Joshua 24:17-27

17 for the LORD our God, he it is who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Mitzrayim, from the house of bondage, and who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way in which we went, and among all the peoples through the midst of whom we passed;

18 and the LORD drove out from before us all the peoples, even the Amori who lived in the land: therefore we also will serve the LORD; for he is our God.

19 Yehoshua said to the people, You can't serve the LORD; for he is a holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your disobedience nor your sins.

20 If you forsake the LORD, and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you evil, and consume you, after that he has done you good.

21 The people said to Yehoshua, No; but we will serve the LORD.

22 Yehoshua said to the people, You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen you the LORD, to serve him. They said, We are witnesses.

23 Now therefore put away, [said he], the foreign gods which are among you, and incline your heart to the LORD, the God of Yisra'el.

24 The people said to Yehoshua, the LORD our God will we serve, and to his voice will we listen.

25 So Yehoshua made a covenant with the people that day, and set them a statute and an ordinance in Shekhem.

26 Yehoshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God; and he took a great stone, and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of the LORD.

27 Yehoshua said to all the people, Behold, this stone shall be a witness against us; for it has heard all the words of the LORD which he spoke to us: it shall be therefore a witness against you, lest you deny your God.

Joshua 24:17-27 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.