The Meeting at Shechem

24 Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel at Shechem, and he summoned the elders of Israel, its heads, its judges, and its officers, and they presented themselves before God.

² Then Joshua told all the people, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, has said.”

God’s Message

Joshua’s Admonition

¹⁴ Joshua said, “Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve him wholeheartedly and faithfully. Remove the gods that your fathers served in the region across the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. ¹⁵ But if you see no benefit in serving the Lord,^[a] then choose for yourselves today whomever you will serve—whether the gods that your fathers served beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household—we will serve the Lord!”

¹⁶ The people responded by saying, “Far be it from us^[b] to forsake the Lord in order to serve other gods! ¹⁷ For the Lord our God, he is the one who brought us and our ancestors up from the land of Egypt, where we were slaves. He is the one who performed these great signs right before our eyes and protected us on the whole journey that we made and among all the peoples through whom we passed. ¹⁸ The Lord drove out of our presence all the peoples and the Amorites who were living in the land. We too will serve the Lord, because he is our God!”