Joshua 23:1–5

¹NOW Joshua was old and stricken in years; and the Lord said unto him, Thou art old and stricken in years, and there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed.

⁴⁴And the Lord gave them rest round about, according to all that he sware unto their fathers: and there stood not a man of all their enemies before them; the Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand.

²³So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the Lord said unto Moses; and Joshua gave it for an inheritance unto Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. And the land rested from war.

²And he said unto them, I am an hundred and twenty years old this day; I can no more go out and come in: also the Lord hath said unto me, Thou shalt not go over this Jordan.

⁸Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and was gathered to his people.

⁴And now the Lord your God hath given rest unto your brethren, as he promised them: therefore now return ye, and get you unto your tents, and unto the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you on the other side Jordan.

⁹He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire.

¹AND Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers; and they presented themselves before God.

¹AND David assembled all the princes of Israel, the princes of the tribes, and the captains of the companies that ministered to the king by course, and the captains over the thousands, and captains over the hundreds, and the stewards over all the substance and possession of the king, and of his sons, with the officers, and with the mighty men, and with all the valiant men, unto Jerusalem.

²⁸¶ Gather unto me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears, and call heaven and earth to record against them.

¹⁷¶ And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church.

¹⁸And when they were come to him, he said unto them, Ye know, from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons,

¹⁹Serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears, and temptations, which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews:

²⁰And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publickly, and from house to house,

²¹Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

²²And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there:

²³Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me.

²⁴But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.

²⁵And now, behold, I know that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more.

²⁶Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men.

²⁷For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.

²⁸¶ Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.

²⁹For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.

³⁰Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.

³¹Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.

³²And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.

³³I have coveted no man’s silver, or gold, or apparel.

³⁴Yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me.

³⁵I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.

¹⁴The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.

¹⁴And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man: for the Lord fought for Israel.

⁴²And all these kings and their land did Joshua take at one time, because the Lord God of Israel fought for Israel.

⁴For the Lord your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.

⁹Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons;

⁵And your eyes shall see, and ye shall say, The Lord will be magnified from the border of Israel.

¹WE have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their days, in the times of old.

²How thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand, and plantedst them; how thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out.

³For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favour unto them.

²This is the land that yet remaineth: all the borders of the Philistines, and all Geshuri,

⁶All the inhabitants of the hill country from Lebanon unto Misrephoth-maim, and all the Sidonians, them will I drive out from before the children of Israel: only divide thou it by lot unto the Israelites for an inheritance, as I have commanded thee.

⁷Now therefore divide this land for an inheritance unto the nine tribes, and the half tribe of Manasseh,

¹⁰¶ And Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before the Lord: and there Joshua divided the land unto the children of Israel according to their divisions.

²³Then will the Lord drive out all these nations from before you, and ye shall possess greater nations and mightier than yourselves.

²And I will send an angel before thee; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite:

¹¹Observe thou that which I command thee this day: behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

⁶All the inhabitants of the hill country from Lebanon unto Misrephoth-maim, and all the Sidonians, them will I drive out from before the children of Israel: only divide thou it by lot unto the Israelites for an inheritance, as I have commanded thee.

³⁰By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land.

³¹And I will set thy bounds from the Red sea even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert unto the river: for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand; and thou shalt drive them out before thee.

¹²Else if ye do in any wise go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, even these that remain among you, and shall make marriages with them, and go in unto them, and they to you:

¹³Know for a certainty that the Lord your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you; but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which the Lord your God hath given you.

⁵²Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places:

⁵³And ye shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land, and dwell therein: for I have given you the land to possess it.