their gods, nor cause to swear by them, neither serve them, nor bow yourselves to them; 7 But cleave to the LORD your God, as ye have done unto this day. For the LORD hath driven out from before you great and strong nations; and as for you, no man hath been able to stand before you unto this day. 8 One man of you shall chase a thousand; for the LORD your God, he it is that fighteth for you, as he hath promised you. 9 Take good heed therefore to your selves, that ye love the LORD your God. 10 Else 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; 11 Know for a certainty that the LORD your God will no more drive out these nations from before you; but they will 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. 12 And behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth; and ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the LORD your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof. 13 Therefore it shall come to pass, that as all good things are come upon you, which the LORD your God promised to you; so will the LORD bring upon you all evil things, until he have destroyed you from off this good land which the LORD hath given you; 14 When ye transgress the covenant of the LORD your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods, and bow yourselves to them; then shall the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and ye will perish quickly from off the good land which he hath given to you. CHAPTER XIX. AND 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. 2 And Joshua said to all the people, Thus saith the LORD the God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the River [Euphrates] in old times, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor, and they served other gods. 3 And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the river, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his offspring, and gave him Isaac. 4 And to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau; and I gave to Esau Mount Seir, to possess it; but Jacob and his children went down into Lower Egypt. 5 I sent Moses also and Aaron, and I plagued the Egyptians, according to that which I did among them. And afterward I brought you out; 6 And I brought your fathers out of Lower Egypt: and ye came to the sea; and the Egyptians pursued after your fathers with chariots and horsemen unto the Red Sea. 7 And when they cried to the LORD, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them, and covered them. And your 16 For the LORD our God, he it is eyes have seen what I did in Lower Egypt. And ye dwelt in the desert that brought us up and our fathers for many years. 8 And I brought you into the land of the Amorites, who dwelt beyond the Jordan; and they fought with you. And I gave them into your hand, that ye might possess their land. 9 Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and warred against Israel; and he sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you 10. But I would not hearken unto Balaam; therefore he blessed you greatly. So I delivered you out of his hand. 11 And ye went over the Jordan, and came to Jericho. And the men of Jericho fought against you, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; and I delivered them into your hand. 12 And I have given you a land for which ye did not labour, and cities which ye built not, and ye dwell in them; of the vineyards and oliveyards which ye planted not, do ye eat. 13 Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the river [Euphrates], and in Egypt, and serve ye the LORD. 14 And if it seem evil to you to serve the LORD, choose ye this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the river, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell; but as for me and my house we will serve the LORD. 15 And the people answered and said, It were wicked in us to forsake the LORD, to serve other gods; out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and who did those great signs in our sight, and guarded us on all the way wherein we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed. 17 And the LORD drove out from before us all the peoples, even the Amorites who dwelt in the land; therefore will we also serve the LORD; for he is our God. 18 And Joshua said to the people, Ye cannot serve the LORD; for he is a holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. 19 If ye forsake the LORD, and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done you good. 20 And the people said to Joshua, Nay, but we will serve the LORD. And Joshua said to the people, Ye are witnesses against yourselves, that ye have chosen for yourselves the LORD to serve him. And they said, We are witnesses. 21 Now therefore put away [said he] the foreign gods which are among you, and incline your heart to the LORD the God of Israel. 22 And the people said to Joshua, the LORD our God will we serve, and his voice will we obey. 23 So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and set them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem. 24 And Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God, and took a great stone, and set it up there under the oak that was by the Sanctuary of the LORD. 25 And Joshua said to all the people, Behold this stone shall be a witness unto us; for it hath heard all the words of the LORD which he spake to us. It shall be therefore a witness unto you, lest ye deny your God. 26 So Joshua let the people depart, every man to his inheritance. [Here follows Judges ii.] 27 And it came to pass after these things, that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being a hundred and ten years old [A. M. 2739]. 28 And they buried him within the boundary of his inheritance in Timnath-serah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, on the north side of the hill of Gaash. 29 And Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, and who had known all the works of the LORD, that he had done for Israel. 30 And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, buried they in Shechem, in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred Kesitahs [or pieces of silver];. and it became the inheritance of the children of Joseph. 