1   And Iosuah gathered ^note all þe; tribes of Israel to Sichem, and called for the elders of Israel, ∧ for their heades, iudges, and officers, ∧ they presented them selues ^note before God.

2   And Iosuah sayde vnto al the people, Thus sayth the Lorde God of Israel: Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the ^note fludde in olde time, euen Thare the father of Abraham and of Nachor, and serued straunge goddes.

Iosuah exhorteth the people.

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 ^note gaue him Isahac.

4   And I gaue vnto Isahac, Iacob and Esau, ^note and I gaue vnto Esau mount Seir, to possesse it: But ^note Iacob and his children went downe into Egypt.

5   I sent Moyses also and Aaron, and I ^note plagued Egypt, and when I had so done among them, I brought you out.

6    ^noteAnd 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.

7    ^noteAnd 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 ^note along season.

8   And ^note 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.

9    ^noteThen 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:

10   But I woulde not hearken vnto Balaam, ∧ therfore he rather blessed you: and so I deliuered you out of his hand.

11   And ye went ouer Iordane, and came vnto Iericho: and the ^note men of Iericho fought against you, the Amorites, Pherezites, Chanaanites, Hethites, Gergesites, Heuites, and Iebusites, ∧ I deliuered them into your hande.

12   And I sent ^note 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. C   

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.

14   Nowe therfore ^note feare the Lorde, and serue him in perfectnesse and trueth, and put away the goddes whiche your fathers Iosuah exhorteth the people. serued on the other side of þe; fludde and in Egypt, and serue ye the Lorde.

15   And yf it seeme euyll vnto you to serue the Lorde, then chose you this day wh&obar; you wil serue, whether þe; goddes which your fathers serued (that were on the other side of the fludde) either þe; goddes of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwel: As for me and my house, ^note we wil serue the Lorde.

16   The people aunswered and sayd: God forbyd, that we should forsake the Lord, and serue straunge goddes.

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.

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 ^note our God.

19   And Iosuah sayde vnto the people, Ye ^note can not serue the Lord: for he is an holy God, and a ielous God, and cannot beare your iniquite and sinne.

20   Yf ye forsake the Lorde and serue straunge goddes, ^note he will turne and do you euill, and consume you, after that he hath done you good. D   

21   And the people sayde vnto Iosuah: Nay, but we will serue the Lorde.

22   And Iosuah sayde vnto the people: Ye are witnesses ^note against your selues, that ye haue chosen you the Lorde to serue him. And they sayde: we are witnesses.

23   Then put away [sayde he] the ^note stra&ubar;ge goddes whiche are among you, ∧ bowe your heartes vnto the Lorde God of Israel.

24   The people sayde vnto Iosuah: The Lorde our God will we serue, and his voyce will we obey.

25   And so Iosuah made a couena&ubar;t with the people the same day, and set an ordinaunce ∧ lawe before them in Sichem.

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. B   

27   And Iosuah sayde vnto al the people: Behold, this stone shalbe a witnesse vnto vs, for ^note it hath hearde al the wordes

Iosuah dieth. of the Lorde whiche he spake with vs, it shalbe therfore a witnesse vnto you, lest ye denie your God.

28   And so Iosuah let the people depart, euery man vnto his inheritaunce.

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.

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.

31   And Israel serued the Lorde ^note 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.

32   And the ^note bones of Ioseph whiche the childr&ebar; 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.

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. ¶2; The ende of the booke of Iosuah whom the Hebrues call Iehosuah.

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