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.
27. He said to all the people, “This stone will be our witness. It has heard all the words that the Lord has spoken to us. So it will be a witness against you, to keep you from rebelling against your God.”