Joshua 24:5-25

5 I sent Moshe and Aharon, and I plagued Mitzrayim, according to that which I did in the midst of it: and afterward I brought you out.

6 I brought your fathers out of Mitzrayim: and you came to the sea; and the Mitzrim pursued after your fathers with chariots and with horsemen to the Sea of Suf.

7 When they cried out to the LORD, he put darkness between you and the Mitzrim, and brought the sea on them, and covered them; and your eyes saw what I did in Mitzrayim: and you lived in the wilderness many days.

8 I brought you into the land of the Amori, that lived beyond the Yarden: and they fought with you; and I gave them into your hand, and you possessed their land; and I destroyed them from before you.

9 Then Balak the son of Tzippor, king of Mo'av, arose and fought against Yisra'el: and he sent and called Bil`am the son of Be'or to curse you;

10 but I would not listen to Bil`am; therefore he blessed you still: so I delivered you out of his hand.

11 You went over the Yarden, and came to Yericho: and the men of Yericho fought against you, the Amori, and the Perizzi, and the Kana`ani, and the Hittite, and the Girgashi, the Hivvi, and the Yevusi; and I delivered them into your hand.

12 I sent the hornet before you, which drove them out from before you, even the two kings of the Amori; not with your sword, nor with your bow.

13 I gave you a land whereon you had not labored, and cities which you didn't build, and you dwell therein; of vineyards and olive groves which you didn't plant do you eat.

14 Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River, and in Mitzrayim; and serve you the LORD.

15 If it seem evil to you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom you will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amori, in whose land you dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.

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

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.

Joshua 24:5-25 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.