Joshua 24:1-28

The Covenant Renewed at Shechem

1 Then Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He summoned the elders, leaders, judges and officials of Israel, and they presented themselves before God.
2 Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your ancestors, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River and worshiped other gods.
3 But I took your father Abraham from the land beyond the Euphrates and led him throughout Canaan and gave him many descendants. I gave him Isaac,
4 and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I assigned the hill country of Seir to Esau, but Jacob and his family went down to Egypt.
5 “ ‘Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I afflicted the Egyptians by what I did there, and I brought you out.
6 When I brought your people out of Egypt, you came to the sea, and the Egyptians pursued them with chariots and horsemen[a] as far as the Red Sea.[b]
7 But they cried to the LORD for help, and he put darkness between you and the Egyptians; he brought the sea over them and covered them. You saw with your own eyes what I did to the Egyptians. Then you lived in the wilderness for a long time.
8 “ ‘I brought you to the land of the Amorites who lived east of the Jordan. They fought against you, but I gave them into your hands. I destroyed them from before you, and you took possession of their land.
9 When Balak son of Zippor, the king of Moab, prepared to fight against Israel, he sent for Balaam son of Beor to put a curse on you.
10 But I would not listen to Balaam, so he blessed you again and again, and I delivered you out of his hand.
11 “ ‘Then you crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The citizens of Jericho fought against you, as did also the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites and Jebusites, but I gave them into your hands.
12 I sent the hornet ahead of you, which drove them out before you—also the two Amorite kings. You did not do it with your own sword and bow.
13 So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.’
14 “Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.
15 But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”
16 Then the people answered, “Far be it from us to forsake the LORD to serve other gods!
17 It was the LORD our God himself who brought us and our parents up out of Egypt, from that land of slavery, and performed those great signs before our eyes. He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled.
18 And the LORD drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites, who lived in the land. We too will serve the LORD, because he is our God.”
19 Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the LORD. He is a holy God; he is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins.
20 If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you, after he has been good to you.”
21 But the people said to Joshua, “No! We will serve the LORD.”
22 Then Joshua said, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the LORD.” “Yes, we are witnesses,” they replied.
23 “Now then,” said Joshua, “throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel.”
24 And the people said to Joshua, “We will serve the LORD our God and obey him.”
25 On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people, and there at Shechem he reaffirmed for them decrees and laws.
26 And Joshua recorded these things in the Book of the Law of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak near the holy place of the LORD.
27 “See!” he said to all the people. “This stone will be a witness against us. It has heard all the words the LORD has said to us. It will be a witness against you if you are untrue to your God.”
28 Then Joshua dismissed the people, each to their own inheritance.

Images for Joshua 24:1-28

Joshua 24:1-28 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 79

  • 1. Genesis 49:2
  • 2. S Genesis 12:6
  • 3. 1 Samuel 12:7; 1 Kings 8:14
  • 4. Joshua 7:6
  • 5. Joshua 23:2
  • 6. Genesis 11:26
  • 7. Genesis 11:32
  • 8. S Genesis 12:1
  • 9. S Genesis 1:28; S Genesis 12:2; Genesis 15:5
  • 10. S Genesis 21:3
  • 11. S Genesis 25:26
  • 12. S Genesis 14:6; S Numbers 24:18; Deuteronomy 2:5
  • 13. Genesis 46:5-6
  • 14. S Exodus 3:10
  • 15. Exodus 12:51
  • 16. S Exodus 14:22
  • 17. S Exodus 14:9
  • 18. Exodus 14:23
  • 19. S Exodus 14:10
  • 20. Exodus 14:20
  • 21. S Exodus 14:28
  • 22. S Exodus 19:4
  • 23. Deuteronomy 1:46
  • 24. S Exodus 23:23
  • 25. S Numbers 21:31
  • 26. Numbers 22:2
  • 27. S Numbers 23:7
  • 28. S Numbers 22:6
  • 29. S Numbers 23:11; S Deuteronomy 23:5
  • 30. S Exodus 14:29; Joshua 3:16-17
  • 31. Joshua 6:1
  • 32. S Joshua 3:10
  • 33. S Genesis 15:18-21
  • 34. Exodus 23:23; Deuteronomy 7:1
  • 35. S Exodus 23:28; Deuteronomy 7:20; Ps 44:3,6-7
  • 36. S Exodus 23:31
  • 37. Psalms 135:11
  • 38. Exodus 6:8
  • 39. Deuteronomy 6:10-11
  • 40. 1 Samuel 12:14; Job 23:15; Psalms 19:9; Psalms 119:120
  • 41. Deuteronomy 10:12; Deuteronomy 18:13; 1 Samuel 12:24; 2 Corinthians 1:12
  • 42. ver 23; S Genesis 31:19; Exodus 12:12; Exodus 18:11; Exodus 20:3; Numbers 25:2; Deuteronomy 11:28; Judges 10:16; Ruth 1:15; Isaiah 55:7
  • 43. Ezekiel 23:3
  • 44. Judges 6:10; Ruth 1:15
  • 45. S Genesis 35:2
  • 46. Ruth 1:16; Ruth 2:12; 1 Kings 18:21; Daniel 3:18
  • 47. Joshua 22:29
  • 48. Judges 6:8
  • 49. S Exodus 10:1
  • 50. S Exodus 23:31
  • 51. S Deuteronomy 33:27
  • 52. Acts 7:45
  • 53. S Genesis 28:21
  • 54. S Leviticus 11:44; Leviticus 19:2; S Leviticus 20:26
  • 55. S Exodus 20:5
  • 56. S Exodus 34:7
  • 57. S Exodus 23:21
  • 58. 1 Chronicles 28:9,20; 2 Chronicles 24:18
  • 59. Acts 7:42
  • 60. 1 Samuel 12:25; Hosea 13:11
  • 61. Joshua 23:15
  • 62. ver 27; Ruth 4:10; Isaiah 8:2; Isaiah 43:10; Isaiah 44:8; Jeremiah 42:5; Malachi 2:14
  • 63. Psalms 119:30,173
  • 64. S Deuteronomy 25:9
  • 65. S ver 14
  • 66. 1 Kings 8:58; Psalms 119:36; Psalms 141:4; Jeremiah 31:33
  • 67. Exodus 19:8; Exodus 24:3,7; Deuteronomy 5:27; Jeremiah 42:6
  • 68. S Exodus 24:8
  • 69. S Joshua 17:7
  • 70. Exodus 15:25
  • 71. S Deuteronomy 17:18
  • 72. S Deuteronomy 28:61; S Deuteronomy 31:24
  • 73. S Genesis 28:18; S Deuteronomy 27:2
  • 74. S Genesis 12:6; S Judges 4:11
  • 75. S Genesis 28:18; Habakkuk 2:11
  • 76. S ver 22; S Genesis 21:30; S Joshua 22:27
  • 77. S Joshua 7:11
  • 78. S Numbers 11:20; S Proverbs 30:9
  • 79. Judges 21:23,24

Footnotes 2

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