Joshua 24

Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel, for their heads, for their judges, and for their officers; and they presented themselves before God.

Joshua said to all the people, “The LORD, the God of Israel, says, ‘Your fathers lived of old time beyond the River, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nahor. They served other gods.

I took your father Abraham from beyond the River, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his offspring, and gave him Isaac.

I gave to Isaac Jacob and Esau: and I gave to Esau Mount Seir, to possess it. Jacob and his children went down into Egypt.

“‘I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt, according to that which I did among them: and afterward I brought you out.

I brought your fathers out of Egypt: and you came to the sea. The Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and with horsemen to the Red Sea.

When they cried out to the LORD, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea on them, and covered them; and your eyes saw what I did in Egypt. You lived in the wilderness many days.

“‘I brought you into the land of the Amorites, that lived beyond the Jordan. They fought with you, and I gave them into your hand. You possessed their land, and I destroyed them from before you.

Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and fought against Israel. He sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you,

but I would not listen to Balaam; therefore he blessed you still. So I delivered you out of his hand.

“‘You went over the Jordan, and came to Jericho. The men of Jericho fought against you, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Girgashite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite; and I delivered them into your hand.

I sent the hornet before you, which drove them out from before you, even the two kings of the Amorites; not with your sword, nor with your bow.

I gave you a land on which you had not labored, and cities which you didn’t build, and you live in them. You eat of vineyards and olive groves which you didn’t plant.’

“Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth. Put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River, in Egypt; and serve the LORD.

If it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose today whom you will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

The people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD, to serve other gods;

for it is the LORD our God who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way in which we went, and among all the peoples through the middle of whom we passed.

The LORD drove out from before us all the peoples, even the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the LORD; for he is our God.”

Joshua said to the people, “You can’t serve the LORD, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God. He will not forgive your disobedience nor your sins.

If you forsake the LORD, and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you evil, and consume you, after he has done you good.”

The people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve the LORD.”

Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the LORD yourselves, to serve him.” They said, “We are witnesses.”

“Now therefore put away the foreign gods which are among you, and incline your heart to the LORD, the God of Israel.”

The people said to Joshua, “We will serve the LORD our God, and we will listen to his voice.”

So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem.

Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God; and he took a great stone, and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of the LORD.

Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, this stone shall be a witness against us, for it has heard all the LORD’s words which he spoke to us. It shall be therefore a witness against you, lest you deny your God.”

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

After these things, Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being one hundred ten years old.

They buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnathserah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, on the north of the mountain of Gaash.

Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, and had known all the work of the LORD, that he had worked for Israel.

They buried the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, in Shechem, in the parcel of ground which Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred pieces of silver. They became the inheritance of the children of Joseph.

Eleazar the son of Aaron died. They buried him in the hill of Phinehas his son, which was given him in the hill country of Ephraim.

Chapter overviewAI-generated

Overview.
This final chapter of Joshua records the renewal of the covenant between the Lord and Israel at Shechem, where Joshua delivers a farewell address, recounts God’s faithfulness throughout their history, calls the people to exclusive loyalty, and leads them in a solemn commitment to serve the Lord. It closes with Joshua’s death, the burial of Joseph’s bones, and the death of Eleazar, marking the end of an era.

Flow.

Joshua summons Israel’s leaders and rehearses God’s redemptive acts, from Abraham’s call to the conquest of Canaan, emphasizing divine initiative and grace.
He issues a call to covenant fidelity, challenging the people to choose wholehearted service to the Lord amid surrounding idolatry.
The people pledge loyalty, but Joshua warns of the seriousness of breaking covenant with a holy and jealous God.
The covenant is formally renewed, memorialized by a stone witness, after which Joshua dies, followed by the faithful generation’s remembrance of the Lord.

Connections.
Following chapter 23, where Joshua warned Israel against idolatry and warned of judgment for disobedience, this chapter enacts those warnings in a covenant renewal ceremony, putting the people’s loyalty to the test. The solemn choice presented in chapter 24—serve the Lord or serve other gods—resolves into a collective affirmation of faith, mirroring the covenant structure seen throughout the Pentateuch. This faithful response sets the stage for the transition into Judges, where the failure of later generations to uphold this pledge leads to cycles of apostasy. The burial of Joseph’s bones, finally laid to rest in Shechem, closes a promise stretching back to Genesis (), while the deaths of Joshua and Eleazar prepare the reader for the spiritual uncertainty of the period of the judges.

What it teaches.
The chapter teaches that covenant relationship with God rests on his sovereign grace and demands undivided loyalty. God’s acts in history—calling Abraham, delivering Israel from Egypt, giving the land—are foundational to Israel’s identity and duty (WCF 7.3). His holiness and jealousy prohibit syncretism (; WCF 19.2), and true worship requires sincerity and truth (; HC LD 34). The people’s repeated professions, though sincere in the moment, underscore the biblical theme that human faithfulness is fragile without God’s preserving grace (; WCF 17.3). The covenant renewal at Shechem, an ancient site of divine promise (), ties Israel’s present obedience to the patriarchal promises and the law given at Sinai.

Apply.
The stone at Shechem stands as a perpetual reminder that God’s people are bound by his past faithfulness to future obedience, and their words and choices today become testimony for or against him tomorrow.

AI-generated. Not a substitute for Scripture, your pastor, or the confessions.