CINXE.COM

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"><title>Joshua 24 CEV</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/joshua/24.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/joshua/24-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">CEV</a> > Joshua 24</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../joshua/23.htm" title="Joshua 23">◄</a> Joshua 24 <a href="../judges/1.htm" title="Judges 1">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Contemporary English Version</div><div class="chap"><h3 class="s1">We Will Worship and Obey the <span class="nd">Lord</span></h3><p class="par"><span class="v6_24_1"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.24.1" class="v6_24_1">1</span>Joshua called the tribes of Israel together for a meeting at Shechem. He asked the leaders, including the old men, the judges, and the officials, to come up and stand near the sacred tent.<a href="#fn" id="link_Josh.24.1!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> </span><span class="v6_24_2"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.24.2" class="v6_24_2">2</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Josh.24.2!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> Then Joshua told everyone to listen to this message from the <span class="nd">Lord</span>, the God of Israel:</span></p><p class="pi"><span class="v6_24_2">Long ago your ancestors lived on the other side of the Euphrates River, and they worshiped other gods. This continued until the time of your ancestor Terah and his two sons, Abraham and Nahor. </span><span class="v6_24_3"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.24.3" class="v6_24_3">3</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Josh.24.3!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> But I brought Abraham across the Euphrates River and led him through the land of Canaan. I blessed him by giving him Isaac, the first in a line of many descendants. </span><span class="v6_24_4"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.24.4" class="v6_24_4">4</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Josh.24.4!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> Then I gave Isaac two sons, Jacob and Esau. I gave Esau the hill country of Mount Seir, but your ancestor Jacob and his children went to live in Egypt.</span></p><p class="pi"><span class="v6_24_5"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.24.5-Josh.24.6" class="v6_24_5">5-6</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Josh.24.5-Josh.24.6!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> Later I sent Moses and his brother Aaron to help your people, and I made all those horrible things happen to the Egyptians. I brought your ancestors out of Egypt, but the Egyptians got in their chariots and on their horses and chased your ancestors, catching up with them at the Red Sea.<a href="#fn" id="link_Josh.24.5-Josh.24.6!f.2" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> </span><span class="v6_24_7"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.24.7" class="v6_24_7">7</span>Your people cried to me for help, so I put a dark cloud between them and the Egyptians. Then I opened up the sea and let your people walk across on dry ground. But when the Egyptians tried to follow, I commanded the sea to swallow them, and they drowned while you watched.</span></p><p class="pi"><span class="v6_24_7">You lived in the desert for a long time, </span><span class="v6_24_8"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.24.8" class="v6_24_8">8</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Josh.24.8!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> then I brought you into the land east of the Jordan River. The Amorites were living there, and they fought you. But with my help, you defeated them, wiped them out, and took their land. </span><span class="v6_24_9"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.24.9" class="v6_24_9">9</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Josh.24.9!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> King Balak decided that his nation Moab would go to war against you, so he asked Balaam<a href="#fn" id="link_Josh.24.9!f.2" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> to come and put a curse on you. </span><span class="v6_24_10"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.24.10" class="v6_24_10">10</span>But I wouldn't listen to Balaam, and I rescued you by making him bless you instead of curse you.</span></p><p class="pi"><span class="v6_24_11"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.24.11" class="v6_24_11">11</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Josh.24.11!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> You crossed the Jordan River and came to Jericho. The rulers of Jericho fought you, and so did the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. I helped you defeat them all. </span><span class="v6_24_12"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.24.12" class="v6_24_12">12</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Josh.24.12!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> Your enemies ran from you, but not because you had swords and bows and arrows. I made your enemies panic and run away, as I had done with the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan River.</span></p><p class="pi"><span class="v6_24_13"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.24.13" class="v6_24_13">13</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Josh.24.13!