And He said, No, but I have come as the Commander of the army of Jehovah. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth. And he worshiped and said to Him, What does my Lord say to His servant?

O, Lord, what shall I say when Israel turns their backs before their enemies?

Up! Sanctify the people and say, Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow. For thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel, A cursed thing is in the midst of you, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the cursed thing from among you.

(for they will come out after us) until we have drawn them out of the city. For they will say, They flee before us, even as at the first. And we will flee before them.

And our elders and all those who live in our country spoke to us saying, Take provisions with you for the journey, and go to meet them. Say to them, We are your servants. And now make a treaty with us.

So says all the congregation of Jehovah: What trespass is this that you have committed against the God of Israel, to turn away today from following Jehovah, in that you have built an altar for you so that you might rebel this day against Jehovah?

but it shall be a witness between us and you, and our generations after us, so that we might do the service of Jehovah before Him with our burnt offerings and with our sacrifices and with our peace offerings; so that your sons may not say to our sons in time to come, You have no part in Jehovah.

And we said that when they should say so to us or to our generations in time to come, that we may say, Behold the pattern of the altar of Jehovah which our fathers made, not for burnt offerings nor for sacrifices, but it is a witness between us and you.

And Joshua said to all the people, So says Jehovah, the God of Israel, Your fathers lived Beyond the River in times past, Terah the father of Abraham, and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods.