if your posterity tell ours, ye have no part in this service of the Eternal; 28. They may reply, Behold the pattern of the Eternal's altar, which our fathers made for a witness in this matter. 29. Far be it from us to rebel against the Eternal, or apostatize from him, to have another altar for offering sacrifices, besides the Eternal our God's altar, before his tabernacle.

30. Then Phinehas the priest, with the chiefs of the Israelites, hearing this, were pleased.

31.Then Phinehas said, We perceive this day that the Eternal is among us, because ye have not trespassed against him, nor brought wrath upon us.

32. Then the priest, with the chiefs of the other tribes, returned from Gilead to Canaan, and reported the matter. 33. And it pleased the other tribes; so they blessed God, that they had not to go and destroy them like the idolatrous Canaanites. 34. Now the Reubenites and Gadites called the altar, a witness: for said they, It shall be a witness between us, that the Eternal is our God.

CHAP. XXIII.

JOSHUA'S CHARGE BEFORE HIS DEATH.

Now the Israalites having, by the Eternal's fayour, enjoyed long rest from all their enemies around them; Joshua being old, he called the elders, chiefs, judges; officers, and all Israel, and spoke to them of his age: 3. And said, Ye have seen all that the Eternal your God hath done to all these nations, for it is he that fought for you. 4. Behold I have divided to you by lot the nations, whose inhabitants still remain, from Jordan to the (Mediteranean) sea, the west boundary, to be an inheritance for your tribes, as well as all the nations whose inhabitants are expelled. 5. The Eternal your God shall ex, pei them before you, and ye shall possess their land as he promised you.

6. Be therefore constant, and do all that is written in the law by Moses, that ye neither come short nor transgress. 7. Form no alliance nor associations with these nations that remain among you, nor so much as mention the name of their gods. 8. For if ye will cleave to the Eternal your God, as at this day, 9. He will expel before you great and strong nations; thus none hath been able to stand before you hitherto. 10. One of you shall chase many; for the Eternal fighteth for you, as he promised. 11. Therefore be very attentive to your duty, that ye love the Eternal your God. 12. For if ye apostatize in any way, and associate with these nations, or make marriages with them; 13. Assuredly the Eternal your God will expel no more of these nations before you; but they shall be snares and stumbling blocks to you, spurs to your sides, and thorns in your eyes, till ye perish from off this good land which the Eternal your God hath given

you.

14. I am now going the way of all the earth, and ye know it for certain, that the Eternal your God hath performed all the good things which he promised you. 15. But if ye apostatize, he will bring upon you all the evil things he hath threatened, till ye be destroyed from off this good land. 16. If ye trangress the commands, and break the covenant of the Eternal your God, and worship false gods, the Eternal's anger shall be kindled against you, and ye shall perish quickly from off this good land which he hath given you.

CHAP. XXIV.

JOSHUA'S SECOND Charge and death. AGAIN Joshua assembled all Israel's tribes at Sheehem, and called their elders, heads, judges, and officers; who presented themselves before God. 2. He then said to all the people, Thus saith the Eter

nal Israel's God: Your fathers in former times dwelt on the other side of the river Euphrates, even Terah, the father of Nachor and Abraham, and were idolaters. 3. But I brought your father Abraham over the river, (from among the idolaters), and led him thro' all Canaan, and gave him his son Isaac, and promised to multiply his seed. 4. And I gave to Isaac, Jacob, and Esau: and I gave to Esau mount Seir to possess; but Jacob and his off spring went down to Egypt. 5. I sent also Moses and Aaron, and punished Egypt for oppressing them, and delivered them.

6. And when your fathers came to the weedy sea, the Egyptians pursued them with chariots and horsemen. 7. But when they cried to the Eternal, he put darkness between them and the Egyptians,` whom he overwhelmed in the sea; ye know assuredly what I did in Egypt; ye dwelt long in the wilderness; 8. I brought you into the Amorites land, then on the east side of Jordan-they fought with you; but I delivered them into your hand, and expelled them from before you, that ye possess their land.

9. Then Balak, king of Moab, opposed Israel, and sent for Balaam to curse you: 10. But I would not suffer him to do it-so he blessed you still. 11. Then ye went over Jordan to Jericho; and the inhabitants fought against you, the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites, and Jebusites; but I delivered them into your hand. 12. And I sent hornets, (terrible flies) which drove out before you two kings of the Amorites, which thy sword and thy bow could not have done. 13. So L gave you a land cultivated, and cities built to inhabit; ye eat of vineyards and of olive-yards which ye planted not.

14. Now, therefore, fear the Eternal, and serve him in sincerity and truth, but serve not the gods. your fathers served in Mesopotamia, and in Egypt.:

15. But if it seem grievous to you to serve the Eternal, chuse ye this day whom ye will serve, whether the gods your fathers served, and those of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Eternal.

16. But the people replied, Far be it from us to forsake the Eternal, and serve other gods. 17. For it is the Eternal our God who delivered us from Egyptian bondage, doing great wonders before all the people, and all Egypt, and preserved us in all the way wherein we went, and among all the people thro' whom we passed. 18. And expelled before us the Amorites, and all the people of the land; therefore will we serve the Eternal, for he is our God.

19. But Joshua said to the people, Ye cannot serve the Eternal together with other gods; for he is a holy and a jealous God, and will not bear your transgressions and sins in so doing. 20. If ye for şake the Eternal, and serve false gods, he will de stroy you, with all the good he hath done you.

21. Then the people said to Joshua, We will servẹ none but the Eternal.

22. Then Joshua said, As ye have chosen the Eternal for your God, if ye forsake him, ye are witnesses against yourselves. Then they said, It is so. . 23. Now, therefore, said he, If there be any strange gods among you, put them away, and ineline your heart wholly to the Eternal as the God of Israel.

24. Then they replied, The Eternal our God will we serve, and his word will we obey.

25. So Joshua made a covenant with them that day in Shechem, proposing to them the conditions and duties of it, and the rewards promised to such as keep it.

26. Then Joshua inscribed the terms of the cov enant in his transcript of the law of God, and took a great stone, and set it up there under an oak, heside the sanctuary of the Eternal. 27. And said to

all the people, Behold, this stone shall be a witness to us, for the sight or recollection of it will recal to your mind these words, even as if it had heard them, if ye do not observe them, but deny and forsake your God, 28. Then Joshua let the people go each to his possession.

29. And he died, being a hundred and ten years old. 30. And they buried him in Timnath-serah, in the border of his inheritance, on mount Ephraim, on the north side of the hill of Gaash. 31. And

Israel served the Eternal all the days of Joshua, and of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works which he had done for Israel. 32. And the Israelites buried the bones of Joseph, which they brought out of Egypt, in Shechem, in a piece of ground which Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for an hundred pieces of silver; and it became the inheritance of the posterity of Joseph. 33. And Eleazar the son of Aaron died, and they buried him in a hill that belonged to Phinehas his son, which was given him in mount Ephraim.