Joshua 24:14-24

Complete Jewish Bible

¹⁴ “Therefore fear Adonai, and serve him truly and sincerely. Put away the gods your ancestors served beyond the [Euphrates]River and in Egypt, and serve Adonai! ¹⁵ If it seems bad to you to serve Adonai, then choose today whom you are going to serve! Will it be the gods your ancestors served beyond the River? or the gods of the Emori, in whose land you are living? As for me and my household, we will serve Adonai!”

¹⁶ The people answered, “Far be it from us that we would abandon Adonai to serve other gods; ¹⁷ because it is Adonai our God who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from a life of slavery, and did those great signs before our eyes, and preserved us all along the way we traveled and among all the peoples we passed through; ¹⁸ and it was Adonai who drove out from ahead of us all the peoples, the Emori living in the land. Therefore we too will serve Adonai, for he is our God.”

¹⁹ Y’hoshua said to the people, “You can’t serve Adonai; because he is a holy God, a jealous God, and he will not forgive your crimes and sins. ²⁰ If you abandon Adonai and serve foreign gods, he will turn, doing you harm and destroying you after he has done you good.”

²¹ But the people said to Y’hoshua, “No, but we will serve Adonai.”

²² Y’hoshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen Adonai, to serve him.”

They answered, “We are witnesses.”

²³ “Now,” Y’hoshua urged, “put away the foreign gods you have among you, and turn your hearts to Adonai, the God of Isra’el.”

²⁴ The people answered Y’hoshua, “We will serve Adonai our God; we will pay attention to what he says.”