1. And Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem; he summoned the elders of Israel, their heads, their judges, and their officials, and they presented themselves before God.
2. And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel: ‘Long ago your ancestors—Terah the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor—lived beyond the river, and they served other gods.
3. I took your ancestor Abraham from beyond the river and led him through all the land of Canaan, and I increased his offspring; I gave him Isaac,
4. and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. To Esau I gave the hill country of Seir to possess, but Jacob and his children went down to Egypt.
5. And I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt with what I did in its midst; and afterward I brought you out.
6. When I brought out your ancestors from Egypt, you came to the sea, and the Egyptians pursued after your ancestors with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea.
7. They cried out to Yahweh, and he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and he brought the sea over them and covered them; your own eyes saw what I did in Egypt. Then you lived in the wilderness for many days.