And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.

JOSHUA 24:15KJV
Know the Bible

Joshua 24:15 (KJV)

What does Joshua 24:15 mean?

Joshua 24:15 presents a choice about whom the Israelites will serve. Joshua challenges the people to decide whether to follow other gods, while declaring that he and his household will serve the LORD. His words make the decision a public matter for the people gathered before him.

Joshua speaks to the Israelites as they settle in the land where Amorites had lived. “My house” means his household, not simply the building where he lived. The verse sets his household’s declared loyalty alongside the choice he puts before the people.

The Hebrew behind Joshua 24:15

  • “evil” — רָעַע (raʿaʿ): This word can mean to be bad or displeasing. Here Joshua uses it for the possibility that serving the LORD seems undesirable to his listeners.
  • “serve” — עָבַד (ʿavad): This word can mean to work for or serve someone. Its repeated use connects the people’s choice of a god with the service they will give.
  • “flood” — נָהָר (nahar): This word means a river. In this setting, “the other side of the flood” refers to the region beyond the Euphrates River, not to Noah’s flood.

Why Joshua 24:15 matters

  • The choice has roots in both the people’s past and their present surroundings. Joshua names the gods their fathers served beyond the river and the gods of the Amorites in the land where they now live.
  • Joshua’s statement about his household is distinct from the people’s response. In verse 16, the people answer that they will not abandon the LORD to serve other gods.

Where else these words appear

“you” Hebrew H4310 · used in 12 verses

  • Genesis 3:11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
  • Genesis 24:65 For she had said unto the servant, What man is this that walketh in the field to meet us? And the servant had said, It is my master: therefore she took a vail, and covered herself.
  • Judges 20:18 And the children of Israel arose, and went up to the house of God, and asked counsel of God, and said, Which of us shall go up first to the battle against the children of Benjamin? And the LORD said, Judah shall go up first.

“evil” Hebrew H7489 · used in 80 verses

  • Genesis 19:7 And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly.
  • 1 Chronicles 16:22 Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.
  • Isaiah 1:16 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;

“side” Hebrew H5676 · used in 84 verses

  • Genesis 50:10 And they came to the threshingfloor of Atad, which is beyond Jordan, and there they mourned with a great and very sore lamentation: and he made a mourning for his father seven days.
  • Joshua 7:7 And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord GOD, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? would to God we had been content, and dwelt on the other side Jordan!
  • 2 Samuel 10:16 And Hadarezer sent, and brought out the Syrians that were beyond the river: and they came to Helam; and Shobach the captain of the host of Hadarezer went before them.

“Amorites” Hebrew H567 · used in 86 verses

  • Genesis 10:16 And the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgasite,
  • Deuteronomy 1:27 And ye murmured in your tents, and said, Because the LORD hated us, he hath brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us.
  • Joshua 24:12 And I sent the hornet before you, which drave them out from before you, even the two kings of the Amorites; but not with thy sword, nor with thy bow.