Joshua 24 Bishops' Bible 1568
From Textus Receptus
Jos 24:1 And Iosuah gathered all ye tribes of Israel to Sichem, and called for the elders of Israel, & for their heades, iudges, and officers, & they presented them selues before God. Jos 24:2 And Iosuah sayde vnto al the people, Thus sayth the Lorde God of Israel: Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the fludde in olde time, euen Thare the father of Abraham and of Nachor, and serued straunge goddes. Jos 24:3 And I toke your father Abraham from the other side of the fludde, and brought him throughout all the lande of Chanaan, and multiplied his seede, and gaue him Isahac. Jos 24:4 And I gaue vnto Isahac, Iacob and Esau, and I gaue vnto Esau mount Seir, to possesse it: But Iacob and his children went downe into Egypt. Jos 24:5 I sent Moyses also and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt, and when I had so done among them, I brought you out. Jos 24:6 And I brought your fathers out of Egypt: and as they came vnto the sea, the Egyptians folowed after your fathers with charettes and horsmen vnto the red sea. Jos 24:7 And when they cryed vnto the Lord, the Lord put darcknesse betweene you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea vpon them, & couered them, and your eyes haue seene what I haue done to the Egyptians: and ye dwelt in thee wildernesse along season. Jos 24:8 And I brought you into the lande of the Amorites, which dwelt on the other syde Iordane: And they fought with you, and I gaue them into your hande, that ye might conquer their countrey, and I destroied them from out of your sight. Jos 24:9 Then Balak the sonne of Ziphor king of Moab, arose & warred against Israel, and sent and called Balaam the sonne of Beor for to curse you: Jos 24:10 But I woulde not hearken vnto Balaam, & therfore he rather blessed you: and so I deliuered you out of his hand. Jos 24:11 And ye went ouer Iordane, and came vnto Iericho: and the men of Iericho fought against you, the Amorites, Pherezites, Chanaanites, Hethites, Gergesites, Heuites, and Iebusites, & I deliuered them into your hande. Jos 24:12 And I sent hornettes before you, whiche caste them out of your sight, euen the two kinges of the Amorites: but not with your owne sworde, or with your owne bowe. Jos 24:13 And I haue geuen you a lande in which ye dyd no labour, & cities which ye buylt not, & which ye dwell in: vineyardes also and olyue trees whiche ye planted not, and whereof ye do eate. Jos 24:14 Nowe therfore feare the Lorde, and serue him in perfectnesse and trueth, and put away the goddes whiche your fathers serued on the other side of ye fludde and in Egypt, and serue ye the Lorde. Jos 24:15 And yf it seeme euyll vnto you to serue the Lorde, then chose you this day who you wil serue, whether ye goddes which your fathers serued (that were on the other side of the fludde) either ye goddes of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwel: As for me and my house, we wil serue the Lorde. Jos 24:16 The people aunswered and sayd: God forbyd, that we should forsake the Lord, and serue straunge goddes. Jos 24:17 For the Lorde our God, he it is that brought vs & our fathers out of the land of Egypt, & from the house of bondage, and whiche did those great miracles in our sight, and preserued vs in al the way that we went, and among al the people which we came thorowe. Jos 24:18 And the Lord did cast out before vs all the people, euen the Amorites whiche dwelt in the lande: And therfore wil we also serue the Lord, for he is our God. Jos 24:19 And Iosuah sayde vnto the people, Ye can not serue the Lord: for he is an holy God, and a ielous God, and cannot beare your iniquite and sinne. Jos 24:20 Yf ye forsake the Lorde and serue straunge goddes, he will turne and do you euill, and consume you, after that he hath done you good. Jos 24:21 And the people sayde vnto Iosuah: Nay, but we will serue the Lorde. Jos 24:22 And Iosuah sayde vnto the people: Ye are witnesses against your selues, that ye haue chosen you the Lorde to serue him. And they sayde: we are witnesses. Jos 24:23 Then put away [sayde he] the strauge goddes whiche are among you, & bowe your heartes vnto the Lorde God of Israel. Jos 24:24 The people sayde vnto Iosuah: The Lorde our God will we serue, and his voyce will we obey. Jos 24:25 And so Iosuah made a couenaut with the people the same day, and set an ordinaunce & lawe before them in Sichem. Jos 24:26 And Iosuah wrote these wordes in the booke of the lawe of God: and toke a great stone, and pitched it on ende in the sayde place, euen vnder an oke that was in the sanctuarie of the Lorde. Jos 24:27 And Iosuah sayde vnto al the people: Behold, this stone shalbe a witnesse vnto vs, for it hath hearde al the wordes of the Lorde whiche he spake with vs, it shalbe therfore a witnesse vnto you, lest ye denie your God. Jos 24:28 And so Iosuah let the people depart, euery man vnto his inheritaunce. Jos 24:29 And after these thinges it came to passe, that Iosuah the sonne of Nun, the seruaunt of the Lorde died, being an hundreth and ten yeres old. Jos 24:30 And they buryed him in the countrey of his inheritaunce, euen in Thamnath Serah, whiche is in mount Ephraim, on the northside of the hill of Gaas. Jos 24:31 And Israel serued the Lorde all the dayes of Iosuah, and all the dayes of the elders that ouer lyued Iosuah, and whiche had knowne all the workes of the Lorde that he had done for Israel. Jos 24:32 And the bones of Ioseph whiche the childre of Israel brought out of Egypt, buried they in Sichem, in a parcell of ground whiche Iacob bought of the sonnes of Hemor the father of Sichem for an hundreth peeces of siluer, and it became the inheritaunce of the children of Ioseph. Jos 24:33 And Eleazar the sonne of Aaron died, whom they buried in a hill that pertayned to Phinehes his sonne, which [hill] was geuen him in mount Ephraim.
