Joshua 24:24 (LSB)

Passage

And the people said to Joshua, “We will serve Yahweh our God, and we will listen to His voice.”

Nearby Context

Joshua 24:22 And Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen for yourselves Yahweh, to serve Him.” And they said, “We are witnesses.”

Joshua 24:23 “So now, put away the foreign gods which are in your midst, and incline your hearts to Yahweh, the God of Israel.”

Joshua 24:24 And the people said to Joshua, “We will serve Yahweh our God, and we will listen to His voice.”

Joshua 24:25 So Joshua cut a covenant with the people that day and made for them a statute and a judgment in Shechem.

Joshua 24:26 And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God; and he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of Yahweh.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "people", "said", "joshua", "serve", "yahweh", "listen", and "voice". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "people" and "said", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 23's "So now put away the foreign gods..." into verse 25's "So Joshua cut a covenant with the...", so "people" and "said" 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 "people" and "said" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.