Joshua 24:23 (WEB)

Passage

“Now therefore put away the foreign gods which are among you, and incline your heart to Yahweh, the God of Israel.”

Nearby Context

Joshua 24:21 The people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve Yahweh.”

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

Joshua 24:23 “Now therefore put away the foreign gods which are among you, and incline your heart to Yahweh, the God of Israel.”

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

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

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "therefore", "away", "foreign", "gods", "incline", "heart", "yahweh", and "israel". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "therefore" and "away", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 22's "Joshua said to the people You are..." into verse 24's "The people said to Joshua We will...", so "therefore" and "away" 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 "therefore" and "away" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.