Joshua 24:20-27

24:20 If ¹  you abandon the Lord and worship ²  foreign gods, he will turn against you; ³  he will bring disaster on you and destroy you, ⁴  though he once treated you well.” ⁵ 

24:21 The people said to Joshua, “No! We really will ⁶  worship ⁷  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?” ⁸  They replied, “We are witnesses!” ⁹  24:23 Joshua said, ¹⁰  “Now put aside the foreign gods that are among you and submit to ¹¹  the Lord God of Israel.”

24:24 The people said to Joshua, “We will worship ¹²  the Lord our God and obey him.” ¹³ 

24:25 That day Joshua drew up an agreement ¹⁴  for the people, and he established rules and regulations ¹⁵  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. ¹⁶  It will be a witness against you if ¹⁷  you deny your God.”

[24:20]  ¹ tn Or “when.”

[24:20]  ² tn Or “and serve.”

[24:20]  ³ tn The words “against you” are added for clarification.

[24:20]  ⁴ tn Heb “bring you to an end.”

[24:20]  ⁵ tn Heb “after he did good for you.”

[24:21]  ⁶ tn The translation assumes that כִּי (ki) is emphatic. Another option is to take it as explanatory, “No, for we will….”

[24:21]  ⁷ tn Or “will serve.”

[24:22]  ¹¹ tn Heb “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen for yourselves the Lord to serve him.”

[24:22]  ¹² 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]  ¹⁶ tn The words “Joshua said” are supplied for clarification.

[24:23]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “bend your heart toward.” The term לֵבָב (levav, “heart”) probably here refers to the people’s volition or will.

[24:24]  ²¹ tn Or “will serve.”

[24:24]  ²² tn Heb “and listen to his voice.”

[24:25]  ²⁶ tn Heb “cut a covenant.”

[24:25]  ²⁷ tn Heb “a statute and a judgment.”

[24:27]  ³¹ tn Heb “all the words of the Lord which he spoke with us.”

[24:27]  ³² tn Or “lest,” “so that you might not.”