1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,800 Hello, this is Father Paul and I'm glad we're taking this journey together to read the Bible 2 00:00:05,800 --> 00:00:06,800 in a year. 3 00:00:06,800 --> 00:00:13,760 Today's reading is the end of the book of Joshua chapters 23 and 24. 4 00:00:13,760 --> 00:00:15,400 Chapter 23 5 00:00:15,400 --> 00:00:19,560 Now it came to pass a long time after the LORD had given rest to Israel from all their 6 00:00:19,560 --> 00:00:24,880 enemies round about, that Joshua was old, advanced in age, and Joshua called for all 7 00:00:24,880 --> 00:00:29,760 Israel, for their elders, for their heads, for their judges, and for their officers, 8 00:00:29,760 --> 00:00:32,960 and said to them, I am old, advanced in age. 9 00:00:32,960 --> 00:00:37,600 You have seen all that the LORD your God has done to all these nations because of you. 10 00:00:37,600 --> 00:00:40,640 For the LORD your God is he who has fought for you. 11 00:00:40,640 --> 00:00:45,640 See I have divided to you by lot these nations that remain, to be an inheritance for your 12 00:00:45,640 --> 00:00:50,720 tribes, from the Jordan with all the nations that I have cut off as far as the great sea 13 00:00:50,720 --> 00:00:52,200 westward. 14 00:00:52,200 --> 00:00:57,260 And the LORD your God will expel them from before you and drive them out of your sight, 15 00:00:57,260 --> 00:01:01,280 so you shall possess their land, as the LORD your God promised you. 16 00:01:01,280 --> 00:01:04,600 Therefore be very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the 17 00:01:04,600 --> 00:01:09,680 law of Moses, lest you turn aside from it to the right hand or to the left, and lest 18 00:01:09,680 --> 00:01:13,320 you go among these nations these who remain among you. 19 00:01:13,320 --> 00:01:17,960 You shall not make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause anyone to swear by them. 20 00:01:17,960 --> 00:01:20,560 You shall not serve them, nor bow down to them. 21 00:01:20,560 --> 00:01:25,080 But you shall hold fast to the LORD your God as you have done to this day. 22 00:01:25,080 --> 00:01:30,080 For the LORD has driven out from before you great and strong nations, but as for you no 23 00:01:30,080 --> 00:01:33,360 one has been able to stand against you to this day. 24 00:01:33,360 --> 00:01:37,820 One man of you shall chase a thousand, for the LORD your God is he who fights for you, 25 00:01:37,820 --> 00:01:39,400 as he promised you. 26 00:01:39,400 --> 00:01:43,600 Therefore take careful heed to yourselves that you love the LORD your God, or else if 27 00:01:43,600 --> 00:01:48,560 indeed you do go back and cling to the remnant of these nations, these that remain among 28 00:01:48,560 --> 00:01:52,840 you, and make marriages with them and go into them and they to you. 29 00:01:52,840 --> 00:01:56,880 Know for certain that the LORD your God will no longer drive out these nations from before 30 00:01:56,880 --> 00:02:02,040 you, but they shall be snares and traps to you, and scourges on your sides and thorns 31 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:07,480 in your eyes, until you perish from this good land which the LORD your God has given you. 32 00:02:07,480 --> 00:02:12,760 Behold this day I am going the way of all the earth, and you know in all your hearts 33 00:02:12,760 --> 00:02:17,440 and in all your souls that not one thing has failed of all the good things which the LORD 34 00:02:17,440 --> 00:02:20,120 your God spoke concerning you. 35 00:02:20,120 --> 00:02:24,280 All have come to pass for you, not one word of them has failed. 