Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen Yahweh yourselves, to serve him.” They said, “We are witnesses.”
Parallel Translations
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Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen Yahweh yourselves, to serve him.” They said, “We are witnesses.”
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And Joshua said unto the people, Ye are witnesses against yourselves that ye have chosen you the LORD, to serve him. And they said, We are witnesses.
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And Joshua said unto the people: 'Ye are witnesses against yourselves that ye have chosen you the LORD, to serve Him. — And they said: 'We are witnesses.' —
Cross-references (6)
Passages linked to Joshua 24:22 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 119:173 Let your hand be ready to help me, for I have chosen your precepts.
- Psalms 119:11 I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
- Job 15:6 Your own mouth condemns you, and not I. Yes, your own lips testify against you.
- Luke 10:42 but one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the good part, which will not be taken away from her.”
- Deuteronomy 26:17 You have declared today that Yahweh is your God, and that you would walk in his ways, keep his statutes, his commandments, and his ordinances, and listen to his voice.
- Luke 19:22 “He said to him, ‘Out of your own mouth I will judge you, you wicked servant! You knew that I am an exacting man, taking up that which I didn’t lay down, and reaping that which I didn’t sow.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (10 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 22. And Joshua said unto the people, etc We…
22. And Joshua said unto the people, etc We now understand what the object was at which Joshua had hitherto aimed. It was not to terrify the people and make them fall away from their religion, but to make the obligation more sacred by their having of their own accord chosen his government, and betaken themselves to his guidance, that they might live under his protection. They acknowledge, therefore, that their own conscience will accuse them, and hold them guilty of perfidy, if they prove unfaithful. But although they were not insincere in declaring that they would be witnesses to their own condemnation, still how easily the remembrance of this promise faded away, is obvious from the Book of Judges. For when the more aged among them had died, they quickly turned aside to various superstitions. By this example we are taught how multifarious are the fallacies which occupy the senses of men, and how tortuous the recesses in which they hide their hypocrisy and folly, while they deceive themselves by vain confidence.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain If you do the contrary, your own mouths shall…
If you do the contrary, your own mouths shall condemn you.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jos 24:22 And Joshua said unto the people, Ye…
Jos 24:22 And Joshua said unto the people, Ye [are] witnesses against yourselves that ye have chosen you the LORD, to serve him. And they said, [We are] witnesses.
Ver. 22. Ye are witnesses against yourselves.] In case ye falsify ye shall be self-condemned, and cut of your own mouths God shall judge you: meanwhile conscience shall do its office upon you, as an index, iudex, vindex, accuser, judge, and executioner.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Ye are witnesses against yourselves; this solemn profession will…
Ye are witnesses against yourselves; this solemn profession will be a swift witness against you, if hereafter you apostatize from God.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And Joshua said unto the people,.... In reply to…
And Joshua said unto the people,.... In reply to their answer and resolution:
ye are witnesses against yourselves, that ye have chosen you the Lord God to serve him; that is, should they, after this choice of him, which they had so publicly declared, desert his service, and go into idolatry, their testimony would rise up against them, and they would, be self-condemned:
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and they said, we are witnesses; should we ever apostatize from the Lord and his worship, we are content to have this our witness produced against us.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Against yourselves - This solemn profession will be a…
Against yourselves - This solemn profession will be a swift witness against you, if hereafter you apostatize from God.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 22. Ye are witnesses against yourselves] Ye have…
Verse 22. Ye are witnesses against yourselves] Ye have been sufficiently apprised of the difficulties in your way - of GOD'S holiness - your own weakness and inconstancy - the need you have of Divine help, and the awful consequences of apostasy; and now ye deliberately make your choice. Remember then, that ye are witnesses against yourselves, and your own conscience will be witness, judge, and executioner; or, as one terms it, index, judex, vindex.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 22. Ye are witnesses against yourselves] Clearly and unmistakeably…
22. Ye are witnesses against yourselves] Clearly and unmistakeably the people had declared that they had chosen the service of Jehovah. By so doing, in the event of their falling away, they would condemn themselves by their own evidence, and would be obliged to admit that Jehovah had a right to punish them for their unfaithfulness.
We are witnesses] Literally, Witnesses are we against ourselves.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Ye are witnesses against yourselves. Joshua has not disguised…
Ye are witnesses against yourselves. Joshua has not disguised from them the difficulty of the task they have undertaken. Like a true guide and father, he has placed the case fully and fairly before them, and they have made their choice. He reminds them that their own words so deliberately uttered will be forever witnesses against them, should they afterwards refuse to keep an engagement into which they entered with their eyes open. They do not in any way shrink from the responsibility, and by accepting the situation as it is placed before them, render it impossible henceforth to plead ignorance or surprise as an excuse for their disobedience. And it is well to observe, as has been remarked above, that such an excuse never was pleaded afterwards, that the obligation, though evaded, was never disavowed.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 24:22 a witness to your own decision: Joshua pressed…
24:22 a witness to your own decision: Joshua pressed the people to repeat their declaration as a legal affirmation and commitment.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.