Joshua 24:14–28

“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.”

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

¹⁷for 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.”

¹⁹Then 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.”

²¹The people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve the Lord.”

²²Joshua 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.”

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

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

²⁶And 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.

²⁷Joshua 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.”

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