away strange gods from among you, and
incline your hearts to the Lord the God of Israel.

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

24:25. Josue therefore on that day made a covenant, and set before the
people commandments and judgments in Sichem.

24:26. 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.

24:27. 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.

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.

24:28. And he sent the people away every one to their own possession,

24:29. And after these things Josue the son of Nun the servant of the
Lord died, being a hundred and ten years old:

And after, etc... If Josue wrote this book, as is commonly believed,
these last verses were added by Samuel, or some other prophet.

24:30. 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.

24:31. And 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.

24:32. 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.

24:33. 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.

THE BOOK OF JUDGES

This Book is called JUDGES, because it contains the history of what
passed under the government of the judges, who ruled Israel before they
had kings. The writer of it, according to the more general opinion, was
the prophet Samuel.

Judges Chapter 1

The expedition and victory of Juda against the Chanaanites: who are
tolerated in many places.

1:1. After the death of Josu