File:Joshua 24 26-Joshua took a great stone and set it under the oak.jpg

Summary
Joshua 24:14 - 24:27

24:14. Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve Him with a perfect and most sincere heart: and put away the gods which your fathers served in Mesopotamia and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.

24:15. But if it seem evil to you to serve the Lord, you have your choice: choose this day that which pleases you, whom you would rather serve, whether the gods which your fathers served in Mesopotamia, or the gods of the Amorrhites, in whose land you dwell: but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord,

24:16. The people answered, and said, God forbid we should leave the Lord, and serve strange gods.

24:17. The Lord our God he brought us and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage: and did very great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way by which we journeyed, and among all the people through whom we passed.

'''24:18. He hath cast out all the nations, the Amorrhite the inhabitant of the land into which we are come. Therefore we will serve the Lord, for he is our God.'''

24:19. Joshua said to the people: You will not be able to serve the Lord: for he is a holy God, and mighty and jealous, and will not forgive your wickedness and sins.

You will not be able to serve the Lord, etc. . .This was not said by way of discouraging them; but rather to make them more earnest and resolute, by setting before them the greatness of the undertaking, and the courage and constancy necessary to go through with it.

24:20. If you leave the Lord, and serve strange gods, He will turn, and will afflict you, and will destroy you after all the good He has done you.

24:21. The people said to Joshua: No, it shall not be so as you say, but we will serve the Lord.

'''24:22. Joshua said to the people, You are witnesses, that you yourselves have chosen you the Lord to serve Him. They answered: We are witnesses.'''

24:23. Now therefore, said he, put away strange gods from among you, and incline your hearts to the Lord the God of Israel.

24:24. The people said to Joshua: We will serve the Lord our God, and we will be obedient to His commandments.

24:25. Joshua therefore on that day made a covenant, and set before the people commandments and judgments in Sichem.

24:26. He wrote all these things in the volume of the law of the Lord: and he took a great stone, and set it under the oak that was in the sanctuary of the Lord.

24:27. He said to all the people: Behold this stone shall be a testimony unto you, that it has heard all the words of the Lord, which He has spoken to you: lest perhaps hereafter you will deny it, and lie to the Lord your God.

It has heard. . .This is a figure of speech, by which sensation is attributed to inanimate things; and they are called upon, as it were, to bear witness in favor of the great Creator, whom they on their part constantly obey.

Joshua's Parting Advice; as in Joshua 24:14-25; illustration from a Bible card published by the Providence Lithograph Company Date: 1901