If it is evil in your sight to serve Yahweh, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve Yahweh.”
Joshua 24:13 And I gave you a land on which you had not labored and cities which you had not built, and you have lived in them; you are eating of vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.’
Joshua 24:14 “So now, fear Yahweh and serve Him in integrity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve Yahweh.
Joshua 24:15 If it is evil in your sight to serve Yahweh, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve Yahweh.”
Joshua 24:16 And the people answered and said, “Far be it from us that we should forsake Yahweh to serve other gods;
Joshua 24:17 for Yahweh our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery, and who did these great signs in our sight and kept us through all the way in which we went and among all the peoples through whose midst we passed.
The verse centers on "evil", "sight", "serve", "yahweh", "choose", "yourselves", and "today". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "evil" and "sight", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.
The nearby context moves from verse 14's "So now fear Yahweh and serve Him..." into verse 16's "And the people answered and said Far...", so "evil" and "sight" belong inside that flow. In Joshua context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.
A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "evil" and "sight" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.