Joshua 24:15
If it seems evil to you to serve Yahweh, choose today whom you will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve Yahweh.”
Context and meaning
Joshua 24:15 carries practically Joshua's last public words, spoken when he was already old, at an assembly in Shechem: "If it seems evil to you to serve Yahweh, choose today whom you will serve... but as for me and my house, we will serve Yahweh." Before Joshua 24:15 he had retold the people's history since Abraham. In Joshua 24:15 he sets a real choice before them and only then announces his own household's decision.
The tone is surprisingly free: "choose today whom you will serve". He does not impose; he presents real alternatives, including the gods their ancestors served beyond the River.
The famous line is his own personal decision, spoken after giving the others the option. And it is a decision that includes the household — in the ancient world, the whole domestic unit, not just the nuclear family.
It is worth noting what follows: when the people promise to serve the Lord, Joshua answers with skepticism, telling them they would not be able to serve Yahweh, forcing them to take the promise seriously.
It is the verse most chosen for plaques and wall art in homes — and the context suggests it is more a conscious decision than a decoration.
Related verses
Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.
Proverbs 22:6
This verse appears in
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