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Grow With Me

Joshua 24:14–15

Joshua: choose today whom you will serve

14And now fear YHWH and serve him with integrity and with truth; and put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River Euphrates and in Egypt, and serve YHWH.

15And if it is evil in your eyes to serve YHWH, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve, whether the gods that your fathers served that were beyond the River Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorite, in whose land you live. But I and my house will serve YHWH.”

Study it word by word

In its context

12And I sent the hornet before you, and it drove them out before you, the two kings of the Amorite; not with your sword and not with your bow.

13And I gave you a land on which you had not labored, and cities that you had not built, and you live in them; of vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant you are eating.’

…

16And the people answered and said, “Far be it from us to abandon YHWH to serve other gods!

17For YHWH our Elohim, he is the one who brought up us and our fathers from the land of Egypt, from the house of slaves, and who did before our eyes these great signs, and kept us in all the way that we walked in, and among all the peoples through whom we passed.

Read all of Joshua 24

Its words in the original

  • יְראוּyeru· fear

    Fear. It can be fright before a danger or deep reverence before God ("fear YHWH"). In some forms, be fearsome, awesome.

  • יְהוָהyehva· YHWH

    The personal name of the God of Israel, written in Hebrew with four letters, Y-H-W-H, without vowels. Out of reverence Jews stopped pronouncing it and read "Adonai" (Lord), so many Bibles put "the LORD" or "Jehovah". This translation keeps the four letters. The name is related to the verb "to be" (Exodus 3:14-15). He is not a god other than Elohim: "YHWH Elohim" is the same Creator God, called by his name.

  • עִבְדוּivdu· work, serve

    Work; serve. Till the ground, serve a person, or serve God (worship him). In the causative form, make someone serve, enslave.

  • תָמִיםtamim· blameless

    Complete, whole, without defect. Said of a person, blameless: of one piece, without falseness. It does not mean that he has never sinned.

  • אֱמֶתemet· faithfulness, truth

    Truth, firmness. Said of a person or of God, faithfulness: he can be trusted because he keeps his word. It often goes with "loyal love".

  • הָסִירוּhasiru· turn aside, remove

    Turn aside, turn away; remove, take away.

  • אֱלֹהִיםelohim· Elohim, God, gods

    The Hebrew word usually translated "God". This translation keeps "Elohim" when it speaks of the one true God, the Creator, the God of Israel. The word ends like a plural, but it does not mean several: for him the verb is singular ("Elohim created"); the plural form expresses greatness. The same word as a common noun names the "gods" of other peoples, and there it is a true plural, translated "gods". It is also used of mighty ones or judges.

  • אֲבוֹתֵיavote· father

    Father; also ancestor ("our fathers"), and the founder or head of a family or group.

  • עֵבֶרever· beyond, other side

    The other side, beyond; especially across the Jordan.

  • נָּהָרnahar· river

    River, stream; above all the Euphrates ("the River") or the Nile.

  • מִצְרַיִםmitsrayim· Egypt, Mizraim

    Mizraim, the Hebrew name of Egypt; also the Egyptians. As a person, a son of Ham, ancestor of the Egyptians.

  • רַעra· evil, bad, harm

    Bad; evil. It includes what is morally wrong and also what does harm: misfortune, disaster, distress.

  • עֵינֵיene· eye

    Eye. "In someone's eyes" means "in his opinion"; "find favor in the eyes of" is to please him. Also a spring of water.

  • בַּחֲרוּbacharu· choose

    Choose, select.

  • יּוֹםyom· day

    Day: the hours of light, or a whole day from one evening to the next. Also an indefinite time or age ("in the day that...", "in those days").

  • אֱמֹרִיemori· Amorite

    Amorite: one of the main peoples of Canaan before Israel.

  • יֹשְׁבִיםyoshvim· sit, dwell

    Sit, sit down; from there stay in a place, live, dwell. In the causative form, settle someone, make to dwell. Also sit as judge or as king.

  • אַרְצָartsa· earth, land

    The earth, in two senses: the whole world in contrast with the heavens, or a particular country or region ("the land of Egypt").

  • בֵיתִveti· house, household

    House. Also the family that lives in it ("the house of Noah") and someone's descendants ("the house of David"); also a temple, "the house of God".

Obedience