36 00:02:24,280 --> 00:02:28,640 Therefore it shall come to pass that as all the good things have come upon you which the 37 00:02:28,640 --> 00:02:33,700 LORD your God promised you, so the LORD will bring upon you all harmful things until he 38 00:02:33,700 --> 00:02:38,240 has destroyed you from this good land which the LORD your God has given you. 39 00:02:38,240 --> 00:02:42,260 When you have transgressed the covenant of the LORD your God which he commanded you and 40 00:02:42,260 --> 00:02:46,860 have gone and served other gods and bowed down to them, then the anger of the LORD will 41 00:02:46,860 --> 00:02:52,840 burn against you and you shall perish quickly from the good land which he has given you. 42 00:02:52,840 --> 00:02:56,960 Chapter 24 Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel 43 00:02:56,960 --> 00:03:01,640 to Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel, for their heads, for their judges, and for 44 00:03:01,640 --> 00:03:05,080 their officers, and they presented themselves before God. 45 00:03:05,080 --> 00:03:10,480 And Joshua said to all the people, Thus says the LORD God of Israel, your fathers, including 46 00:03:10,480 --> 00:03:15,360 Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, dwelt on the other side of the river 47 00:03:15,360 --> 00:03:18,480 in old times, and they served other gods. 48 00:03:18,480 --> 00:03:22,360 Then I took your father Abraham from the other side of the river, led him throughout all 49 00:03:22,360 --> 00:03:26,560 the land of Canaan, and multiplied his descendants, and gave him Isaac. 50 00:03:26,560 --> 00:03:31,640 To Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau, to Esau I gave the mountains of Seir to possess. 51 00:03:31,640 --> 00:03:34,320 But Jacob and his children went down to Egypt. 52 00:03:34,320 --> 00:03:39,440 Also I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt according to what I did among them. 53 00:03:39,440 --> 00:03:41,600 Afterward I brought you out. 54 00:03:41,600 --> 00:03:45,400 Then I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and you came to the sea, and the Egyptians 55 00:03:45,400 --> 00:03:49,180 pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea. 56 00:03:49,180 --> 00:03:53,820 So they cried out to the LORD, and He put darkness between you and the Egyptians, brought 57 00:03:53,820 --> 00:03:56,240 the sea upon them, and covered them. 58 00:03:56,240 --> 00:03:58,760 And your eyes saw what I did in Egypt. 59 00:03:58,760 --> 00:04:03,240 Then you dwelt in the wilderness a long time, and I brought you into the land of the Amorites, 60 00:04:03,240 --> 00:04:06,480 who dwelt on the other side of the Jordan, and they fought with you. 61 00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:10,980 But I gave them into your hand, that you might possess their land, and I destroyed them from 62 00:04:10,980 --> 00:04:11,980 before you. 63 00:04:11,980 --> 00:04:17,120 Then Balak the son of Zippor king of Moab arose to make war against Israel, and sent 64 00:04:17,120 --> 00:04:20,200 and called Balam the son of Beor to curse you. 65 00:04:20,200 --> 00:04:24,360 But I would not listen to Balam, therefore he continued to bless you, so I delivered 66 00:04:24,360 --> 00:04:26,120 you out of his hand. 67 00:04:26,120 --> 00:04:30,160 Then you went over the Jordan and came to Jericho, and the men of Jericho fought against 68 00:04:30,160 --> 00:04:35,200 you, also the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, 69 00:04:35,200 --> 00:04:37,260 the Hevites, and the Jebusites. 70 00:04:37,260 --> 00:04:39,000 But I delivered them into your hand. 71 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:43,460 I sent the hornet before you, which drove them out from before you, also the two kings 72 00:04:43,460 --> 00:04:47,000 of the Amorites, but not with your sword or with your bow. 73 00:04:47,000 --> 00:04:52,100 I have given you a land from which you did not labor, and cities which you did not build, 74 00:04:52,100 --> 00:04:57,080 and you dwell in them, you eat of the vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant. 75 00:04:57,080 --> 00:05:02,640 Now therefore fear the Lord, serve him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods 76 00:05:02,640 --> 00:05:06,440 which your fathers served on the other side of the river and in Egypt. 77 00:05:06,440 --> 00:05:07,640 Serve the Lord. 78 00:05:07,640 --> 00:05:12,000 And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will 79 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:15,880 serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the 80 00:05:15,880 --> 00:05:19,560 river or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. 