Joshua 24:14–28

The Covenant Renewal

¹⁴“Therefore, fear the Lord and worship Him in sincerity and truth. ^sGet rid of the gods your fathers worshiped ^tbeyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and worship Yahweh. ¹⁵But if it doesn’t please you to worship Yahweh, choose for yourselves today the one you will worship: the gods your fathers worshiped beyond the Euphrates River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. ^uAs for me and my family, we will worship Yahweh.”

¹⁶The people replied, “We will certainly not abandon the Lord to worship other gods! ¹⁷For the Lord our God brought us and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery, ^vand performed these great signs before our eyes. He also protected us all along the way we went and among all the peoples whose lands we traveled through. ¹⁸The Lord drove out before us all the peoples, including the Amorites who lived in the land. We too will worship the Lord, because He is our God.”

¹⁹But Joshua told the people, “You will not be able to worship Yahweh, because He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; ^wHe will not remove your transgressions and sins. ^x20If you abandon the Lord and worship foreign gods, He will turn against you, harm you, and completely destroy ^yyou, after He has been good to you.”

²¹“No!” the people answered Joshua. “We will worship the Lord.”

²²Joshua then told the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you yourselves have chosen to worship Yahweh.”

“We are witnesses,” they said.

²³“Then get rid of the foreign gods that are among you and offer your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.”

²⁴So the people said to Joshua, “We will worship the Lord our God and obey Him.”

²⁵On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people at Shechem and established a statute and ordinance for them. ²⁶Joshua recorded these things in the book of the law of God; ^zhe also took a large stone and set it up there under the oak next to the sanctuary of the Lord. ²⁷And Joshua said to all the people, “You see this stone—it will be a witness against us, ^afor it has heard all the words the Lord said to us, and it will be a witness against you, so that you will not deny your God.” ²⁸Then Joshua sent the people away, each to his own inheritance.