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1 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 unto all the people, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, 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 flood, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed, and gave him Isaac. 4 And I gave unto Isaac Jacob and Esau: and I gave unto Esau mount Seir, to possess it; but Jacob and his children went down into Egypt. 5 I sent Moses also and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt, according to that which I did among them: and afterward I brought you out. 6 And I brought your fathers out of Egypt: and ye came unto the sea; and the Egyptians pursued after your fathers with chariots and horsemen unto the Red sea. 7 And when they cried unto the LORD, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them, and covered them; and your eyes have seen what I have done in Egypt: and ye dwelt in the wilderness a long season. 8 And I brought you into the land of the Amorites, which dwelt on the other side Jordan; and they fought with you: and I gave them into your hand, that ye might possess their land; and I destroyed them from before you. 9 Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and warred against Israel, and sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you: 10 But I would not hearken unto Balaam; therefore he blessed you still: so I delivered you out of his hand. 11 And ye went over Jordan, and came unto 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 sent the hornet before you, which drave them out from before you, even the two kings of the Amorites; but not with thy sword, nor with thy bow. 13 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. 14 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 flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD. 15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. 16 And the people answered and said, God forbid that we should forsake the LORD, to serve other gods; 17 For the LORD our God, he it is that brought us up and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and which did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way wherein we went, and among all the people through whom we passed: 18 And the LORD drave out from before us all the people, even the Amorites which dwelt in the land: therefore will we also serve the LORD; for he is our God. 19 And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the LORD: for he is an holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. 20 If ye forsake the LORD, and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done you good. 21 And the people said unto Joshua, Nay; but we will serve the LORD. 22 And Joshua said unto the people, Ye are witnesses against yourselves that ye have chosen you the LORD, to serve him. And they said, We are witnesses. 23 Now therefore put away, said he, the strange gods which are among you, and incline your heart unto the LORD God of Israel. 24 And the people said unto Joshua, The LORD our God will we serve, and his voice will we obey. 25 So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and set them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem. 26 And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God, and took a great stone, and set it up there under an oak, that was by the sanctuary of the LORD. 27 And Joshua said unto 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 unto us: it shall be therefore a witness unto you, lest ye deny your God. 28 So Joshua let the people depart, every man unto his inheritance. 29 And it came to pass after these things, that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being an hundred and ten years old. 30 And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath-serah, which is in mount Ephraim, on the north side of the hill of Gaash. 31 And Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that overlived Joshua, and which had known all the works of the LORD, that he had done for Israel. 32 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 an hundred pieces of silver: and it became the inheritance of the children of Joseph. 33 And Eleazar the son of Aaron died; and they buried him in a hill that pertained to Phinehas his son, which was given him in mount Ephraim.
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[AD 1781] Richard Challoner on Joshua 24:2
Of the river: The Euphrates.
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Joshua 24:3
The Septuagint has translated “And I took your father Abraham from across the river and led him into all the earth.” A literal reading of the Hebrew would be “And I led him into the land of Canaan.” It is astonishing, therefore, that the translators of the Septuagint would have wished to insert “the whole earth” instead of “land of Canaan,” unless they were considering the prophecy so much that they accepted as already done what was still at the time a promise from God. For it was announced beforehand in very clear terms what would take place concerning Christ and the church and that the true seed of Abraham would not be among the children of the flesh but among the children of the promise.

Source: QUESTIONS ON JOSHUA 25
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Joshua 24:11
“And those who inhabited Jericho waged war against you.” One might well ask how this statement could be true, when they were merely protecting themselves by hiding behind the walls and closing the city gates. But this is spoken correctly, since the closing of gates to an enemy is a sign of warfare. For the inhabitants of Jericho did not send ambassadors to ask for terms of peace.… For a war does not always have one battle after another. Some wars have frequent battles, some a few, still others none. A war, however, is when there is a disagreement involving arms in some way.

