Joshua 24:14-28

Choose Whom You Will Serve

14 ¹"Now therefore fear the LORD and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. ²Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.

15 ³And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, ⁴choose this day whom you will serve, whether ⁵the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or ⁶the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. ⁷But 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 ⁸a holy God. He is ⁹a jealous God; ¹⁰he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins.

20 ¹¹If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, then ¹²he will turn and do you harm and consume you, after having done you good."

21 And the people said to Joshua, "No, but we will serve the LORD."

22 Then Joshua said to the people, "You are witnesses against yourselves that ¹³you have chosen the LORD, to serve him." And they said, "We are witnesses."

23 He said, "Then ¹⁴put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your heart to the LORD, the God of Israel."

24 And the people said to Joshua, "The LORD our God we will serve, and his voice we will obey."

25 So Joshua ¹⁵made a covenant with the people that day, and put in place ¹⁶statutes and rules for them at Shechem.

26 And Joshua ¹⁷wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God. And ¹⁸he took a large stone and set it up there ¹⁹under the terebinth that was by the sanctuary of the LORD.

27 And Joshua said to all the people, "Behold, ²⁰this stone shall be a witness against us, for ²¹it 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."

28 So Joshua ²²sent the people away, every man to his inheritance.

Joshua 24:14-28 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. Deuteronomy 10:12; 1 Samuel 12:24
• 2. ver. 2, 23
• 3. 1 Kings 18:21; Ezekiel 20:39
• 4. ver. 22
• 5. [See ver. 14 above]
• 6. Ex. 23:24, 32, 33; Exodus 34:15; Deuteronomy 13:7; Deuteronomy 29:18; Judges 6:10
• 7. Genesis 18:19
• 8. Leviticus 19:2; 1 Samuel 6:20; Psalms 99:5, 9; Isaiah 5:16
• 9. Exodus 20:5; Nahum 1:2
• 10. Exodus 23:21
• 11. [1 Chronicles 28:9; 2 Chronicles 15:2; Ezra 8:22; Isaiah 1:28; Isaiah 65:11, 12; Jeremiah 17:13]
• 12. Joshua 23:15; Isaiah 63:10; [Acts 7:42]
• 13. ver. 15
• 14. ver. 14; Judges 10:16; 1 Samuel 7:3
• 15. 2 Kings 11:17; 2 Chronicles 23:16; Nehemiah 9:38
• 16. Exodus 15:25
• 17. Deuteronomy 31:24
• 18. [Joshua 4:3; Genesis 28:18]
• 19. Genesis 35:4; Judges 9:6
• 20. Joshua 22:27, 28, 34; Genesis 31:48, 52; Deuteronomy 31:19, 21, 26
• 21. [Deuteronomy 32:1]
• 22. Judges 2:6