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> You didn't have to work for this land—I gave it to you. Now you live in towns you didn't build, and you eat grapes and olives from vineyards and trees you didn't plant.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v6_24_14"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.24.14" class="v6_24_14">14</span>Then Joshua told the people:</span></p><p class="pi"><span class="v6_24_14">Worship the <span class="nd">Lord</span>, obey him, and always be faithful. Get rid of the idols your ancestors worshiped when they lived on the other side of the Euphrates River and in Egypt. </span><span class="v6_24_15"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.24.15" class="v6_24_15">15</span>But if you don't want to worship the <span class="nd">Lord</span>, then choose here and now! Will you worship the same idols your ancestors did? Or since you're living on land that once belonged to the Amorites, maybe you'll worship their gods. I won't. My family and I are going to worship and obey the <span class="nd">Lord</span>!</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v6_24_16"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.24.16" class="v6_24_16">16</span>The people answered:</span></p><p class="pi"><span class="v6_24_16">We could never worship other gods or stop worshiping the <span class="nd">Lord</span>. </span><span class="v6_24_17"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.24.17" class="v6_24_17">17</span>The <span class="nd">Lord</span> is our God. We were slaves in Egypt as our ancestors had been, but we saw the <span class="nd">Lord</span> work miracles to set our people free and to bring us out of Egypt. Even though other nations were all around us, the <span class="nd">Lord</span> protected us wherever we went. </span><span class="v6_24_18"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.24.18" class="v6_24_18">18</span>And when we fought the Amorites and the other nations that lived in this land, the <span class="nd">Lord</span> made them run away. Yes, we will worship and obey the <span class="nd">Lord</span>, because the <span class="nd">Lord</span> is our God.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v6_24_19"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.24.19" class="v6_24_19">19</span>Joshua said:</span></p><p class="pi"><span class="v6_24_19">The <span class="nd">Lord</span> is fearsome; he is the one true God, and I don't think you are able to worship and obey him in the ways he demands. You would have to be completely faithful, and if you sin or rebel, he won't let you get away with it. </span><span class="v6_24_20"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.24.20" class="v6_24_20">20</span>If you turn your backs on the <span class="nd">Lord</span> and worship the gods of other nations, the <span class="nd">Lord</span> will turn against you. He will make terrible things happen to you and wipe you out, even though he had been good to you before.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v6_24_21"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.24.21" class="v6_24_21">21</span>But the people shouted, “We won't worship any other gods. We will worship and obey only the <span class="nd">Lord</span>!”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v6_24_22"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.24.22" class="v6_24_22">22</span>Joshua said, “You have heard yourselves say that you will worship and obey the <span class="nd">Lord</span>. Isn't that true?”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v6_24_22">“Yes, it's true,” they answered.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v6_24_23"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.24.23" class="v6_24_23">23</span>Joshua said, “But you still have some idols, like those the other nations worship. Get rid of your idols! You must decide once and for all that you really want to obey the <span class="nd">Lord</span> God of Israel.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v6_24_24"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.24.24" class="v6_24_24">24</span>The people said, “The <span class="nd">Lord</span> is our God, and we will worship and obey only him.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v6_24_25"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.24.25" class="v6_24_25">25</span>Joshua helped Israel make an agreement with the <span class="nd">Lord</span> that day at Shechem. Joshua made laws for Israel </span><span class="v6_24_26"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.24.26" class="v6_24_26">26</span>and wrote them down in <span class="bk">The Book of the Law of God</span>.<a href="#fn" id="link_Josh.24.26!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> Then he set up a large stone under the oak tree at the place of worship in Shechem </span><span class="v6_24_27"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.24.27" class="v6_24_27">27</span>and told the people, “Look at this stone. It has heard everything that the <span class="nd">Lord</span> has said to us. Our God can call this stone as a witness if we ever reject him.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v6_24_28"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.24.28" class="v6_24_28">28</span>Joshua sent everyone back to their homes.</span></p><h3 class="s1">Joshua, Joseph, and Eleazar Are Buried</h3><p class="par"><span class="v6_24_29"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.24.29" class="v6_24_29">29</span>Not long afterwards, the <span class="nd">Lord</span>'s servant Joshua died at the age of 110. </span><span class="v6_24_30"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.24.30" class="v6_24_30">30</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Josh.24.30!