Joshua 24:19-29

19 And Joshua said to the people, Ye may not serve the Lord; for God is holy, and a strong fervent lover, and he forgiveth not your trespasses and sins. (But Joshua said to the people, Ye shall not be able to serve the Lord; for God is holy, and a jealous God, and he will not forgive your trespasses and sins.)

20 If ye forsake the Lord, and serve alien gods (Yea, if ye forsake the Lord, and serve foreign, or other, gods), the Lord shall turn himself (away) from you, and he shall torment (you), and destroy you, (even) after that he hath given good things to you.

21 And the people said to Joshua, It shall not be so, as thou speakest, but we shall serve the Lord.

22 And Joshua said to the people, Ye be witnesses (to yourselves), that ye have chosen the Lord to you, that ye serve him. And they answered, We be witnesses. (And Joshua said to the people, Ye be your own witnesses, that ye have chosen the Lord for yourselves, and that ye shall serve him. And they answered, We be our own witnesses.)

23 Therefore, he said, now do ye away alien gods from the midst of you (And so now, he said, do ye away foreign, or other, gods from your midst), and bow ye your hearts to the Lord God of Israel.

24 And the people said to Joshua, We shall serve the Lord our God, and we shall be obedient to his behests (and we shall obey his commands).

25 Therefore Joshua smote a bond of peace in that day, and setted forth to the people commandments and dooms in Shechem. (And so Joshua struck a covenant that day, and set forth for the people commandments and laws in Shechem.)

26 And he wrote all these words in the book of God's law. And he took a great stone, and putted it under an oak, that was in the saintuary of the Lord. (And he wrote all these words in the Book of the Law of God. And he took a great stone, and he set it up under the oak, or by the pole, that was there in the sanctuary of the Lord.)

27 And he said to all the people, Lo! this stone shall be to you into witnessing, that ye [have] heard all the words of the Lord, which he spake to you, lest peradventure ye would deny (it) afterward, and lie to your Lord God. (And he said to all the people, Lo! this stone shall be your witness, that ye have heard all the words of the Lord, which he spoke to you, lest ye would deny it afterward, and lie to the Lord your God.)

28 And Joshua let go the people, each man into his possession. (And then Joshua let the people go, each man back to his possession/each person back to their own place.)

29 And after these things Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, an hundred years eld and ten (and he was a hundred and ten years old).

Joshua 24:19-29 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.