Ethan: Welcome to Immerse: the daily bible reading experience.
Day 100 and 72
the years passed and the Lord had given the people of Israel
rest from all their enemies.
Joshua, who was now very old, called together all the elders, leaders,
judges, and officers of Israel.
He said to them, I am now a very old man.
You have seen everything the Lord your God has done for you during my lifetime.
The Lord your God has fought for you against your enemies.
I have allotted to you as your homeland, all the land of the
nations, yet unconquered as well as the land of those we have already
conquered from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea in the West.
This land will be yours for the Lord Your God will himself drive out all
the people living there now you will take possession of their land just
as the Lord your God promised you.
Be very careful to follow everything Moses wrote in the book of instruction.
Do not deviate from it turning either to the right or to the left.
Make sure you do not associate with the other people still remaining in the land.
Do not even mention the names of their Gods much less swear by them
or serve them or worship them.
Rather clinging tightly to the Lord your God, as you have done until now.
For the Lord has driven out great and powerful nations for you and no
one has yet been able to defeat you.
Each one of you will put to flight a thousand of the enemy for the Lord.
Your God fights for you just as he has promised.
So be very careful to love the Lord your God.
But if you turn away from him and clinging to the customs of the survivors of
these nations remaining among you, and if you intermarry with them, then know
for certain that the Lord your God will no longer drive them out of your land.
Instead, they will be a snare and a trapped to you, a whip for your backs
and thorny brambles in your eyes, and you will vanish from this good land.
The Lord your God has given you.
Soon I will die going the way of everything on Earth.
Deep in your hearts, you know that every promise of the
Lord your God has come true.
Not a single one has failed, but as surely as the Lord, your God has
given you the good things he promised.
He will also bring disaster on you.
If you disobey him, he will completely destroy you from
this good land he has given you.
If you break the covenant of a Lord your God, by worshiping and serving
other gods, his anger will burn against you and you will quickly vanish
from the good land he has given you.
Then Joshua summoned all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, including their
elders, leaders, judges, and officers.
So they came and presented themselves to God.
Joshua said to the people, This is what the Lord the God of Israel says
long ago, your ancestors, including terror, the father of Abraham and
Naor lived beyond the Euphrates River and they worshiped other gods.
But I took your ancestor Abraham from the land beyond the Euphrates
and led him into the land of Canaan.
I gave him many descendants through his son, Isaac.
To Isaac, I gave Jacob and Esau to Esau.
I gave the mountains of Sr.
While Jacob and his children went down into Egypt.
Then I sent Moses and Aaron and I brought terrible plagues on Egypt.
And afterward I brought you out as a free people.
But when your ancestors arrived at the Red Sea, the Egyptians chased after
you with chariots and charioteers.
When your ancestors cried out to the Lord, I put darkness
between you and the Egyptians.
I brought the sea crashing down on the Egyptians, drowning
them with your very own eyes.
You saw what I did.
Then you lived in the wilderness for many years.
Finally, I brought you into the land of the Amorites on
the east side of the Jordan.
They fought against you, but I destroyed them before you.
I gave you victory over them, and you took possession of their land.
Then Blac son of zip or King of Moab, started a war against Israel.
He summoned Baalam, son of bor to curse you, but I would not listen to him.
Instead, I made Balam bless you, and so I rescued you from Blac.
When you crossed the Jordan River and came to Jericho, the men
of Jericho fought against you.
As did the Amorites, the parasites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the
Gsites, the Hivites and the Jebusites.
But I gave you victory over them, and I sent terror ahead of you to drive
out the two kings of the Amorites.
It was not your swords or bows that brought you victory.
I gave you land you had not worked on, and I gave you towns you did not build
the towns where you are now living.
I gave you vineyards and olive groves for food, though you did not plant them.
So fear the Lord and serve him wholeheartedly.
Put away forever the idols your ancestors worshiped when they lived
beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt.
Serve the Lord alone.
But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve.
Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates,
or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live?
But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.
The people replied, we would never abandon the Lord and
serve other gods for the Lord.
Our God is the one who rescued us and our ancestors from
slavery in the land of Egypt.
He performed mighty miracles before our very eyes.
As we traveled through the wilderness among our enemies, he preserved us.
It was the Lord who drove out the Amorites and the other
nations living here in the land.
So we too will serve the Lord for he alone is our God.
Then Joshua warned the people you are not able to serve the Lord
for He is a holy and jealous God.
He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins.
If you abandon the Lord and serve other gods, he will turn against
you and destroy you, even though he has been so good to you.
But the people answer, Joshua, no.
We will serve the Lord.
You are a witness to your own decision.
Joshua said You have chosen to serve the Lord.
Yes, they replied, we are witnesses to what we have said.
All right then Joshua said, destroy the idols among you and
turn your hearts to the Lord.
The God of Israel.
The people said to Joshua, we will serve the Lord our God.
We will obey him alone.
So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day at Shechem.
Committing them to follow the decrees and regulations of the Lord.
Joshua recorded these things in the Book of God's instructions.
As a reminder of their agreement, he took a huge stone and rolled
it beneath the Rabin tree beside the tabernacle of the Lord.
Joshua said to all the people, this stone has heard everything the Lord said to us.
It will be a witness to testify against you if you go back on your word to God.
Then Joshua sent all the people away to their own homelands.
After this Joshua's son of none, the servant of the
Lord died at the age of 110.
They buried him in the land.
He had been allocated at Tim Nasra in the hill country of
Efraim, north of Mount Gay Ash.
The people of Israel served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua
and of the elders who outlived him.
Those who had personally experienced all that the Lord had done for Israel.
The bones of Joseph, which the Israelites had brought along with them when they
left Egypt, were buried at Shechem in the plot of land Jacob had bought from the
sons of Haymore for 100 pieces of silver.
This land was located in the territory allotted to the
descendants of Joseph Azar.
Son of Aaron also died.
He was buried in the hill country of Efraim in the town of Gibeah, which
had been given to his son Phineas.
This concludes today's immerse reading experience.
Thank you for joining us.