Yosua 24:15-28

24:15 If you have no desire ¹  to worship ²  the Lord, choose today whom you will worship, ³  whether it be the gods whom your ancestors ⁴  worshiped ⁵  beyond the Euphrates, ⁶  or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. But I and my family ⁷  will worship ⁸  the Lord!”

24:16 The people responded, “Far be it from us to abandon the Lord so we can ⁹  worship ¹⁰  other gods! 24:17 For the Lord our God took us and our fathers out of slavery ¹¹  in the land of Egypt ¹²  and performed these awesome miracles ¹³  before our very eyes. He continually protected us as we traveled and when we passed through nations. ¹⁴  24:18 The Lord drove out from before us all the nations, including the Amorites who lived in the land. So we too will worship ¹⁵  the Lord, for he is our God!”

24:19 Joshua warned ¹⁶  the people, “You will not keep worshiping ¹⁷  the Lord, for ¹⁸  he is a holy God. ¹⁹  He is a jealous God who will not forgive ²⁰  your rebellion or your sins. 24:20 If ²¹  you abandon the Lord and worship ²²  foreign gods, he will turn against you; ²³  he will bring disaster on you and destroy you, ²⁴  though he once treated you well.” ²⁵ 

24:21 The people said to Joshua, “No! We really will ²⁶  worship ²⁷  the Lord!” 24:22 Joshua said to the people, “Do you agree to be witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to worship the Lord?” ²⁸  They replied, “We are witnesses!” ²⁹  24:23 Joshua said, ³⁰  “Now put aside the foreign gods that are among you and submit to ³¹  the Lord God of Israel.”

24:24 The people said to Joshua, “We will worship ³²  the Lord our God and obey him.” ³³ 

24:25 That day Joshua drew up an agreement ³⁴  for the people, and he established rules and regulations ³⁵  for them in Shechem. 24:26 Joshua wrote these words in the Law Scroll of God. He then took a large stone and set it up there under the oak tree near the Lord’s shrine. 24:27 Joshua said to all the people, “Look, this stone will be a witness against you, for it has heard everything the Lord said to us. ³⁶  It will be a witness against you if ³⁷  you deny your God.” 24:28 When Joshua dismissed the people, they went to their allotted portions of land. ³⁸ 

[24:15]  ¹ tn Heb “if it is bad in your eyes.”

[24:15]  ² tn Or “to serve.”

[24:15]  ³ tn Or “will serve.”

[24:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “your fathers.”

[24:15]  ⁵ tn Or “served.”

[24:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “the river,” referring to the Euphrates. This has been specified in the translation for clarity; see v. 3.

[24:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “house.”

[24:15]  ⁸ tn Or “will serve.”

[24:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “to.”

[24:16]  ¹⁰ tn Or “can serve.”

[24:17]  ¹¹ tn Heb “of the house of slavery.”

[24:17]  ¹² tn Heb “for the Lord our God, he is the one who brought up us and our fathers from the land of Egypt, from the house of slaves.”

[24:17]  ¹³ tn Or “great signs.”

[24:17]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and he guarded us in all the way in which we walked and among all the peoples through whose midst we passed.”

[24:18]  ¹⁵ tn Or “will serve.”

[24:19]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “said to.”

[24:19]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “you are not able to serve.”

[24:19]  ¹⁸ sn For an excellent discussion of Joshua’s logical argument here, see T. C. Butler, Joshua (WBC), 274-75.

[24:19]  ¹⁹ tn In the Hebrew text both the divine name (אֱלֹהִים, ’elohim) and the adjective (קְדֹשִׁים, qÿdoshim, “holy”) are plural. Normally the divine name, when referring to the one true God, takes singular modifiers, but this is a rare exception where the adjective agrees grammatically with the honorific plural noun. See GKC §124.i and IBHS 122.

[24:19]  ²⁰ tn Heb “lift up” or “take away.”

[24:19]  sn This assertion obviously needs qualification, for the OT elsewhere affirms that God does forgive. Joshua is referring to the persistent national rebellion against the Mosaic covenant that eventually cause God to decree unconditionally the nation’s exile.

[24:20]  ²¹ tn Or “when.”

[24:20]  ²² tn Or “and serve.”

[24:20]  ²³ tn The words “against you” are added for clarification.

[24:20]  ²⁴ tn Heb “bring you to an end.”

[24:20]  ²⁵ tn Heb “after he did good for you.”

[24:21]  ²⁶ tn The translation assumes that כִּי (ki) is emphatic. Another option is to take it as explanatory, “No, for we will….”

[24:21]  ²⁷ tn Or “will serve.”

[24:22]  ²⁸ tn Heb “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen for yourselves the Lord to serve him.”

[24:22]  ²⁹ sn Like witnesses in a court of law, Israel’s solemn vow to worship the Lord will testify against them in the divine court if the nation ever violates its commitment.

[24:23]  ³⁰ tn The words “Joshua said” are supplied for clarification.

[24:23]  ³¹ tn Heb “bend your heart toward.” The term לֵבָב (levav, “heart”) probably here refers to the people’s volition or will.

[24:24]  ³² tn Or “will serve.”

[24:24]  ³³ tn Heb “and listen to his voice.”

[24:25]  ³⁴ tn Heb “cut a covenant.”

[24:25]  ³⁵ tn Heb “a statute and a judgment.”

[24:27]  ³⁶ tn Heb “all the words of the Lord which he spoke with us.”

[24:27]  ³⁷ tn Or “lest,” “so that you might not.”

[24:28]  ³⁸ tn Heb “And Joshua sent the people away, each to his inheritance.”