24:19. And Josue said to the people: You will not be able to serve the Lord: for he is a holy God, and mighty and jealous, and will not forgive your wickedness and sins.
You will not be able to serve the Lord, etc. . .This was not said by way of discouraging them; but rather to make them more earnest and resolute, by setting before them the greatness of the undertaking, and the courage and constancy necessary to go through with it.
24:20. If you leave the Lord, and serve strange gods, he will turn, and will afflict you, and will destroy you after all the good he hath done you.
24:21. And the people said to Josue: No, it shall not be so as thou sayest, but we will serve the Lord.
24:22. And Josue said to the people, You are witnesses, that you yourselves have chosen you the Lord to serve him. And they answered: We are witnesses.
24:23. Now therefore, said he, put away strange gods from among you, and incline your hearts to the Lord the God of Israel.
24:24. And the people said to Josue: We will serve the Lord our God, and we will be obedient to his commandments.
24:25. Josue therefore on that day made a covenant, and set before the people commandments and judgments in Sichem.
24:26. And he wrote all these things in the volume of the law of the Lord: and he took a great stone, and set it under the oak that was in the sanctuary of the Lord.
24:27. And he said to all the people: Behold this stone shall be a testimony unto you, that it hath heard all the words of the Lord, which he hath spoken to you: lest perhaps hereafter you will deny it, and lie to the Lord your God.