The Eastern Tribes Return Home

1 At that time Joshua summoned the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, 2 and said to them, “You have kept ^wall that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you ^xand have obeyed my voice in all that I have commanded you. 3 You have not forsaken your brothers these many days, down to this day, but have been careful to keep the charge of the Lord your God. 4 ^yAnd now the Lord your God has given rest to your brothers, as he promised them. Therefore turn and go to your tents in the land where your possession lies, ^zwhich Moses the servant of the Lord gave you on the other side of the Jordan. 5 ^aOnly be very careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, ^bto love the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments and to cling to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.” 6 So Joshua ^cblessed them and sent them away, and they went to their tents.

7 Now to the one half of the tribe of Manasseh Moses had given a possession in Bashan, ^dbut to the other half Joshua had given a possession beside their brothers in the land west of the Jordan. And when Joshua sent them away to their homes and blessed them, 8 he said to them, “Go back to your tents with much wealth and with very much livestock, with silver, gold, bronze, and iron, and with much clothing. ^eDivide the spoil of your enemies with your brothers.” 9 So the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh returned home, parting from the people of Israel at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go ^fto the land of Gilead, their own land of which they had possessed themselves by command of the Lord through Moses.

The Eastern Tribes’ Altar of Witness

10 And when they came to the region of the Jordan that is in the land of Canaan, the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh built there an altar by the Jordan, an altar of imposing size. 11 And the people of Israel ^gheard it said, “Behold, the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built the altar at the frontier of the land of Canaan, in the region about the Jordan, on the side that belongs to the people of Israel.” 12 And when the people of Israel heard of it, ^hthe whole assembly of the people of Israel gathered at Shiloh to make war against them.

13 Then the people of Israel sent to the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead, ⁱPhinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, 14 and with him ten chiefs, one from each of the tribal families of Israel, ^jevery one of them the head of a family among the clans of Israel. 15 And they came to the people of Reuben, the people of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead, and they said to them, 16 “Thus says the whole congregation of the Lord, ‘What is this breach of faith that you have committed against the God of Israel in turning away this day from following the Lord by building yourselves an altar this day ^kin rebellion against the Lord? 17 Have we not had enough of ^lthe sin at Peor from which even yet we have not cleansed ourselves, and for which there came a plague upon the congregation of the Lord, 18 that you too must turn away this day from following the Lord? And if ^kyou too rebel against the Lord today then tomorrow ^mhe will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel. 19 But now, if the land of your possession is unclean, pass over into the Lord’s land ⁿwhere the Lord’s tabernacle stands, and take for yourselves a possession among us. ^oOnly do not rebel against the Lord or make us as rebels by building for yourselves an altar other than the altar of the Lord our God. 20 ^pDid not Achan the son of Zerah break faith in the matter of the devoted things, and ^mwrath fell upon all the congregation of Israel? And he did not perish alone for his iniquity.’”

21 Then the people of Reuben, the people of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh said in answer to the heads of the families of Israel, 22 “The Mighty One, ^qGod, the Lord! The Mighty One, God, the Lord! ^rHe knows; and let Israel itself know! If it was in rebellion or in breach of faith against the Lord, do not spare us today 23 for building an altar to turn away from following the Lord. Or if we did so to offer burnt offerings or grain offerings or peace offerings on it, may the Lord himself ^stake vengeance. 24 No, but we did it from fear that ^tin time to come your children might say to our children, ‘What have you to do with the Lord, the God of Israel? 25 For the Lord has made the Jordan a boundary between us and you, you people of Reuben and people of Gad. You have no portion in the Lord.’ So your children might make our children cease to worship the Lord. 26 Therefore we said, ‘Let us now build an altar, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice, 27 but to be ^ua witness between us and you, and between our generations after us, that we ^vdo perform the service of the Lord in his presence with our burnt offerings and sacrifices and peace offerings, so your children will not say to our children in time to come, “You have no portion in the Lord.”’ 28 And we thought, ‘If this should be said to us or to our descendants in time to come, we should say, “Behold, the copy of the altar of the Lord, which our fathers made, not for burnt offerings, nor for sacrifice, but to be ^ua witness between us and you.”’ 29 Far be it from us that we should ^wrebel against the Lord and turn away this day from following the Lord ^wby building an altar for burnt offering, grain offering, or sacrifice, other than the altar of the Lord our God that stands before his tabernacle!”

