¹ And Josue gathered together all the tribes of Israel in Sichem, and called for the ancients, and the princes, and the judges, and the masters: and they stood in the sight of the Lord:

² And he spoke thus to the people: Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: Your fathers dwelt of old on the other side of the river, Thare the father of Abraham, and Nachor: and they served strange gods.

³ And I took your father Abraham from the borders of Mesopotamia: and brought him into the land of Chanaan: and I multiplied his seed,

⁴ And gave him Isaac: and to him again I gave Jacob and Esau. And I gave to Esau mount Seir for his possession: but Jacob and his children went down into Egypt.

⁵ And I sent Moses and Aaron, and I struck Egypt with many signs and wonders.

⁶ And I brought you and your fathers out of Egypt, and you came to the sea: and the Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen, as far as the Red Sea.

⁷ And the children of Israel cried to the Lord: and he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them, and covered them. Your eyes saw all that I did in Egypt, and you dwelt in the wilderness a long time:

⁸ And I brought you into the land of the Amorrhite, who dwelt beyond the Jordan. And when they fought against you, I delivered them into your hands, and you possessed their land, and slew them.

⁹ And Balac son of Sephor king of Moab arose and fought against Israel. And he sent and called for Balaam son of Beor, to curse you:

¹⁰ And I would not hear him, but on the contrary I blessed you by him, and I delivered you out of his hand.

¹¹ And you passed over the Jordan, and you came to Jericho. And the men of that city fought against you, the Amorrhite, and the Pherezite, and the Chanaanite, and the Hethite, and the Gergesite, and the Hevite, and the Jebusite: and I delivered them into your hands.

¹² And I sent before you hornets: and I drove them out from their places, the two kings of the Amorrhites, not with thy sword nor with thy bow.

¹³ And I gave you a land, in which you had not laboured, and cities to dwell in which you built not, vineyards and oliveyards, which you planted not.

¹⁴ Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve him with a perfect and most sincere heart: and put away the gods which your fathers served in Mesopotamia and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.

¹⁵ But if it seem evil to you to serve the Lord, you have your choice: choose this day that which pleaseth you, whom you would rather serve, whether the gods which your fathers served in Mesopotamia, or the gods of the Amorrhites, in whose land you dwell: but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord.

¹⁶ And the people answered, and said: God forbid we should leave the Lord, and serve strange gods.

¹⁷ The Lord our God he brought us and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage: and did very great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way by which we journeyed, and among all the people through whom we passed.

¹⁸ And he hath cast out all the nations, the Amorrhite the inhabitant of the land into which we are come. Therefore we will serve the Lord, for he is our God.

¹⁹ And Josue said to the people: You will not be able to serve the Lord: for he is a holy God, and mighty and jealous, and will not forgive your wickedness and sins.

²⁰ If you leave the Lord, and serve strange gods, he will turn, and will afflict you, and will destroy you after all the good he hath done you.

²¹ And the people said to Josue: No, it shall not be so as thou sayest, but we will serve the Lord.

²² And Josue said to the people: You are witnesses, that you yourselves have chosen you the Lord to serve him. And they answered: We are witnesses.

²³ Now therefore, said he, put away strange gods from among you, and incline your hearts to the Lord the God of Israel.

²⁴ And the people said to Josue: We will serve the Lord our God, and we will be obedient to his commandments.

²⁵ Josue therefore on that day made a covenant, and set before the people commandments and judgments in Sichem.

²⁶ And he wrote all these things in the volume of the law of the Lord: and he took a great stone, and set it under the oak that was in the sanctuary of the Lord.

²⁷ And he said to all the people: Behold this stone shall be a testimony unto you, that it hath heard all the words of the Lord, which he hath spoken to you: lest perhaps hereafter you will deny it, and lie to the Lord your God.

²⁸ And he sent the people away every one to their own possession.

²⁹ And after these things Josue the son of Nun the servant of the Lord died, being a hundred and ten years old:

³⁰ And they buried him in the border of his possession in Thamnathsare, which is situate in mount Ephraim, on the north side of mount Gaas.

³¹ 31And Israel served the Lord all the days of Josue, and of the ancients that lived a long time after Josue, and that had known all the works of the Lord which he had done in Israel.

³² And the bones of Joseph which the children of Israel had taken out of Egypt, they buried in Sichem, in that part of the field which Jacob had bought of the sons of Hemor the father of Sichem, for a hundred young ewes, and it was in the possession of the sons of Joseph.

³³ Eleazar also the son of Aaron died: and they buried him in Gabaath that belongeth to Phinees his son, which was given him in mount Ephraim.

¹ Then the heads of fathers' houses of the Levites came near to Eleazar the priest, and to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the heads of fathers' houses of the tribes of the children of Israel.

² They spoke to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, "Yahweh commanded Moses to give us cities to dwell in, with their suburbs for our livestock."

