17. 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, Who did those great signs in our sight and preserved us in all the way that we went and among all the peoples through whom we passed.
18. And the Lord drove out before us all the people, the Amorites who dwelt in the land. Therefore we also will serve the Lord, for He is our God.
19. And Joshua said to the people, You cannot serve the Lord, for He is a holy God; He is a jealous God. He will not forgive your transgressions or your sins.
20. If you forsake the Lord and serve strange gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you, after having done you good.
21. And the people said to Joshua, No; but we will serve the Lord.
22. Then Joshua said to the people, You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord, to serve Him. And they said, We are witnesses.
23. Then put away, said he, the foreign gods that are among you and incline your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.
24. The people said to Joshua, The Lord our God we will serve; His voice we will obey.
25. So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made statutes and ordinances for them at Shechem.
26. And Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God; and he took a great stone and set it up there under an oak that was in [the court of] the sanctuary of the Lord.
27. And Joshua said to all the people, See, this stone shall be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words the Lord spoke to us; so it shall be a witness against you, lest [afterward] you lie (pretend) and deny your God.