14 a“Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in bsincerity and in truth, and cput away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of 4the River and din Egypt. Serve the Lord! 15 And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, echoose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether fthe gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of 5the River, or gthe gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. hBut as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

16 So 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 bondage, who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way that we went and among all the people through whom we passed. 18 And the Lord drove out from before us all the people, including the Amorites who dwelt in the land. iWe also will serve the Lord, for He is our God.”

19 But Joshua said to the people, j“You cannot serve the Lord, for He is a kholy God. He is la jealous God; mHe will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. 20 nIf you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, othen He will turn and do you harm and consume you, after He has done you good.”

21 And the people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve the Lord!”

22 So Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that pyou have chosen the Lord for yourselves, to serve Him.”

And they said, “We are witnesses!”

23 “Now therefore,” he said, q“put away the foreign gods which are among you, and rincline your heart to the Lord God of Israel.”

24 And the people ssaid to Joshua, “The Lord our God we will serve, and His voice we will obey!”

25 So Joshua tmade 6a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and an ordinance uin Shechem.

26 Then Joshua vwrote these words in the Book of the Law of God. And he took wa large stone, and xset it up there yunder the oak that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. 27 And Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, this stone shall be za witness to us, for ait has heard all the words of the Lord which He spoke to us. It shall therefore be a witness to you, lest you deny your God.”