Joshua 24:10-20

10 ¹but I would not listen to Balaam. ²Indeed, he blessed you. So I delivered you out of his hand.

11 ³And you went over the Jordan and came to Jericho, ⁴and the leaders of Jericho fought against you, and also ⁵the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And I gave them into your hand.

12 And I sent ⁶the hornet before you, which drove them out before you, the two kings of the Amorites; it was ⁷not by your sword or by your bow.

13 I gave you a land on which you had not labored ⁸and 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

14 ⁹"Now therefore fear the LORD and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. ¹⁰Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.

15 ¹¹And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, ¹²choose this day whom you will serve, whether ¹³the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or ¹⁴the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. ¹⁵But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."

16 Then the people answered, "Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods,

17 for 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.

18 And 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."

19 But Joshua said to the people, "You are not able to serve the LORD, for he is ¹⁶a holy God. He is ¹⁷a jealous God; ¹⁸he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins.

20 ¹⁹If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, then ²⁰he will turn and do you harm and consume you, after having done you good."

Joshua 24:10-20 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JOSHUA 24

This chapter gives us an account of another summons of the tribes of Israel by Joshua, who obeyed it, and presented themselves before the Lord at Shechem, Jos 24:1; when Joshua in the name of the Lord rehearsed to them the many great and good things the Lord had done for them, from the time of their ancestor Abraham to that day, Jos 24:2-13; and then exhorted them to fear and serve the Lord, and reject idols, Jos 24:14; and put them upon making their choice, whether they would serve the true God, or the gods of the Canaanites; and they choosing the former, he advised them to abide by their choice, Jos 24:15-24; and made a covenant with them to that purpose, and then dismissed them, Jos 24:25-28; and the chapter is concluded with an account of the death and burial of Joshua and Eleazar, and of the interment of the bones of Joseph, Jos 24:29-33.

Cross References

• 1. Numbers 23:11, 20; Numbers 24:1, 10
• 2. Numbers 23:11, 20; Numbers 24:1, 10
• 3. Joshua 3:14, 17; Joshua 4:10-13
• 4. Joshua 6:1; See Joshua 10:1-3; Joshua 11:1-3
• 5. Joshua 6:1; See Joshua 10:1-3; Joshua 11:1-3
• 6. Exodus 23:28; Deuteronomy 7:20
• 7. Psalms 44:3
• 8. Deuteronomy 6:10, 11; [Joshua 11:13]
• 9. Deuteronomy 10:12; 1 Samuel 12:24
• 10. ver. 2, 23
• 11. 1 Kings 18:21; Ezekiel 20:39
• 12. ver. 22
• 13. [See ver. 14 above]
• 14. Ex. 23:24, 32, 33; Exodus 34:15; Deuteronomy 13:7; Deuteronomy 29:18; Judges 6:10
• 15. Genesis 18:19
• 16. Leviticus 19:2; 1 Samuel 6:20; Psalms 99:5, 9; Isaiah 5:16
• 17. Exodus 20:5; Nahum 1:2
• 18. Exodus 23:21
• 19. [1 Chronicles 28:9; 2 Chronicles 15:2; Ezra 8:22; Isaiah 1:28; Isaiah 65:11, 12; Jeremiah 17:13]
• 20. Joshua 23:15; Isaiah 63:10; [Acts 7:42]