Thematic Bible




Thematic Bible



So Joshua {made a covenant} with the people on that day, and he established for them a statute and a judgment at Shechem.

But Joshua said to the people, "You cannot serve Yahweh, for he [is] a holy and jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. If you forsake Yahweh and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster to you; he will destroy you after he has done good to you." And the people said to Joshua, "No, we will serve Yahweh." read more.
And Joshua said to the people, "You [are] witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen for yourselves to serve Yahweh." And they said, "[We are] witnesses." He said, "Remove the foreign gods that [are] in your midst, and incline your hearts to Yahweh the God of Israel." And the people said to Joshua, "We will serve Yahweh our God, and we will listen to his voice." So Joshua {made a covenant} with the people on that day, and he established for them a statute and a judgment at Shechem. Then Joshua wrote these words in a scroll of the law of God, and he took a large stone and set it up there under a large tree, which [is] at the shrine of Yahweh. And Joshua said to all the people, "Look, this stone will be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words of Yahweh that he spoke with us. It will be as a witness against you, so that you do not deny your God." Then Joshua sent the people away to their inheritance.


But if it is bad in your eyes to serve Yahweh, choose for yourselves today whom you want to serve, whether it is the gods that your ancestors served beyond the river, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you [are] living; but as for me and my household, we will serve Yahweh."

And Yahweh drove out all the people before us, the Amorites who live [in] the land. We will serve Yahweh, for he [is] our God." But Joshua said to the people, "You cannot serve Yahweh, for he [is] a holy and jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. If you forsake Yahweh and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster to you; he will destroy you after he has done good to you." read more.
And the people said to Joshua, "No, we will serve Yahweh." And Joshua said to the people, "You [are] witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen for yourselves to serve Yahweh." And they said, "[We are] witnesses." He said, "Remove the foreign gods that [are] in your midst, and incline your hearts to Yahweh the God of Israel." And the people said to Joshua, "We will serve Yahweh our God, and we will listen to his voice."


He said, "Remove the foreign gods that [are] in your midst, and incline your hearts to Yahweh the God of Israel."


But this is what you must do to them: you shall break down their altars, and their stone pillars you shall smash, and their Asherah poles you shall hew down, and you shall burn their idols with fire.

" 'You will not bow to their gods, and you will not serve them, and you will not act according to their actions, because you will utterly demolish them, and you will utterly break their stone pillars.

He said, "Remove the foreign gods that [are] in your midst, and incline your hearts to Yahweh the God of Israel."

"Keep for yourself what I myself have commanded you today. Look, I [am about to] drive from before you the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. Be careful for yourself, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you are going, lest it be a snare among you. Rather, you will tear down their altars, and you will break their stone pillars, and you will cut off their Asherah poles.

Then Yahweh spoke to Moses on the desert-plateau of Moab by [the] Jordan [across] Jericho, saying, "Speak to the {Israelites} and say to them, 'When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, you will drive out the inhabitants of the land from your presence, and you will destroy all their idols and all the images of their molten idols, and you will demolish all their high places;

You must completely demolish all [of] the places there where [they] served their gods, [that is], the nations whom you [are] about to dispossess, on the high mountains, and on the hills and under each leafy green tree. And you shall break down their altars, and you shall smash their stone pillars, and their Asherah poles you must burn with fire, and the images of their gods you shall hew down, and you shall blot out their names from that place.

And the angel of Yahweh went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said, "I brought you up from Egypt, and I brought you to the land that I had promised to your ancestors. I said, 'I will never break my covenant with you. And [as for] you, do not {make a covenant} with the inhabitants of this land; break down their altars.' But you did not listen to my voice. {Why would you do such a thing}?


And Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem; he summoned the elders of Israel, their heads, their judges, and their officials, and they presented themselves before God. And Joshua said to all the people, "Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel: '{Long ago} your ancestors--Terah the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor--lived beyond the river, and they served other gods. I took your ancestor Abraham from beyond the river and led him through all the land of Canaan, and I increased his offspring; I gave him Isaac, read more.
and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. To Esau I gave the hill country of Seir to possess, but Jacob and his children went down [to] Egypt. And I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt with what I did in its midst; and afterward I brought you out. When I brought out your ancestors from Egypt, you came to the sea, and the Egyptians pursued after your ancestors with chariots and horsemen to the {Red Sea}. They cried out to Yahweh, and he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and he brought the sea over them and covered them; your own eyes saw what I did in Egypt. Then you lived in the wilderness for many days. And I brought you to the land of the Amorites who lived beyond the Jordan; they fought you, and I gave them into your hand; you took possession of their land, and I destroyed them {before you}. Then Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, set out and fought against Israel, and he sent and summoned Balaam son of Beor to curse you, but I was not willing to listen to Balaam, and he richly blessed you. So I rescued you from his hand, and you crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. And the citizens of Jericho, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, fought against you, and I gave them into your hand. I sent before you [the] hornet and they drove out before you two kings of the Amorites; [but] not by your sword or bow. I gave to you a land that you have not labored on, and cities that you have not built, and you live in them; you eat [from] vineyards and olive groves that you have not planted.' "So now, revere Yahweh and serve him in sincerity and faithfulness; remove the gods that your ancestors served beyond the river and in Egypt, and serve Yahweh. But if it is bad in your eyes to serve Yahweh, choose for yourselves today whom you want to serve, whether it is the gods that your ancestors served beyond the river, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you [are] living; but as for me and my household, we will serve Yahweh." And the people answered and said, "Far be it from us that we would forsake Yahweh to serve other gods, for Yahweh our God brought us and our ancestors from the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery, and did these great signs before our eyes. He protected us along the entire way that we went, and among all the peoples through whose midst we passed. And Yahweh drove out all the people before us, the Amorites who live [in] the land. We will serve Yahweh, for he [is] our God." But Joshua said to the people, "You cannot serve Yahweh, for he [is] a holy and jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. If you forsake Yahweh and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster to you; he will destroy you after he has done good to you." And the people said to Joshua, "No, we will serve Yahweh." And Joshua said to the people, "You [are] witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen for yourselves to serve Yahweh." And they said, "[We are] witnesses." He said, "Remove the foreign gods that [are] in your midst, and incline your hearts to Yahweh the God of Israel." And the people said to Joshua, "We will serve Yahweh our God, and we will listen to his voice." So Joshua {made a covenant} with the people on that day, and he established for them a statute and a judgment at Shechem. Then Joshua wrote these words in a scroll of the law of God, and he took a large stone and set it up there under a large tree, which [is] at the shrine of Yahweh. And Joshua said to all the people, "Look, this stone will be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words of Yahweh that he spoke with us. It will be as a witness against you, so that you do not deny your God." Then Joshua sent the people away to their inheritance.