ^j“‘Then I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and you came to the sea. ^kAnd the Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea. 7 ^lAnd when they cried to the Lord, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians and made the sea come upon them and cover them; and your eyes saw what I did in Egypt. And you lived in the wilderness a long time. 8 ^mThen I brought you to the land of the Amorites, who lived on the other side of the Jordan. They fought with you, and I gave them into your hand, and you took possession of their land, and I destroyed them before you. 9 ⁿThen Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and fought against Israel. And he sent and invited Balaam the son of Beor to curse you, 10 but I would not listen to Balaam. Indeed, he blessed you. So I delivered you out of his hand. 11 ^oAnd you went over the Jordan and came to Jericho, and ^pthe leaders of Jericho fought against you, ^qand also the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And I gave them into your hand. 12 ^rAnd I sent the hornet before you, which drove them out before you, the two kings of the Amorites; it was not by your sword or by your bow. 13 ^sI gave you a land on which you had not labored and cities that you had not built, and you dwell in them. You eat the fruit of vineyards and olive orchards that you did not plant.’

Choose Whom You Will Serve

14 “Now therefore ^tfear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. ^uPut away the ^vgods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the ^wgods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

16 Then the people answered, ^x“Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods, 17 for it is the Lord our God who brought us and our fathers up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight and preserved us in all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed. 18 And the Lord drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God.”

19 But Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the Lord, for he is a ^yholy God. He is a ^zjealous God; ^ahe will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. 20 If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm and consume you, ^bafter having done you good.” 21 And the people said to Joshua, “No, but ^cwe will serve the Lord.” 22 Then Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord, to serve him.” And they said, “We are witnesses.” 23 He said, “Then put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your heart to the Lord, the God of Israel.” 24 And the people said to Joshua, “The Lord our God we will serve, and his voice we will obey.” 25 So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and put in place statutes and rules for them at Shechem. 26 And Joshua wrote these words in the ^dBook of the Law of God. And he took a large stone and set it up there under the ^eterebinth that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. 27 And Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, this stone shall be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words of the Lord that he spoke to us. Therefore it shall be a witness against you, lest you deal falsely with your God.” 28 ^fSo Joshua sent the people away, every man to his inheritance.

Joshua’s Death and Burial

29 ^gAfter these things Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being 110 years old. 30 And they buried him in his own inheritance at Timnath-serah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gaash.

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

32 As for the ^hbones of Joseph, ⁱwhich the people of Israel brought up from Egypt, they buried them at Shechem, in ^jthe piece of land that Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred pieces of money.³ It became an inheritance of the descendants of Joseph.

33 And Eleazar the son of Aaron died, and they buried him at Gibeah, the town of Phinehas his son, which had been given him in the hill country of Ephraim.

Judges

The Continuing Conquest of Canaan

1 ^aAfter the ^bdeath of Joshua, the people of Israel inquired of the Lord, ^c“Who shall go up first for us against the Canaanites, to fight against them?” 2 The Lord said, “Judah shall go up; behold, I have given the land into his hand.” 3 And Judah said to Simeon ^dhis brother, “Come up with me into ^ethe territory allotted to me, that we may fight against the Canaanites. And I likewise will go with you into ^fthe territory allotted to you.” So Simeon went with him. 4 Then Judah went up and the Lord gave the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand, and they defeated 10,000 of them at Bezek. 5 They found Adoni-bezek at Bezek and fought against him and defeated the Canaanites and the Perizzites. 6 Adoni-bezek fled, but they pursued him and caught him and cut off his thumbs and his big toes. 7 And Adoni-bezek said, “Seventy kings with their thumbs and their big toes cut off used to pick up scraps under my table. As I have done, so God has repaid me.” And they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.

8 ^gAnd the men of Judah fought against Jerusalem and captured it and struck it with the edge of the sword and set the city on fire. 9 And afterward the men of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites who lived in the hill country, in the Negeb, and in the lowland. 10 And Judah went against the Canaanites who lived in Hebron (now the name of Hebron was formerly Kiriath-arba), and they defeated ^hSheshai and Ahiman and Talmai.

11 ⁱFrom there they went against the inhabitants of Debir. The name of Debir was formerly Kiriath-sepher. 12 And Caleb said, “He who attacks Kiriath-sepher and captures it, I will give him Achsah my daughter as wife.” 13 And Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, captured it. And he gave him Achsah his daughter as wife. 14 When she came to him, she urged him to ask her father for a field. And she dismounted from her donkey, and Caleb said to her, “What do you want?” 15 She said to him, “Give me a blessing. Since you have given me the land of the Negeb, give me also springs of water.” And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.

16 And the descendants of the Kenite, ^jMoses’ father-in-law, went up with the people of Judah from the ^kcity of palms into the wilderness of Judah, which lies in the Negeb near Arad, and they went and settled with the people. 17 And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they defeated the Canaanites who inhabited Zephath and ^ldevoted it to destruction. ^mSo the name of the city was called Hormah.¹ 18 Judah also captured Gaza with its territory, and Ashkelon with its territory, and Ekron with its territory. 19 And the Lord was ⁿwith Judah, and he took possession of the hill country, but he ^ocould not drive out the inhabitants of the plain because they had ^pchariots of iron. 20 And Hebron was given to Caleb, ^qas Moses had said. ^rAnd he drove out from it the three sons of Anak. 21 But the people of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites ^swho lived in Jerusalem, so the Jebusites have lived with the people of Benjamin in Jerusalem ^tto this day.

22 The house of Joseph also went up against Bethel, and the Lord was with them. 23 And the house of Joseph scouted out Bethel. (Now the name of the city was formerly Luz.) 24 And the spies saw a man coming out of the city, and they said to him, “Please show us the way into the city, and ^uwe will deal kindly with you.” 25 And he showed them the way into the city. And they struck the city with the edge of the sword, ^vbut they let the man and all his family go. 26 And the man went to the land of the Hittites and built a city and called its name Luz. That is its name to this day.