Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He summoned Israel’s elders and commanders, magistrates and officers; and they presented themselves before God.
Then Joshua said to all the people,aall the people I.e., the leaders of v. 1, representing the people. (And so throughout this chapter.) “Thus said the ETERNAL, the God of Israel: In olden times, your ancestors—Terah, father of Abraham and father of Nahor—lived beyond the Euphrates and worshiped other gods.
But I took your ancestor Abraham from beyond the Euphrates and led him through the whole land of Canaan and multiplied his offspring. I gave him Isaac,
They cried out to GOD, who put darkness between you and the Egyptians; then [God] brought the Sea upon them, and it covered them. Your own eyes saw what I did to the Egyptians.“After you had lived a long time in the wilderness,
I brought you to the land of the Amorites who lived beyond the Jordan. They gave battle to you, but I delivered them into your hands; I annihilated them for you, and you took possession of their land.
“Then you crossed the Jordan and you came to Jericho. The citizens of Jericho and the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites, and Jebusites fought you, but I delivered them into your hands.
I sent a plaguebplague See note at Exod. 23.28. ahead of you, and it drove them out before you—[just like] the two Amorite kings—not by your sword or by your bow.
I have given you a land for which you did not labor and towns that you did not build, and you have settled in them; you are enjoying vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.
“Now, therefore, revere GOD and render service with undivided loyalty; put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates and in Egypt, and serve GOD.
Or, if you are loath to serve GOD, choose this day which ones you are going to serve—the gods that your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or those of the Amorites in whose land you are settled; but I and my household will serve GOD.”
Word-by-Word Analysis
ואם
47
רע
270
בעיניכם
202
לעבד
106
אתיהוה
427
בחרו
216
לכם
90
היום
61
אתמי
451
תעבדון
532
אם
41
אתאלהים
487
אשרעבדו
583
אבותיכם
479
אשר
501
בעבר
274
מעבר
312
הנהר
260
ואם
47
אתאלהי
447
האמרי
256
אשר
501
אתם
441
ישבים
362
בארצם
333
ואנכי
87
וביתי
428
נעבד
126
אתיהוהפ
507
Joshua 24:16
Gematria: 1674
ויעןהעםויאמרחלילהלנומעזבאתיהוהלעבדאלהיםאחרים
In reply, the people declared, “Far be it from us to forsake the ETERNAL and serve other gods!
For it was the ETERNAL our God who brought us and our ancestors up from the land of Egypt, the house of bondage, and who wrought those wondrous signs before our very eyes, and guarded us all along the way that we traveled and among all the peoples through whose midst we passed.
Joshua, however, said to the people, “You will not be able to serve the ETERNAL—who is a holy God, a jealous one—who will not forgive your transgressions and your sins.
Thereupon Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have by your own act chosen to serve the ETERNAL.” “Yes, we are!” they responded.
and Joshua said to all the people, “See, this very stone shall be a witness against us, for it heard all the words that GOD spoke to us; it shall be a witness against you, lest you break faith with your God.”
Word-by-Word Analysis
ויאמר
257
יהושע
391
אלכלהעם
196
הנה
60
האבן
58
הזאת
413
תהיהבנו
478
לעדה
109
כיהיא
46
שמעה
415
את
401
כלאמרי
301
יהוה
26
אשר
501
דבר
206
עמנו
166
והיתה
426
בכם
62
לעדה
109
פןתכחשון
914
באלהיכם
108
Joshua 24:28
Gematria: 2176
וישלחיהושעאתהעםאישלנחלתופ
Joshua then dismissed the people to their allotted portions.
Israel served GOD during the lifetime of Joshua and the lifetime of the elders who lived on after Joshua, and who had experienced all the deeds that GOD had wrought for Israel.
The bones of Joseph, which the Israelites had brought up from Egypt, were buried at Shechem, in the piece of ground that Jacob had bought for a hundred kesitahsckesitahs See note at Gen. 33.19. from the children of Hamor, Shechem’s father, and which had become a heritage of the Josephites.