³ The children of Israel gave to the Levites out of their inheritance, according to the commandment of Yahweh, these cities with their suburbs.

⁴ The lot came out for the families of the Kohathites. The children of Aaron the priest, who were of the Levites, had thirteen cities by lot out of the tribe of Judah, out of the tribe of the Simeonites, and out of the tribe of Benjamin.

⁵ The rest of the children of Kohath had ten cities by lot out of the families of the tribe of Ephraim, out of the tribe of Dan, and out of the half-tribe of Manasseh.

⁶ The children of Gershon had thirteen cities by lot out of the families of the tribe of Issachar, out of the tribe of Asher, out of the tribe of Naphtali, and out of the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan.

⁷ The children of Merari according to their families had twelve cities out of the tribe of Reuben, out of the tribe of Gad, and out of the tribe of Zebulun.

⁸ The children of Israel gave these cities with their suburbs by lot to the Levites, as Yahweh commanded by Moses.

⁹ They gave out of the tribe of the children of Judah, and out of the tribe of the children of Simeon, these cities which are mentioned by name:

¹⁰ and they were for the children of Aaron, of the families of the Kohathites, who were of the children of Levi; for theirs was the first lot.

¹¹ They gave them Kiriath Arba, named after the father of Anak (the same is Hebron), in the hill country of Judah, with its suburbs around it.

¹² But they gave the fields of the city and its villages to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for his possession.

¹³ To the children of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron with its suburbs, the city of refuge for the manslayer, Libnah with its suburbs,

¹⁴ Jattir with its suburbs, Eshtemoa with its suburbs,

¹⁵ Holon with its suburbs, Debir with its suburbs,

¹⁶ Ain with its suburbs, Juttah with its suburbs, and Beth Shemesh with its suburbs; nine cities out of those two tribes.

¹⁷ Out of the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon with its suburbs, Geba with its suburbs,

¹⁸ Anathoth with its suburbs, and Almon with its suburbs; four cities.

¹⁹ All the cities of the children of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen cities with their suburbs.

²⁰ The families of the children of Kohath, the Levites, even the rest of the children of Kohath, had the cities of their lot out of the tribe of Ephraim.

²¹ They gave them Shechem with its suburbs in the hill country of Ephraim, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Gezer with its suburbs,

²² Kibzaim with its suburbs, and Beth Horon with its suburbs; four cities.

²³ Out of the tribe of Dan, Elteke with its suburbs, Gibbethon with its suburbs,

²⁴ Aijalon with its suburbs, Gath Rimmon with its suburbs; four cities.

²⁵ Out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Taanach with its suburbs, and Gath Rimmon with its suburbs; two cities.

²⁶ All the cities of the families of the rest of the children of Kohath were ten with their suburbs.

²⁷ They gave to the children of Gershon, of the families of the Levites, out of the half-tribe of Manasseh Golan in Bashan with its suburbs, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Be Eshterah with its suburbs; two cities.

²⁸ Out of the tribe of Issachar, Kishion with its suburbs, Daberath with its suburbs,

²⁹ Jarmuth with its suburbs, En Gannim with its suburbs; four cities.

³⁰ Out of the tribe of Asher, Mishal with its suburbs, Abdon with its suburbs,

³¹ Helkath with its suburbs, and Rehob with its suburbs; four cities.

³² Out of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with its suburbs, the city of refuge for the manslayer, Hammothdor with its suburbs, and Kartan with its suburbs; three cities.

³³ All the cities of the Gershonites according to their families were thirteen cities with their suburbs.

³⁴ To the families of the children of Merari, the rest of the Levites, out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with its suburbs, Kartah with its suburbs,

³⁵ Dimnah with its suburbs, and Nahalal with its suburbs; four cities.

³⁶ Out of the tribe of Reuben, Bezer with its suburbs, Jahaz with its suburbs,

³⁷ Kedemoth with its suburbs, and Mephaath with its suburbs; four cities.

³⁸ Out of the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead with its suburbs, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Mahanaim with its suburbs,

³⁹ Heshbon with its suburbs, Jazer with its suburbs; four cities in all.

⁴⁰ All these were the cities of the children of Merari according to their families, even the rest of the families of the Levites. Their lot was twelve cities.

⁴¹ All the cities of the Levites in the midst of the possession of the children of Israel were forty-eight cities with their suburbs.

⁴² Each of these cities included their suburbs around them. It was this way with all these cities.

⁴³ So Yahweh gave to Israel all the land which he swore to give to their fathers. They possessed it, and lived in it.

⁴⁴ Yahweh gave them rest all around, according to all that he swore to their fathers. Not a man of all their enemies stood before them. Yahweh delivered all their enemies into their hand.

⁴⁵ Nothing failed of any good thing which Yahweh had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass.