The Covenant Renewal at Shechem

¹Joshua 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. ²And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Long ago, fyour fathers lived beyond the Euphrates,1 Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor; and gthey served other gods. ³hThen I took your father Abraham from beyond the River2 and iled him through all the land of Canaan, and made his offspring many. jI gave him Isaac. ⁴And 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. ⁵nAnd 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. ⁷sAnd 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. ⁸Then 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. ⁹yThen 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, ¹⁰abut I would not listen to Balaam. aIndeed, he blessed you. So I delivered you out of his hand. ¹¹bAnd 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. ¹²And 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. ¹³I 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

¹⁴g“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. ¹⁵iAnd 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.”

¹⁶Then the people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods, ¹⁷for 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. ¹⁸And 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.”

¹⁹But 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. ²⁰pIf you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then qhe will turn and do you harm and consume you, after having done you good.” ²¹And the people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve the Lord.” ²²Then 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.” ²³He said, “Then sput away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your heart to the Lord, the God of Israel.” ²⁴And the people said to Joshua, “The Lord our God we will serve, and his voice we will obey.” ²⁵So Joshua tmade a covenant with the people that day, and put in place ustatutes and rules for them at Shechem. ²⁶And 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. ²⁷And 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.” ²⁸So Joshua asent the people away, every man to his inheritance.

Joshua's Death and Burial

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

³¹dIsrael 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.

³²fAs 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.3 It became an inheritance of the descendants of Joseph.

³³And 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.

Peter and John Before the Council

¹And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and lthe captain of the temple and mthe Sadducees came upon them, ²greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming nin Jesus the resurrection from the dead. ³And they arrested them and oput them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. ⁴But many of those who had heard the word believed, and pthe number of the men came to about five thousand.

⁵On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, ⁶with qAnnas the high priest and rCaiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. ⁷And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, s“By what power or tby what name did you do this?” ⁸Then Peter, ufilled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, ⁹if we are being examined today vconcerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, ¹⁰let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that wby the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, xwhom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. ¹¹yThis Jesus1 is the stone that was zrejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.2 ¹²And there is asalvation bin no one else, for cthere is no other dname under heaven given among men3 by which we must be saved.”

¹³eNow when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. ¹⁴But seeing the man who was healed fstanding beside them, gthey had nothing to say in opposition. ¹⁵But when they had commanded them to leave the council, they conferred with one another, ¹⁶saying, h“What shall we do with these men? For that ia notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. ¹⁷But in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them jto speak no more to anyone in this name.” ¹⁸So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. ¹⁹But Peter and John answered them, k“Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, ²⁰for lwe cannot but speak of what mwe have seen and heard.” ²¹And when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them, nbecause of the people, for all were praising God ofor what had happened. ²²For the man on whom this sign of healing was performed was more than forty years old.

The Believers Pray for Boldness

²³When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. ²⁴And when they heard it, they lifted their voices ptogether to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, qwho made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, ²⁵who through the mouth of our father David, your servant,4 said by the Holy Spirit,

r“‘Why did the Gentiles rage,

and the peoples plot in vain?

²⁶The kings of the earth set themselves,

and sthe rulers were gathered together,

against the Lord and against his tAnointed’5—

²⁷for truly in this city there were gathered together against your uholy servant Jesus, vwhom you anointed, both wHerod and xPontius Pilate, along ywith the Gentiles and zthe peoples of Israel, ²⁸ato do whatever your hand and byour plan had predestined to take place. ²⁹And now, Lord, clook upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all dboldness, ³⁰while eyou stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed fthrough the name of your gholy servant Jesus.” ³¹And when they had prayed, hthe place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and ithey were all filled with the Holy Spirit and jcontinued to speak the word of God with boldness.

They Had Everything in Common

³²Now the full number of those who believed were of kone heart and lsoul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but mthey had everything in common. ³³And with great npower the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and ogreat grace was upon them all. ³⁴pThere was not a needy person among them, for qas many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold ³⁵and rlaid it at the apostles' feet, and sit was distributed to each as any had need. ³⁶Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means tson of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, ³⁷sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and ulaid it at the apostles' feet.

The Ruined Loincloth

¹Thus says the Lord to me, “Go and buy a linen loincloth and qput it around your waist, and do not dip it in water.” ²So I bought a loincloth according to the word of the Lord, and put it around my waist. ³And the word of the Lord came to me a second time, ⁴“Take the loincloth that you have bought, which is around your waist, and arise, rgo to the Euphrates and hide it there in sa cleft of the rock.” ⁵So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord commanded me. ⁶And after many days the Lord said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take from there qthe loincloth that I commanded you to hide there.” ⁷Then I went to the Euphrates, and dug, and I took qthe loincloth from the place where I had hidden it. And behold, the loincloth was tspoiled; it was ugood for nothing.

⁸Then the word of the Lord came to me: ⁹“Thus says the Lord: vEven so will I spoil the pride of Judah and the great wpride of Jerusalem. ¹⁰This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, xwho stubbornly follow their own heart and have gone after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be like this loincloth, which is ugood for nothing. ¹¹For as the loincloth clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, declares the Lord, ythat they might be for me a people, za name, a praise, and a glory, but they would not listen.

The Jars Filled with Wine

¹²“You shall speak to them this word: ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, “Every jar shall be filled with wine.”’ And they will say to you, ‘Do we not indeed know that aevery jar will be filled with wine?’ ¹³Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord: bBehold, I will fill with drunkenness all the inhabitants of this land: cthe kings who sit on David's throne, dthe priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁴And I will edash them one against another, fathers and sons together, declares the Lord. I will not pity or spare or have compassion, that I should not destroy them.’”

Exile Threatened

¹⁵Hear and give ear; be not proud,

for the Lord has spoken.

¹⁶fGive glory to the Lord your God

gbefore he brings darkness,

before your feet stumble

on the twilight mountains,

and gwhile you look for light

he turns it into gloom

and makes it hdeep darkness.

¹⁷But if you will not listen,

imy soul will weep in secret for your pride;

my eyes will weep bitterly and run down with tears,

because the Lord's flock has been taken captive.

¹⁸Say to jthe king and jthe queen mother:

“Take a lowly seat,

for kyour beautiful crown

has come down from your head.”

¹⁹lThe cities of the Negeb are shut up,

with none to open them;

all Judah is taken into exile,

wholly taken into exile.

²⁰“Lift up your eyes mand see

those who come from the north.

Where is the flock that was given you,

your beautiful flock?

²¹What will you say when they set as head over you

those whom you yourself have taught to be friends to you?

nWill not pangs take hold of you

like those of a woman in labor?

²²And if you say in your heart,

o‘Why have these things come upon me?’

it is for the greatness of your iniquity

that pyour skirts are lifted up

and you suffer violence.

²³qCan the Ethiopian change his skin

or qthe leopard his spots?

Then also you can do good

who are accustomed to do evil.

²⁴I will scatter you1 rlike chaff

driven by the wind from the desert.

²⁵sThis is your lot,

the portion I have measured out to you, declares the Lord,

because tyou have forgotten me

and trusted in lies.

²⁶pI myself will lift up your skirts over your face,

and your shame will be seen.

²⁷I have seen uyour abominations,

your adulteries and vneighings, your lewd whorings,

won the hills in the field.

Woe to you, O Jerusalem!

How long will it be xbefore you are made clean?”

Jesus Delivered to Pilate

¹wWhen morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people xtook counsel against Jesus to put him to death. ²And they bound him and yled him away and zdelivered him over to aPilate the governor.

Judas Hangs Himself

³Then when bJudas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus1 was condemned, che changed his mind and brought back dthe thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, ⁴saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” They said, “What is that to us? eSee to it yourself.” ⁵And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, fhe departed, and he went and hanged himself. ⁶But the chief priests, taking the pieces of silver, said, “It is not lawful to put them into gthe treasury, since it is blood money.” ⁷So they took counsel and bought with them the potter's field as a burial place for strangers. ⁸Therefore hthat field has been called the Field of Blood ito this day. ⁹jThen was fulfilled what had been spoken by the prophet Jeremiah, saying, k“And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him on whom a price had been set by some of the sons of Israel, ¹⁰and they gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord directed me.”