31 And Eleazar the son of Aaron died; and they buried him in the hill of Phinehas his son, which was given to him in the hill country of Ephraim. THE BOOK OF JUDGES. him, and they slew the Canaanites and the Perizzites. 6 And the children of the Kenite, Moses' father in law, went up out of the City of Palmtrees [or Jericho] with the children of Judah into the desert of Judah, which lieth in the south country of Arad ; and they went and dwelt among the people. 7 And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they slew the Canaanites that inhabited Zephath, and utterly destroyed it. And he called the name of the city Hormah. 8 And the LORD was with Judah; and he drove out the inhabitants of the Hill country; but could not drive out the inhabitants of the Valley, because they had chariots of iron. 9 And they gave Hebron to Caleb, as Moses had said; and he drove out thence the three sons of Anak. nor of 10 And the children of Benjamin 19 Neither did Asher drive out the did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabitants of Accho, nor the ininherited Jerusalem; but the Jebu- habitants of Sidon, nor of Ahlab, nor sites dwell with the children of Ben- of Achezib, nor of Helbah, jam. in Jerusalem unto this day. Aphik, nor of Rehob; but the Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: for they did not drive them out. 11 And the house of Joseph, they also went up against Beth-el; and the LORD was with them. 12 And the house of Joseph sent to spy out Beth-el. (Now the name of the city before was Luz.) 14 And when he showed them an entrance into the city, they smote the city with the edge of the sword; but they let go the man and all his family. And the man went into the land of the Hittites, and built a city, and called the name thereof Luz: which is its name unto this day. 15 Neither did Manasseh drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shean and its suburbs, nor Taanach and its suburbs, nor the inhabitants of Dor and its suburbs, nor the inhabitants of Ibleam and its suburbs, nor the inhabitants of Megiddo and its suburbs: but the Canaanites would dwell in that land. 16 And it came to pass Israel was strong, that they put the Canaanites to tribute, and did not utterly drive them out. 17 Neither did Ephraim drive out the Canaanties that dwelt in Gezer; but the Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them. 20 Neither did Naphtali drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh, nor the inhabitants of Beth-anath; but he dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; nevertheless the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and of Beth-anath became tributaries unto them. 21 And the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the hill country; for they would not suffer them to come down into the valley. 22 But the Amorites would dwell in mount Heres, in Ajalon, and in Shaalbim; yet the hand of the house of Joseph prevailed, so that they became tributaries. 23 (And the boundary of the Amorites was from the hill-road of Akrabbim, from Sela [or Petra], and upward.) CHAPTER II. NOW WHEN JOSHUA and also all when that generation were gathered to their fathers: there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel. 2 AND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL DID EVIL in the sight of the LORD, and served Baal. And they forsook the LORD the God of their fathers, whobrought them out of the land of Egypt, and they followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves 18 Neither did Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol; but the Canaanites dwelt among them, and were tributaries. unto them, and provoked the LORD to gressed my covenant anger. 3 And they forsook the LORD and served Baal and Ashtaroth, and the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of the spoilers that spoiled them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies. 4 Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the LORD was against them for evil, as the LORD had said, and as the LORD had sworn to them. And they were greatly distressed. 5 And the LORD raised up Judges, who delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them, and yet they hearkened not to their judges, but they went astray after other gods, and bowed themselves unto them. They turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the Lord. But they did not so. which I comTM manded their fathers, and have not hearkened to my voice. 9 I also will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the nations which Joshua left when he died; in order through them to prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of the LORD to walk therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not. Therefore the LORD left those nations, without driving them out hastily; neither did he deliver them into the hand of Joshua. CHAPTER III. NOW these are THE NATIONS which the LORD left to prove by them many of Israel as had not known any of the wars of Canaan. 2 Only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at the least such as before knew nothing thereof; [namely] 3 Five chiefs of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites that dwelt on mount Lebanon, from mount Baal-hermon unto the Pass of Hamath. 6 And when the LORD raised up for them Judges, then the LORD was with the judge, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all 4 And they were to prove Israel by the days of the judge; for it repent- them, to know whether they would ed the LORD because of their groan-hearken to the commandments of the ings by reason of them that oppressed LORD, which he commanded their them and vexed them. fathers by the hand of Moses. 7 And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they returned, and corrupted themselves more than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down unto them; they ceased not from their own doings, nor from their stubborn way. 8 And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel; and he said, Because that this nation hath trans 5 And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 6 And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods. 7 And THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL DID EVIL in the sight of the LORD, |