Joshua 24:21
in Joshua 24“No!” replied the people. “We will serve the LORD!”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And the people said unto Joshua, Nay; but we will serve Jehovah.
KJV
And the people said unto Joshua, Nay; but we will serve the Lord.
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This verse in Joshua 24
Commentary
5 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
We will serve the LORD!
on Joshua 24:21-22
Ye are witnesses against yourselves is a legal move rather than a rhetorical one. Covenant documents name witnesses, and Deuteronomy 30:19 calls heaven and earth to that office, while here the people are made witnesses to their own oath. Their answer opens by contradicting what Joshua has just said.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
): " Nay, but we will serve the Lord. We will think never the worse of him for his being a holy and jealous God, nor for his confining his servants to worship himself only.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens+odd-straight-quotes
And the people said unto Joshua, nay,.... We will not serve strange gods: but we will serve the Lord; according to his revealed will, and him only.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in truth--After having enumerated so many grounds for national gratitude, Joshua calls on them to declare, in a public and solemn manner, whether they will be faithful and obedient to the God of Israel.
And the people said - Nay; but we will serve, etc. - So they understood the words of Joshua to imply no moral impossibility on their side: and had they earnestly sought the gracious assistance of God, they would have continued steady in his covenant.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
You are witnesses against yourselves. Yehoshua foresaw that in the future, they would undermine [the covenant] in the days of Yechezkeil and say, “We want to be like the [other] nations,” and therefore he was so hard on them now.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 6 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
9 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֹּ֥אמֶר | vaiyomer | and it said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| הָעָ֖ם | haam | the people | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| יְהוֹשֻׁ֑עַ | yehoshua' | Joshua | H3091 → | 218 times |
| לֹ֕א | lo' | In- | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| כִּ֥י | ki | deed | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| יְהוָ֖ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| נַעֲבֹֽד׃ | naavod | we will serve | H5647 → | 288 times |
וַיֹּ֥אמֶרand it said
vaiyomerH559 →5305 times
הָעָ֖םthe people
haamH5971 →1873 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
יְהוֹשֻׁ֑עַJoshua
yehoshua'H3091 →218 times
לֹ֕אIn-
lo'H3808 →5168 times
כִּ֥יdeed
kiH3588 →4482 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
יְהוָ֖הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
נַעֲבֹֽד׃we will serve
naavodH5647 →288 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Exodus 19:8And all the people answered together, “We will do everything that the LORD has spoken.” So Moses brought their words back to the LORD.
it leads to
- Exodus 24:7
Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people, who replied, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Exodus 24:3
When Moses came and told the people all the words and ordinances of the LORD, they all responded with one voice: “All the words that the LORD has spoken, we will do.”
- Joshua 24:24
So the people said to Joshua, “We will serve the LORD our God and obey His voice.”
- Nehemiah 10:29
hereby join with their noble brothers and commit themselves with a sworn oath to follow the Law of God given through His servant Moses and to carefully obey all the commandments, ordinances, and statutes…
- Exodus 24:7
Through
Exodus 24:3When Moses came and told the people all the words and ordinances of the LORD, they all responded with one voice: “All the words that the LORD has spoken, we will do.”
it leads to
- Exodus 19:8
And all the people answered together, “We will do everything that the LORD has spoken.” So Moses brought their words back to the LORD.
- Joshua 24:22
Then Joshua told them, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the LORD.” “We are witnesses!” they said.
- Deuteronomy 6:1
These are the commandments and statutes and ordinances that the LORD your God has instructed me to teach you to follow in the land that you are about to enter and possess,
- Exodus 19:8
Through
Exodus 20:19“Speak to us yourself and we will listen,” they said to Moses. “But do not let God speak to us, or we will die.”
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 18:16
This is what you asked of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the LORD our God or see…
- Deuteronomy 18:16
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Joshua
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.