Joshua 24:15-22

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 

Psalms 119:30

119:30 I choose the path of faithfulness;

I am committed to ³⁰  your regulations.

Psalms 119:111

119:111 I claim your rules as my permanent possession,

for they give me joy. ³¹ 

Psalms 119:173

119:173 May your hand help me,

for I choose to obey ³²  your precepts.

Proverbs 1:29

1:29 Because ³³  they hated moral knowledge, ³⁴ 

and did not choose to fear the Lord, ³⁵ 

Proverbs 8:36

8:36 But the one who does not find me ³⁶  brings harm ³⁷  to himself; ³⁸ 

all who hate me ³⁹  love death.”

Isaiah 56:4

56:4 For this is what the Lord says:

“For the eunuchs who observe my Sabbaths

and choose what pleases me

and are faithful to ⁴⁰  my covenant,

Luke 10:42

10:42 but one thing ⁴¹  is needed. Mary has chosen the best ⁴²  part; it will not be taken away from her.”

[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.”

[24:20]  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.

[119:30]  ³⁰ tn BDB 1000-1001 s.v. I שָׁוָה derives the verb from the first homonym listed, meaning “to agree with; to be like; to resemble.” It here means (in the Piel stem) “to be accounted suitable,” which in turn would mean by metonymy “to accept; to be committed to.” Some prefer to derive the verb from a homonym meaning “to place; to set,” but in this case an elliptical prepositional phrase must be understood, “I place your regulations [before me]” (see Ps 16:8).

[119:111]  ³¹ tn Heb “for the joy of my heart [are] they.”

[119:173]  ³² tn The words “to obey” are not in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons and for clarity.

[1:29]  ³³ tn The causal particle תַּחַת כִּי (takhat ki, “for the reason that”) introduces a second accusation of sin and reason for punishment.

[1:29]  ³⁴ tn Heb “knowledge.” The noun דָעַת (da’at, “knowledge”) refers to moral knowledge. See note on 1:7.

[1:29]  ³⁵ tn Heb “the fear of the Lord.” The noun is an objective genitive; the Lord is to be the object of fear. See note on 1:7.

[8:36]  ³⁶ tn Heb “the one sinning [against] me.” The verb חָטָא (khata’, “to sin”) forms a contrast with “find” in the previous verse, and so has its basic meaning of “failing to find, miss.” So it is talking about the one who misses wisdom, as opposed to the one who finds it.

[8:36]  ³⁷ tn The Qal active participle functions verbally here. The word stresses both social and physical harm and violence.

[8:36]  ³⁸ tn Heb “his soul.”

[8:36]  ³⁹ tn The basic idea of the verb שָׂנֵא (sane’, “to hate”) is that of rejection. Its antonym is also used in the line, “love,” which has the idea of choosing. So not choosing (i.e., hating) wisdom amounts to choosing (i.e., loving) death.

[56:4]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “and take hold of” (so KJV); NASB “hold fast.”

[10:42]  ⁴¹ tc Or, with some mss (̳ [א] B C² L 070^vid ˹ 33 [579] pc), “few things are needed – or only one” (as well as other variants). The textual problem here is a difficult one to decide. The shorter reading is normally preferred, but it is not altogether clear how the variants would arise from it. However, the reading followed in the translation has good support (with some internal variations) from a number of witnesses (Ì^45,75 A C* W Θ Ψ Ë¹³ Ï lat sa).

[10:42]  ⁴² tn Or “better”; Grk “good.” This is an instance of the positive adjective used in place of the superlative adjective. According to ExSyn 298, this could also be treated as a positive for comparative (“better”).