Joshua 24:19–28

¹⁹But Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the LORD, for He is a holy God; He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your rebellion or your sins. ²⁰If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, He will turn and bring disaster on you and consume you, even after He has been good to you.”

²¹“No!” replied the people. “We will serve the LORD!”

²²Then Joshua told them, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the LORD.”

“We are witnesses!” they said.

²³“Now, therefore,” he said, “get rid of the foreign gods among you and incline your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel.”

²⁴So the people said to Joshua, “We will serve the LORD our God and obey His voice.”

²⁵On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people, and there at Shechem he established for them a statute and ordinance. ²⁶Joshua recorded these things in the Book of the Law of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak^c that was near the sanctuary of the LORD. ²⁷And Joshua said to all the people, “You see this stone. It will be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words the LORD has spoken to us, and it will be a witness against you if you ever deny your God.”

²⁸Then Joshua sent the people away, each to his own inheritance.