30 When ^xPhinehas the priest and the chiefs of the congregation, the heads of the families of Israel who were with him, heard the words that the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the people of Manasseh spoke, ^yit was good in their eyes. 31 And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said to the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the people of Manasseh, “Today we know that ^zthe Lord is in our midst, because you have not committed this breach of faith against the Lord. Now you have delivered the people of Israel from the hand of the Lord.”

32 Then Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, and the chiefs, returned from the people of Reuben and the people of Gad ^ain the land of Gilead to the land of Canaan, to the people of Israel, and brought back word to them. 33 And the report ^bwas good in the eyes of the people of Israel. And the people of Israel ^cblessed God and spoke no more of making war against them to destroy the land where the people of Reuben and the people of Gad were settled. 34 The people of Reuben and the people of Gad called the altar Witness, “For,” they said, ^d“it is a witness between us that the Lord is God.”

Joshua’s Charge to Israel’s Leaders

1 A long time afterward, when the Lord had given ^erest to Israel from all their surrounding enemies, and Joshua ^fwas old and well advanced in years, 2 Joshua ^gsummoned all Israel, its elders and heads, its judges and officers, and said to them, “I am now old and well advanced in years. 3 And you have seen all that the Lord your God has done to all these nations for your sake, ^hfor it is the Lord your God who has fought for you. 4 Behold, ⁱI have allotted to you as an inheritance for your tribes those nations that remain, along with all the nations that I have already cut off, from the Jordan to the Great Sea in the west. 5 The Lord your God ^jwill push them back before you and drive them out of your sight. And you shall possess their land, ^kjust as the Lord your God promised you. 6 Therefore, ^lbe very strong to keep and to do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, ^mturning aside from it neither to the right hand nor to the left, 7 ⁿthat you may not mix with these nations remaining among you ^oor make mention of the names of their gods ^por swear by them or serve them or bow down to them, 8 ^qbut you shall cling to the Lord your God just as you have done to this day. 9 ^rFor the Lord has driven out before you great and strong nations. And as for you, ^sno man has been able to stand before you to this day. 10 ^tOne man of you puts to flight a thousand, since it is the Lord your God ^uwho fights for you, just as he promised you. 11 ^vBe very careful, therefore, to love the Lord your God. 12 For if you turn back and cling to the remnant of these nations remaining among you ^wand make marriages with them, so that you associate with them and they with you, 13 know for certain that ^xthe Lord your God will no longer drive out these nations before you, ^ybut they shall be a snare and a trap for you, a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good ground that the Lord your God has given you.

14 “And now ^zI am about to go the way of all the earth, and you know in your hearts and souls, all of you, that ^anot one word has failed of all the good things¹ that the Lord your God promised concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one of them has failed. 15 But just as all the good things that the Lord your God promised concerning you have been fulfilled for you, so the Lord will bring upon you ^ball the evil things, until he has destroyed you from off this good land that the Lord your God has given you, 16 if you transgress the covenant of the Lord your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them. Then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and you shall perish quickly from off the good land that he has given to you.”

The Covenant Renewal at Shechem

1 Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel ^cto Shechem and ^dsummoned the elders, the heads, the judges, and the officers of Israel. And ^ethey presented themselves before God. 2 And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Long ago, ^fyour fathers lived beyond the Euphrates,² Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor; and ^gthey served other gods. 3 ^hThen I took your father Abraham from beyond the River³ and ⁱled him through all the land of Canaan, and made his offspring many. ^jI gave him Isaac. 4 And to Isaac I gave ^kJacob and Esau. ^lAnd I gave Esau the hill country of Seir to possess, ^mbut Jacob and his children went down to Egypt. 5 ⁿAnd I sent Moses and Aaron, ^oand I plagued Egypt with what I did in the midst of it, and ^pafterward I brought you out.

6 “‘Then ^pI brought your fathers out of Egypt, and ^qyou came to the sea. ^rAnd the Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea. 7 ^sAnd when they cried to the Lord, ^the put darkness between you and the Egyptians ^uand made the sea come upon them and cover them; ^vand your eyes saw what I did in Egypt. ^wAnd you lived in the wilderness a long time. 8 Then I brought you to the land of the Amorites, who lived on the other side of the Jordan. ^xThey fought with you, and I gave them into your hand, and you took possession of their land, and I destroyed them before you. 9 ^yThen Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and fought against Israel. ^zAnd he sent and invited Balaam the son of Beor to curse you, 10 ^abut I would not listen to Balaam. ^aIndeed, he blessed you. So I delivered you out of his hand. 11 ^bAnd you went over the Jordan and came to Jericho, ^cand the leaders of Jericho fought against you, and also ^cthe Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And I gave them into your hand. 12 And I sent ^dthe hornet before you, which drove them out before you, the two kings of the Amorites; it was ^enot by your sword or by your bow. 13 I gave you a land on which you had not labored ^fand cities that you had not built, and you dwell in them. You eat the fruit of vineyards and olive orchards that you did not plant.’

