Joshua
Chapter 24
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Leningrad Codex, through the Open Scriptures Westminster Leningrad Codex. The written consonants are printed. A Masoretic reading is footnoted when it differs. No Dead Sea reading was substituted unless it was read from a fragment. The Greek, Syriac, and Latin versions are witnesses, not the default.
A dotted word is a harder one. Point at it, or tap it, for a short definition.
1Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and he called the elders of Israel, its heads, its judges, and its officers, and they stood before God.
2Joshua said to all the people, This is what God’s own name. The Hebrew writes YHWH. See the glossary., the God of Israel, says, Beyond the River your fathers lived long ago, Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods.
3I took your father Abraham from beyond the River, and I led him through all the land of Canaan, and I multiplied his seed, and I gave him Isaac.
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The written consonants are וארב, without a final he. The Masoretic reading is וארבה, “and I multiplied.” The following words are “his seed,” which fits “I multiplied.” The written spelling is footnoted. The sense printed is “I multiplied,” not a different verb.
4I gave Jacob and Esau to Isaac. I gave Esau Mount Seir to take. Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt.
5I sent Moses and Aaron, and I struck Egypt, as I did in its midst, and afterward I brought you out.
6I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and you came to the sea, and the Egyptians chased your fathers with chariot and with horsemen, to the Sea of Reeds.
7They cried out to God’s own name. The Hebrew writes YHWH. See the glossary., and he set darkness between you and the Egyptians, and he brought the sea upon them and covered them. Your eyes saw what I did in Egypt. You lived in the wilderness many days.
8I brought you to the land of the Amorite who lived beyond the Jordan, and they fought with you, and I gave them into your hand. You took their land, and I destroyed them from before you.
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The written form is ואבאה, “and I brought,” with a he. The Masoretic reading is ואביא, without that he. The sense is the same. The written form is printed.
9Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, rose and fought against Israel, and he sent and called Balaam son of Beor to curse you.
10I was not willing to listen to Balaam, and he blessed you with a blessing, and I rescued you from his hand.
11You crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho, and the lords of Jericho fought against you, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Girgashite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, and I gave them into your hand.
12I sent the hornet before you, and it drove them out from before you, the two kings of the Amorite, not by your sword and not by your bow.
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Tzirah is the hornet. The line does not say anything further about how it drove them.
13I gave you a land you had not labored on, and cities you had not built, and you have lived in them. You are eating vineyards and olive trees you did not plant.
14Now fear God’s own name. The Hebrew writes YHWH. See the glossary. and serve him in wholeness and in truth. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve God’s own name. The Hebrew writes YHWH. See the glossary..
15If it is bad in your eyes to serve God’s own name. The Hebrew writes YHWH. See the glossary., choose for yourselves today whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served, who were in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorite in whose land you are living. And I and my house, we will serve God’s own name. The Hebrew writes YHWH. See the glossary..
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The written consonants are בעבר, “in the region beyond.” The Masoretic reading is מעבר, “from beyond.” The written “in the region beyond” is printed.
16The people answered and said, Far be it from us to abandon God’s own name. The Hebrew writes YHWH. See the glossary., to serve other gods.
17For God’s own name. The Hebrew writes YHWH. See the glossary. our God, he is the one who brought us and our fathers up from the land of Egypt, from the house of slaves, and who did these great signs before our eyes, and guarded us on all the way that we walked, and among all the peoples through whose midst we passed.
18God’s own name. The Hebrew writes YHWH. See the glossary. drove out all the peoples, and the Amorite who lived in the land, from before us. We also will serve God’s own name. The Hebrew writes YHWH. See the glossary., for he is our God.
19Joshua said to the people, You will not be able to serve God’s own name. The Hebrew writes YHWH. See the glossary., for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God. He will not lift your transgression or your sins.
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Elohim kedoshim uses a plural adjective with God. The line is printed “a holy God.” El qanna is “a jealous God.”
20If you abandon God’s own name. The Hebrew writes YHWH. See the glossary. and serve foreign gods, he will turn and do you harm and finish you off, after he has done you good.
21The people said to Joshua, No, for we will serve God’s own name. The Hebrew writes YHWH. See the glossary..
22Joshua said to the people, You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen God’s own name. The Hebrew writes YHWH. See the glossary. for yourselves, to serve him. They said, We are witnesses.
23Now put away the foreign gods that are among you, and turn your heart to God’s own name. The Hebrew writes YHWH. See the glossary., the God of Israel.
24The people said to Joshua, We will serve God’s own name. The Hebrew writes YHWH. See the glossary. our God, and we will listen to his voice.
25Joshua cut a A solemn agreement that binds God and people. for the people on that day, and he set for them a A rule that is meant to last. and a judgment at Shechem.
26Joshua wrote these words in the scroll of the instruction of God. He took a great stone and set it up there under the A kind of tree with hard wood. that was in the A holy place set aside for God. of God’s own name. The Hebrew writes YHWH. See the glossary..
27Joshua said to all the people, Look, this stone shall be a witness against us, for it has heard all the sayings of God’s own name. The Hebrew writes YHWH. See the glossary. that he spoke with us. It shall be a witness against you, so that you do not deny your God.
28Joshua sent the people away, each to his inheritance.
29After these things, Joshua son of Nun, the servant of God’s own name. The Hebrew writes YHWH. See the glossary., died, one hundred ten years old.
30They buried him in the border of his inheritance, in Timnath-serah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
31Israel served God’s own name. The Hebrew writes YHWH. See the glossary. all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who lengthened their days after Joshua, and who knew all the work of God’s own name. The Hebrew writes YHWH. See the glossary. that he had done for Israel.
32The bones of Joseph, which the sons of Israel had brought up from Egypt, they buried in Shechem, in the piece of field that Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for a hundred A unit of payment. The verse note says the copy does not define it further.. It became an inheritance for the sons of Joseph.
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Qesitah is a unit of payment. The codex does not say whether it is a weight, a coin, or a sheep. The word is kept.
33Eleazar son of Aaron died, and they buried him in the hill of Phinehas his son, which had been given to him in the hill country of Ephraim.