“We Will Serve the Lord”

14 “Now, therefore, 1afear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and 2truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the 3River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.

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 athe 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 1bondage, 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, afor He is a holy God. He is ba jealous God; cHe will not forgive your transgression or your sins.

20 “aIf 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 ayou 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 aincline your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.”

24 aThe people said to Joshua, “We will serve the Lord our God and we will 1obey His voice.”

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

26 And Joshua awrote 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, athis stone shall be for a witness against us, for it has heard all the words of the Lord which He spoke 1to us; thus it shall be for a witness against you, so that you do not deny your God.”