Choose Whom You Will Serve

14 ^g“Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. ^hPut away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 ⁱAnd if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, ^jchoose this day whom you will serve, whether ^hthe gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or ^kthe gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. ^lBut as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

16 Then the people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods, 17 for it is the Lord our God who brought us and our fathers up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight and preserved us in all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed. 18 And the Lord drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God.”

19 But Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the Lord, for he is ^ma holy God. He is ⁿa jealous God; ^ohe will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. 20 ^pIf you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then ^qhe will turn and do you harm and consume you, after having done you good.” 21 And the people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve the Lord.” 22 Then Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that ^ryou have chosen the Lord, to serve him.” And they said, “We are witnesses.” 23 He said, “Then ^sput away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your heart to the Lord, the God of Israel.” 24 And the people said to Joshua, “The Lord our God we will serve, and his voice we will obey.” 25 So Joshua ^tmade a covenant with the people that day, and put in place ^ustatutes and rules for them at Shechem. 26 And Joshua ^vwrote these words in the Book of the Law of God. And ^whe took a large stone and set it up there ^xunder the terebinth that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. 27 And Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, ^ythis stone shall be a witness against us, for ^zit has heard all the words of the Lord that he spoke to us. Therefore it shall be a witness against you, lest you deal falsely with your God.” 28 So Joshua ^asent the people away, every man to his inheritance.

Joshua’s Death and Burial

29 ^bAfter these things Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being 110 years old. 30 And they buried him in his own inheritance at ^cTimnath-serah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gaash.

31 ^dIsrael served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua ^eand had known all the work that the Lord did for Israel.

32 ^fAs for the bones of Joseph, which the people of Israel brought up from Egypt, they buried them at Shechem, in the piece of land ^gthat Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred pieces of money.⁴ It became an inheritance of the descendants of Joseph.

33 And Eleazar the son of Aaron died, and they buried him at Gibeah, the town of ^hPhinehas his son, which had been given him in ⁱthe hill country of Ephraim.

I Love the Lord

Jesus and Zacchaeus

1 ^cHe entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. 3 And ^dhe was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. 4 So he ran on ahead and climbed up into ^ea sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. 5 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for ^fI must stay at your house today.” 6 So he hurried and came down and ^greceived him joyfully. 7 And when they saw it, they all ^hgrumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” 8 And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods ⁱI give to the poor. And if I have ^jdefrauded anyone of anything, I restore it ^kfourfold.” 9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since ^lhe also is a son of Abraham. 10 For ^mthe Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

The Parable of the Ten Minas

11 As they heard these things, he proceeded to tell a parable, because he was near to Jerusalem, and because ⁿthey supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately. 12 He said therefore, ^o“A nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return. 13 Calling ^pten of his servants,¹ he gave them ten minas,² and said to them, ‘Engage in business ^quntil I come.’ 14 But ^rhis citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’ 15 When he returned, having received the kingdom, he ordered these servants to whom he had given the money to be called to him, that he might know what they had gained by doing business. 16 The first came before him, saying, ‘Lord, your mina has made ten minas more.’ 17 And he said to him, ‘Well done, good servant!³ Because you have been ^sfaithful in a very little, ^tyou shall have authority over ten cities.’ 18 And the second came, saying, ‘Lord, your mina has made five minas.’ 19 And he said to him, ‘And you are to be over five cities.’ 20 Then another came, saying, ‘Lord, here is your mina, which I kept laid away in ^ua handkerchief; 21 for I was afraid of you, because you are ^va severe man. You take ^wwhat you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.’ 22 He said to him, ^x‘I will condemn you with your own words, ^yyou wicked servant! You knew that I was ^va severe man, taking what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow? 23 Why then did you not put my money in the bank, and at my coming I might have collected it with interest?’ 24 And he said to those who stood by, ‘Take the mina from him, and give it to the one who has the ten minas.’ 25 And they said to him, ‘Lord, he has ten minas!’ 26 ‘I tell you that ^zto everyone who has, more will be given, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 27 But ^ras for these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and ^aslaughter them before me.’”