16. Then the people answered and said, May it never happen that we should forsake the Lord, to serve other gods.
17. For the Lord our God, he it is that brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt from the house of slavery and who did those great signs in our sight and has kept us in all the way in which we went and among all the peoples through whom we passed.
18. And the Lord drove out from before us all the peoples, even the Amorites which dwelt in the land; therefore, will we also serve the Lord, for he is our God.
19. Then Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the Lord, for he is a holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not allow your rebellions nor your sins.
20. If ye forsake the Lord and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt and consume you, after he has done you good.
21. And the people said unto Joshua, No, but we will serve the Lord.
22. And Joshua said unto the people, Ye shall be witnesses against yourselves that ye have chosen the Lord, to serve him. And they said, We shall be witnesses.
23. Now, therefore, take away, the strange gods which are among you and incline your heart unto the Lord God of Israel.
24. And the people replied unto Joshua, We will serve the Lord our God and hear his voice.
25. So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day and set them statutes and laws in Shechem.
26. And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God, and taking a great stone, he set it up there under an oak that was in the sanctuary of the Lord.
27. And Joshua said unto all the people, Behold, this stone shall be a witness unto us, for it has heard all the words of the Lord which he spoke unto us: it shall be, therefore, a witness unto you lest ye deny your God.
28. So Joshua sent the people, each one unto his inheritance.
29. And after these things, Joshua, the son of Nun, the slave of the Lord, died, being one hundred and ten years old.
30. And they buried him within the border of his inheritance in Timnathserah, which is in Mount Ephraim, on the north side of the Mountain of Gaash.