Joshua 24:15-28

15 "If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or ¹the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."

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

17 for the LORD our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and who did these great signs in our sight and preserved us through all the way in which we went and among all the peoples through whose midst we passed.

18 "The LORD drove out from before us all the peoples, even the Amorites who lived in the land. We also will serve the LORD, for He is our God."

19 Then Joshua said to the people, "You will not be able to serve the LORD, ²for He is a holy God. He is ³a jealous God; ⁴He will not forgive your transgression or your sins.

20 "⁵If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you after He has done good to you."

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

22 Joshua said to the people, "You are witnesses against yourselves that ⁶you have chosen for yourselves the LORD, to serve Him." And they said, "We are witnesses."

23 "Now therefore, put away the foreign gods which are in your midst, and ⁷incline your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel."

24 ⁸The people said to Joshua, "We will serve the LORD our God and we will obey His voice."

25 ⁹So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem.

26 And Joshua ¹⁰wrote these words in the book of the law of God; and he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of the LORD.

27 Joshua said to all the people, "Behold, ¹¹this stone shall be for a witness against us, for it has heard all the words of the LORD which He spoke to us; thus it shall be for a witness against you, so that you do not deny your God."

28 Then Joshua dismissed the people, each to his inheritance.

Joshua 24:15-28 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. Judges 6:10
• 2. Leviticus 19:2; Leviticus 20:7, 26
• 3. Exodus 20:5; Exodus 34:14
• 4. Exodus 23:21
• 5. Deuteronomy 4:25, 26
• 6. Psalms 119:173
• 7. 1 Kings 8:57, 58; Psalms 119:36; Psalms 141:4
• 8. Exodus 19:8; Exodus 24:3, 7; Deuteronomy 5:27
• 9. Exodus 24:8
• 10. Deuteronomy 31:24
• 11. Joshua 22:27, 34

Footnotes

• [a] Lit "bondmen"
• [b] Lit "listen to"
• [c] Lit "with"