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> The Israelites buried him in his own land at Timnath-Serah, north of Mount Gaash in the hill country of Ephraim.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v6_24_31"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.24.31" class="v6_24_31">31</span>As long as Joshua lived, Israel worshiped and obeyed the <span class="nd">Lord</span>. There were other leaders old enough to remember everything that the <span class="nd">Lord</span> had done for Israel. And for as long as these men lived, Israel continued to worship and obey the <span class="nd">Lord</span>.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v6_24_32"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.24.32" class="v6_24_32">32</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Josh.24.32!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> When the people of Israel left Egypt, they brought the bones of Joseph along with them. They took the bones to the town of Shechem and buried them in the field that Jacob had bought for 100 pieces of silver<a href="#fn" id="link_Josh.24.32!f.2" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> from Hamor, the founder of Shechem. The town and the field both<a href="#fn" id="link_Josh.24.32!f.3" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> became part of the land belonging to the descendants of Joseph.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v6_24_33"><span class="reftext" id="Josh.24.33" class="v6_24_33">33</span>When Eleazar the priest<a href="#fn" id="link_Josh.24.33!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> died, he was buried in the hill country of Ephraim on a hill that belonged to his son Phinehas.</span></p></div> </div> <a name="fn"></a><br /><br /><br /><b>Footnotes:<br /><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">24.1 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">near … tent: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">Or “in front of the sacred chest”; Hebrew “in the presence of God.”</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">24.5,6 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">Red Sea: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">See the note at 2.10.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">24.9 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">King Balak … Balaam: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">The Hebrew text has “King Balak the son of Zippor … Balaam the son of Beor.”</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">24.26 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">Law: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">See the note at 8.30-32.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">24.32 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">pieces of silver: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew word.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">24.32 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">town … both: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">24.33 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">Eleazar the priest: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">Hebrew “Eleazar the son of Aaron.”</char></note></div></div><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div align="center"><p><span style="font-size:11pt;">Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt;">© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt;">Bible text from the Contemporary English Version 2nd Edition (CEV®) is not to be reproduced in copies or otherwise by any means except as permitted in writing by American Bible Society, 101 North Independence Mall East, Floor 8, Philadelphia, PA 19106-2155 (<a href="http://www.americanbible.org">www.americanbible.org</a>). Learn more at <a href="http://www.cev.bible">www.cev.bible</a>. Discover .BIBLE resources for your ministry at <a href="http://www.get.bible/cev">www.get.bible/cev</a></span></p><br /><br /><a href="/">Bible Hub</a><br /><br /><br /></div></div></td></tr></table></div><div id="left"><a href="../joshua/23.htm" onmouseover='lft.src="/leftgif.png"' onmouseout='lft.src="/left.png"' title="Joshua 23"><img src="/left.png" name="lft" border="0" alt="Joshua 23" /></a></div><div id="right"><a href="../judges/1.htm" onmouseover='rght.src="/rightgif.png"' onmouseout='rght.src="/right.png"' title="Judges 1"><img src="/right.png" name="rght" border="0" alt="Judges 1" /></a></div><div id="botleft"><a href="#" onmouseover='botleft.src="/botleftgif.png"' onmouseout='botleft.src="/botleft.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botleft.png" name="botleft" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="botright"><a href="#" onmouseover='botright.src="/botrightgif.png"' onmouseout='botright.src="/botright.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botright.png" name="botright" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="rightbox"><div class="padright"><div id="pic"><iframe width="100%" height="860" scrolling="no" src="//biblescan.com/mpc/joshua/24-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></div></div><div id="rightbox4"><div class="padright2"><div id="spons1"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tr><td class="sp1"><iframe width="122" height="860" scrolling="no" src="../sidemenu.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></div><div id="bot"><iframe width="100%" height="1500" scrolling="no" src="/botmenubhchapnoad.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></td></tr></table></div></body></html>