Jesus Before Pilate

¹¹lNow Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you mthe King of the Jews?” Jesus said, n“You have said so.” ¹²oBut when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he gave no answer. ¹³Then Pilate said to him, p“Do you not hear how many things they testify against you?” ¹⁴But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed.

The Crowd Chooses Barabbas

¹⁵qNow at the feast the governor was accustomed to release for the crowd any one prisoner whom they wanted. ¹⁶And they had then a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. ¹⁷So when they had gathered, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release for you: Barabbas, or rJesus who is called Christ?” ¹⁸For he knew that it was out sof envy that they had delivered him up. ¹⁹Besides, while he was sitting on tthe judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, “Have nothing to do with uthat righteous man, for I have suffered much because of him today vin a dream.” ²⁰Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to wask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. ²¹The governor again said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas.” ²²Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” xThey all said, “Let him be crucified!” ²³And he said, “Why? yWhat evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Let him be crucified!”

Pilate Delivers Jesus to Be Crucified

²⁴So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that za riot was beginning, he took water and awashed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of bthis man's blood;2 csee to it yourselves.” ²⁵And all the people answered, d“His blood be on us and eon our children!” ²⁶Then he released for them Barabbas, and having fscourged3 Jesus, delivered him to be crucified.

Jesus Is Mocked

²⁷gThen the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the hgovernor's headquarters,4 and they gathered the whole ibattalion5 before him. ²⁸And they stripped him and put ja scarlet robe on him, ²⁹and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they kmocked him, saying, “Hail, lKing of the Jews!” ³⁰And mthey spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head. ³¹And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and nled him away to crucify him.

The Crucifixion

³²opAs they went out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. They compelled this man to ocarry his cross. ³³qAnd when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull), ³⁴rthey offered him wine to drink, mixed with sgall, but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. ³⁵And when they had crucified him, tthey divided his garments among them by casting lots. ³⁶Then they sat down and ukept watch over him there. ³⁷And over his head they put the charge against him, which read, “This is Jesus, vthe King of the Jews.” ³⁸Then two wrobbers were crucified with him, xone on the right and one on the left. ³⁹And ythose who passed by zderided him, awagging their heads ⁴⁰and saying, b“You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! cIf you are dthe Son of God, come down from the cross.” ⁴¹So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, ⁴²e“He saved others; fhe cannot save himself. gHe is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. ⁴³hHe trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” ⁴⁴iAnd the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way.

The Death of Jesus

⁴⁵Now from the sixth hour6 there was darkness over all the land7 until the ninth hour.8 ⁴⁶And about the ninth hour Jesus jcried out with a loud voice, saying, k“Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” ⁴⁷And some of the bystanders, hearing it, said, “This man is calling Elijah.” ⁴⁸And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with lsour wine, and put it on a reed and mgave it to him to drink. ⁴⁹But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.” ⁵⁰And Jesus ncried out again with a loud voice and oyielded up his spirit.

⁵¹And behold, pthe curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And qthe earth shook, and the rocks were split. ⁵²The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of rthe saints swho had fallen asleep were raised, ⁵³and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into tthe holy city and appeared to many. ⁵⁴uWhen the centurion and those who were with him, vkeeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, w“Truly this was the Son9 of God!”

⁵⁵There were also xmany women there, looking on yfrom a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, zministering to him, ⁵⁶among whom were zMary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph and athe mother of the sons of Zebedee.

Jesus Is Buried

⁵⁷bWhen it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus. ⁵⁸He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. ⁵⁹And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud ⁶⁰and claid it in his own new tomb, dwhich he had cut in the rock. And he rolled ea great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away. ⁶¹Mary Magdalene and fthe other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb.

The Guard at the Tomb

⁶²The next day, that is, after the day of gPreparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate ⁶³and said, “Sir, we remember how hthat impostor said, while he was still alive, i‘After three days I will rise.’ ⁶⁴Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, jlest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.” ⁶⁵Pilate said to them, “You have ka guard10 of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.” ⁶⁶So they went and made the tomb secure by lsealing the stone and setting a guard.