81 00:05:19,560 --> 00:05:22,780 But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. 82 00:05:22,780 --> 00:05:27,080 So the people answered and said, Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to 83 00:05:27,080 --> 00:05:28,540 serve other gods. 84 00:05:28,540 --> 00:05:33,400 For the Lord our God is he who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, 85 00:05:33,400 --> 00:05:38,080 from the house of bondage, who did those great signs in our sight and preserved us in all 86 00:05:38,080 --> 00:05:42,160 the way that we went, and among all the people through whom we passed. 87 00:05:42,160 --> 00:05:46,220 And the Lord drove out from before us all the people including the Amorites who dwelt 88 00:05:46,220 --> 00:05:47,220 in the land. 89 00:05:47,220 --> 00:05:50,800 We also will serve the Lord, for he is our God. 90 00:05:50,800 --> 00:05:54,960 But Joshua said to the people, You cannot serve the Lord, for he is a holy God. 91 00:05:54,960 --> 00:05:56,320 He is a jealous God. 92 00:05:56,320 --> 00:05:59,480 He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. 93 00:05:59,480 --> 00:06:04,220 If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm and 94 00:06:04,220 --> 00:06:07,160 consume you, after he has done you good. 95 00:06:07,160 --> 00:06:10,760 And the people said to Joshua, No, but we will serve the Lord. 96 00:06:10,760 --> 00:06:15,360 So Joshua said to the people, You are witnesses against yourselves, that you have chosen the 97 00:06:15,360 --> 00:06:17,440 Lord for yourselves to serve him. 98 00:06:17,440 --> 00:06:19,720 And they said, We are witnesses. 99 00:06:19,720 --> 00:06:23,760 Now therefore he said, Put away the foreign gods which are among you, and incline your 100 00:06:23,760 --> 00:06:26,060 heart to the Lord God of Israel. 101 00:06:26,060 --> 00:06:31,580 And the people said to Joshua, The Lord our God we will serve, and his voice we will obey. 102 00:06:31,580 --> 00:06:35,840 So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and 103 00:06:35,840 --> 00:06:38,040 an ordinance in Shechem. 104 00:06:38,040 --> 00:06:42,180 Then Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God, and he took a large stone 105 00:06:42,180 --> 00:06:46,040 and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. 106 00:06:46,040 --> 00:06:50,600 And Joshua said to all the people, Behold, this stone shall be a witness to us, for it 107 00:06:50,600 --> 00:06:54,160 has heard all the words of the Lord which he spoke to us. 108 00:06:54,160 --> 00:06:57,780 It shall therefore be a witness to you, lest you deny your God. 109 00:06:57,780 --> 00:07:01,560 So Joshua led the people depart each to his own inheritance. 110 00:07:01,560 --> 00:07:05,640 Now it came to pass after these things that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the 111 00:07:05,640 --> 00:07:09,220 Lord died, being 110 years old. 112 00:07:09,220 --> 00:07:13,720 And they buried him within the border of his inheritance at Timna Sera, which is in the 113 00:07:13,720 --> 00:07:17,680 mountains of Ephraim on the north side of Mount Gash. 114 00:07:17,680 --> 00:07:21,880 Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived 115 00:07:21,880 --> 00:07:26,480 Joshua, who had known all the works of the Lord which he had done for Israel. 116 00:07:26,480 --> 00:07:31,120 The bones of Joseph which the children of Israel had brought up out of Egypt, they buried 117 00:07:31,120 --> 00:07:36,320 at Shechem, in the plot of ground which Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor the father 118 00:07:36,320 --> 00:07:41,200 of Shechem for one hundred pieces of silver, and which had become an inheritance of the 119 00:07:41,200 --> 00:07:42,640 children of Joseph. 120 00:07:42,640 --> 00:07:47,400 And Eliezer the son of Aaron died, they buried him in a hill belonging to Phineas his son, 121 00:07:47,400 --> 00:07:55,360 which was given to him in the mountains of Ephraim. 122 00:07:55,360 --> 00:07:58,960 I hope you enjoyed today's reading as much as I did, and I look forward to seeing you 123 00:07:58,960 --> 00:08:01,320 again tomorrow to continue on our journey. 124 00:08:01,320 --> 00:08:17,600 God bless you and have a great day.