8. “‘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.
9. 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,
10. but I would not listen to Balaam; therefore he blessed you still. So I delivered you out of his hand.
11. “‘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.
12. 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.
13. I gave you a land whereon you had not laboured, and cities which you didn’t build, and you live in them. You eat of vineyards and olive groves which you didn’t plant.’
14. “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.
15. 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.”
16. The people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord, to serve other gods;
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, and who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way in which we went, and amongst all the peoples through the middle of whom we passed.
18. 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.”
19. 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.
20. 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.”
21. The people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve the Lord.”
22. 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.”
23. “Now therefore put away the foreign gods which are amongst you, and incline your heart to the Lord, the God of Israel.”
24. The people said to Joshua, “We will serve the Lord our God, and we will listen to his voice.”
25. So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem.
26. Joshua wrote these words in the scroll of the Torah of God; and he took a great stone, and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of the Lord.
27. 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.”