Source: QUESTIONS ON JOSHUA 26
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Joshua 24:12
What does it mean when Joshua, the son of Nun, says among other things which he recalls that the Lord had done for the Israelites: “He sent wasps before you and drove out the Canaanites from your face”? One also finds that statement in the book of Wisdom, but nonetheless one cannot find any account of such a thing taking place. But perhaps “wasps” ought to be understood in a metaphorical sense to mean the sharp stings of fear, by which they were stung in a way as rumors flew about, so that they fled. Or wasps may refer to the invisible spirits of the air, as it says in the psalm, “through wicked angels.” Perhaps someone will say that not everything which took place has been written down and that the incident with the wasps also took place in a visible manner, so that this passage should be understood to refer to real wasps.

Source: QUESTIONS ON JOSHUA 27
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Joshua 24:14-15
Therefore, what Joshua said to the people when he settled them in the holy land, the Scripture might also say now to us. The text reads as follows, “Now fear the Lord and worship him in sincerity and righteousness.” And it will tell us, if we are being misled to worship idols, what follows, “Destroy the foreign gods which your fathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and worship the Lord.”Then in the beginning when you were going to be instructed, it would have been rightly said to you, “And if you be unwilling to worship the Lord, choose this day whom you will worship, whether the gods your fathers worshiped in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites among whom you dwell on the land.” And the catechist might have said to you, “But as for me and my house, we will worship the Lord because he is holy.” He does not have any reason to say this to you now; for then you said, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord, to serve other gods. For the Lord our God, he is God, who brought us and our fathers out of Egypt … and preserved us in all the way that we went.” Moreover, in the agreements about religion long ago you gave your catechist this answer, “We also will worship the Lord, for he is our God.” If, therefore, the one who breaks agreements with men is outside any truce and alien to safety, what must be said of those who by denying make null and void the agreements they made with God, and who run back to Satan, whom they renounced when they were baptized? Such a person must be told the words spoken by Eli to his sons, “If a man sins against a man, then they will pray for him; but if he sins against the Lord, who will pray for him?”

Source: EXHORTATION TO MARTYRDOM 17
[AD 1781] Richard Challoner on Joshua 24:19
You will not be able to serve the Lord: This was not said by way of discouraging them; but rather to make them more earnest and resolute, by setting before them the greatness of the undertaking, and the courage and constancy necessary to go through with it.
[AD 373] Athanasius of Alexandria on Joshua 24:23
We need only to will perfection, since it is within our power and is developed by us, for, when the soul keeps the understanding in its natural state, perfection is confirmed. The soul is in its natural state when it remains as it was created, and it was created beautifully and exceedingly upright. For this reason, Joshua, the son of Nave [Nun], commanded the people: “Incline your hearts to the Lord the God of Israel,” and John: “Make straight his paths.” Rectitude of soul, then, consists in preserving the intellect in its natural state, as it was created. On the other hand, when the intellect turns aside and deviates from its natural state, the soul is said to be evil. Thus, the matter is not difficult; if we remain as we were made, we are in a state of virtue; but, if we think evil thoughts, we are accounted evil. If, then, perfection were a thing to be acquired from without, it would indeed be difficult; but, since it is within us, let us guard against evil thoughts and let us constantly keep our soul for the Lord, as a trust received from him, so that he may recognize his work as being the same as when he made it. LIFE OF ST.

Source: Life of St. Anthony 20
[AD 258] Cyprian on Joshua 24:27
That Christ is called a stone.… Also in Joshua: “And he took a great stone, and placed it there before the Lord; and Joshua said unto the people, Behold, this stone shall be a testimony to you, because it has heard all the things which were spoken by the Lord, which he has spoken to you today; and it shall be for a testimony to you in the last of the days, when you shall have departed from your God.”

Source: Treatise XII. Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 2.16
[AD 379] Basil of Caesarea on Joshua 24:27
Joshua, the son of Nun, even calls a stone to give testimony (a heap of stones had already been called to testify between Jacob and Laban) when he said, “Behold, this stone shall be a witness against us; for it has heard all the words of the Lord which he spoke to us; therefore it shall be a witness against you, lest you deal falsely with your God.” Perhaps he believed that the power of God would enable the stones to cry out in testimony against the transgressors or at least that everyone’s conscience would be wounded by the force of the reminder. So those who have been entrusted with the care of souls provide various kinds of witnesses to testify at a future date. But the Spirit is organically united with God, not because of the needs of each moment but through communion in the divine nature. He is joined to the Lord; he is not brought in by our efforts.

Source: ON THE SPIRIT 13.30
[AD 1781] Richard Challoner on Joshua 24:27
It hath heard: This is a figure of speech, by which sensation is attributed to inanimate things; and they are called upon, as it were, to bear witness in favour of the great Creator, whom they on their part constantly obey.
[AD 420] Jerome on Joshua 24:29
But it is now time for us to raise the standard of Joshua’s chastity. It is written that Moses had a wife. … We read that Moses, that is, the law, had a wife; show me then in the same way that Joshua the son of Nun had either wife or children, and if you can do so, I will confess that I am beaten. He certainly received the fairest spot in the division of the land of Judah and died, not in the twenties, which are ever unlucky in Scripture—by them are reckoned the years of Jacob’s service, the price of Joseph, and sundry presents which Esau who was fond of them received4—but in the tens, whose praises we have often sung. And he was buried in Thamnath Sore, which means “most perfect sovereignty,” or “among those of a new covering,” to signify the crowds of virgins, covered by the Savior’s aid on Mount Ephraim, that is, the fruitful mountain; on the north of the Mountain of Gaash, which is interpreted “disturbance,” for “Mount Zion is on the sides of the north, the city of the Great King,” is ever exposed to hatred, and in every trial says “But my feet had nearly slipped.” The book which bears the name of Joshua ends with his burial. Again in the book of Judges we read of him as though he had risen and come to life again, and by way of summary his works are extolled. We read too: “So Joshua sent the people away, every man to his inheritance, that they might possess the land.” And “Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua,” and so on. There immediately follows: “And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being a hundred and ten years old.” Moses, moreover, only saw the land of promise; he could not enter, and “he died in the land of Moab, and the Lord buried him in the valley in the land of Moab over against Beth-peor: but no man knows of his sepulcher to this day.” Let us compare the burial of the two. Moses died in the land of Moab, Joshua in the land of Judea. The former was buried in a valley over against the house of Phogor, the translation of which is “reproach,” for the Hebrew Phogor corresponds to Priapus; the latter was buried in Mount Ephraim on the north of Mount Gaash. And in the simple expressions of the sacred Scriptures there is always a more subtle meaning. The Jews gloried in children and childbearing; and the barren woman, who had no offspring in Israel, was accursed; but blessed was he whose seed was in Zion, and his family in Jerusalem. And part of the highest blessing was, “Your wife shall be as a fruitful vine in the innermost parts of your house, your children like olive plants round about thy table.” Therefore his grave is described as placed in a valley over against the house of an idol which was in a special sense consecrated to lust. But we who fight under Joshua our leader, even to the present day, know not where Moses was buried. For we despise Phogor and all his shame, knowing that they who are in the flesh cannot please God. And the Lord before the flood had said, “My spirit shall not abide in man forever, because he is flesh.” For this reason, when Moses died, the people of Israel mourned for him, but Joshua, like one on his way to victory, was not mourned. For marriage ends at death; virginity thereafter begins to wear the crown.

Source: Against Jovinianus 1.22
[AD 1781] Richard Challoner on Joshua 24:29
And after: If Josue wrote this book, as is commonly believed, these last verses were added by Samuel, or some other prophet.
[AD 420] Jerome on Joshua 24:30
I cannot adequately extol the mysteries of Scripture or sufficiently admire the spiritual meaning conveyed in its most simple words. We are told, for instance, that lamentation was made for Moses; yet when the funeral of Joshua is described no mention at all is made of weeping. The reason, of course, is that under Moses—that is, under the old law—all people were bound by the sentence passed on Adam’s sin, and when they descended into hell were rightly accompanied with tears. For, as the apostle says, “death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned.” But under Jesus, that is, under the gospel of Christ, who has unlocked for us the gate of paradise, death is accompanied not with sorrow but with joy. The Jews go on weeping to this day; they make bare their feet, they crouch in sackcloth, they roll in ashes. And to make their superstition complete, they follow a foolish custom of the Pharisees and eat lentils, to show, it would seem, for what poor fare they have lost their birthright. Of course they are right to weep, for as they do not believe in the Lord’s resurrection they are being made ready for the advent of antichrist. But we who have put on Christ and according to the apostle are a royal and priestly race, we ought not to grieve for the dead.

Source: LETTER 39.4