Study Desk

"Now, therefore, ^(F1)(C1)fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and ^(F2)truth; and do away with the gods which your fathers served beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.

"But 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 Euphrates River, or ^(C1)the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."

The people answered and said, "Far be it from us that we would abandon the LORD to serve other gods;

for the LORD our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slaves, and did these great signs in our sight and watched over us through all the way in which we went and among all the peoples through whose midst we passed.

"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."

Then Joshua said to the people, "You will not be able to serve the LORD, ^(C1)for He is a holy God. He is ^(C2)a jealous God; ^(C3)He will not forgive your wrongdoing or your sins.

"^(C1)If you abandon the LORD and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and destroy you after He has done good to you."

And the people said to Joshua, "No, but we will serve the LORD."

So Joshua said to the people, "You are witnesses against yourselves that ^(C1)you have chosen for yourselves the LORD, to serve Him." And they said, "We are witnesses."

"Now then, do away with the foreign gods which are in your midst, and ^(C1)incline your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel."

And ^(C1)the people said to Joshua, "We will serve the LORD our God and ^(F1)obey His voice."

^(C1)So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem.

And Joshua ^(C1)wrote 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.

Then Joshua said to all the people, "Behold, ^(C1)this stone shall be a witness against us, because it has heard all the words of the LORD which He spoke ^(F1)to us; so it shall be a witness against you, so that you do not deny your God."

Then Joshua dismissed the people, each to his inheritance.

Now it came about after these things that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being 110 years old.