12. As you advanced, I threw them into panic in order to drive out the two Amorite kings. Your swords and bows had nothing to do with it.
13. I gave you a land that you had never cultivated and cities that you had not built. Now you are living there and eating grapes from vines that you did not plant, and olives from trees that you did not plant.’
14. “Now then,” Joshua continued, “honour the Lord and serve him sincerely and faithfully. Get rid of the gods which your ancestors used to worship in Mesopotamia and in Egypt, and serve only the Lord.
15. If you are not willing to serve him, decide today whom you will serve, the gods your ancestors worshipped in Mesopotamia or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are now living. As for my family and me, we will serve the Lord.”
16. The people replied, “We would never leave the Lord to serve other gods!
17. The Lord our God brought our fathers and us out of slavery in Egypt, and we saw the miracles that he performed. He kept us safe wherever we went among all the nations through which we passed.
18. As we advanced into this land, the Lord drove out all the Amorites who lived here. So we also will serve the Lord; he is our God.”
19. Joshua said to the people, “But you may not be able to serve the Lord. He is a holy God and will not forgive your sins. He will tolerate no rivals,
20. and if you leave him to serve foreign gods, he will turn against you and punish you. He will destroy you, even though he was good to you before.”
21. The people said to Joshua, “No! We will serve the Lord.”
22. Joshua said to them, “You are your own witnesses to the fact that you have chosen to serve the Lord.”“Yes,” they said, “we are witnesses.”
23. “Then get rid of those foreign gods that you have,” he demanded, “and pledge your loyalty to the Lord, the God of Israel.”
24. The people then said to Joshua, “We will serve the Lord our God. We will obey his commands.”
25. So Joshua made a covenant for the people that day, and there at Shechem he gave them laws and rules to follow.
26. Joshua wrote these commands in the book of the Law of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up under the oak tree in the Lord's sanctuary.