Joshua Renews the Covenant

1 Joshua the son of Nun ordered the people and divided the land among them, being a mighty man of valor. While the adversaries of Israel were still in the land, the days drew near for Joshua to die, and he sent and called all Israel throughout all their land, with their wives and their children, and said to them, “Gather yourselves before the ark of the covenant of the Lord in Silo, and I will make a covenant with you before I die.” 2 When all the people were gathered together on the 16th day of the 3rd month before the face of the Lord in Silo, with their wives and their children, Joshua said to them, “Hear, O Israel, I make with you the covenant of this law that the Lord ordained with our fathers at Horeb; so stay here this night and see what God will say to me concerning you.” 3 As the people waited there that night, the Lord appeared to Joshua in a vision and said, “I will speak to this people according to all these words.” 4 Joshua came in the morning and assembled all the people and said to them, “This is what the Lord says: There was one rock from which I dug out your father, and the cutting of that rock brought forth two men whose names were Abraham and Nachor, and out of the chiseling of that place were born two women whose names were Sara and Melcha. They lived together beyond the river. Abraham took Sara as his wife, and Nachor took Melcha. 5 “When the people of the land were led astray, each man after his own devices, Abraham believed in me and was not led aside after them. I saved him out of the fire and took him and brought him over into all the land of Canaan.⁠a I spoke to him in a vision, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give this land.’ And he said to me, ‘You have given me a wife, and she is barren. How will I have offspring from a womb that is closed?’ 6 “I said to him, ‘Take for me a calf three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a pigeon.’ And he took them as I commanded him. I sent a sleep upon him and surrounded him with fear, and I set before him the place of fire where the deeds of those who commit wickedness against me will be punished, and I showed him the torches of fire by which the righteous who have believed in me will be enlightened. 7 “I said to him, ‘These will be a witness between me and you that I will give you offspring from the womb that is closed. I will liken you to the dove, because you have received for me the city that your sons will begin to build in my sight. The turtledove I will liken to the prophets who will be born of you. The ram I will liken to the wise men who will be born of you and enlighten your sons. The calf I will liken to the multitude of the peoples who will be multiplied through you. And the female goat I will liken to the women whose wombs I will open, and they will bring forth. These things will be a witness between us that I will not break my words.’ 8 “I gave him Isaac and formed him in the womb of her who bore him, and I commanded the womb to restore him quickly and give him to me in the 7th month. For this reason every woman who gives birth in the 7th month, her child will live, because upon him I called my glory and showed forth the new age. 9 “To Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau, and to Esau I gave the land of Seir for an inheritance. And Jacob and his sons went down into Egypt. The Egyptians brought your fathers low, as you know, and I remembered your fathers and sent Moses my friend and delivered them from there and struck their enemies. 10 “I brought them out with a high hand and led them through the Red Sea, and laid the cloud under their feet, and brought them out through the deep, and brought them beneath Mount Sinai. I bowed the heavens and came down, and I froze the flame of the fire, stopped up the springs of the deep, halted the course of the stars, tamed the sound of the thunder, quenched the fullness of the wind, rebuked the multitude of the clouds and stayed their motions, and interrupted the storm of the hosts, so that I would not break my covenant; for all things were moved at my coming down, and all things were made alive at my coming. I did not let my people be scattered, but gave them my law and enlightened them, so that if they did these things they might live and have length of days and not die. 11 “I have brought you into this land and given you vineyards. You live in cities you did not build. And I have fulfilled the covenant I spoke to your fathers. 12 “Now if you obey your fathers, I will set my heart upon you forever, and will overshadow you, and your enemies will no longer fight against you, and your land will be renowned throughout all the world, and your offspring will be chosen among the peoples, who will say, ‘These are the faithful people; because they believed the Lord, the Lord has delivered them and planted them.’ Therefore I will plant you as a desirable vineyard and rule you as a beloved flock, and I will command the rain and the dew, and they will satisfy you all the days of your life. 13 “And in the end, the lot of every one of you will be in eternal life, for you and your offspring, and I will receive your souls and store them up in peace, until the time of the age is fulfilled, and I restore you to your fathers and your fathers to you; and they will know by your hand that I have not chosen you in vain. These are the words the Lord spoke to me this night.” 14 All the people answered and said, “The Lord is our God, and him alone we will serve.” And all the people held a great feast that day and a renewal of it for 28 days.