Joshua 24:20

Joshua 24:20 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)If ye forsake the Lord, and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done you good.
• New International Version (NIV)If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you, after he has been good to you.”
• English Standard Version (ESV)If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm and consume you, after having done you good."
• New King James Version (NKJV)If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you, after He has done you good.”

Context of Joshua 24:20

18The Lord drove all the peoples out from before us, even the Amorites who lived in the land. We also will serve the Lord, for He is our God.” 19Then Joshua said to the people, “You will not be able to serve the Lord [if you serve any other gods], for He is a holy God; He is a jealous God [demanding what is rightfully and uniquely His]. He will not forgive your transgression [of His law] or your sins. If you do abandon (reject) the Lord and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume and destroy you after He has done you good.” 21The people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve [only] the Lord.” 22Joshua then said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen for yourselves the Lord, to serve Him.” And they said, “We are witnesses.”

Joshua 24:20 word by word

כִּ֤י תַֽעַזְבוּ֙ אֶת־יְהוָ֔ה וַעֲבַדְתֶּ֖ם אֱלֹהֵ֣י נֵכָ֑ר וְשָׁ֨ב וְהֵרַ֤ע לָכֶם֙ וְכִלָּ֣ה אֶתְכֶ֔ם אַחֲרֵ֖י אֲשֶׁר־הֵיטִ֥יב לָכֶֽם׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• If ye forsakeעָזַב‛âzab · to leave: forsakeH5800
• the Lordיְהֹוָהyehôvâh · LORDH3068
• and serveעָבַד‛âbad · to serve: ministerH5647
• strangeנֵכָרnêkâr · foreignH5236
• godsאֱלֹהִים'ĕlôhîym · GodH430
• then he will turnשׁוּבshûb · to return: turn backH7725
• and do you hurtרָעַעrâ‛a‛ · be evilH7489
• and consumeכָּלָהkâlâh · to end: destroyH3615
• you, afterאַחַר'achar · afterH310
• that he hath done you goodיָטַבyâţab · be goodH3190

Cross-references for Joshua 24:20

• Joshua 23:12For if you ever turn back and cling to the rest of these nations, these that are left among you, and intermarry with them, so that you associate with them and they with you,
• 1 Chronicles 28:9“As for you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father [have personal knowledge of Him, be acquainted with, and understand Him; appreciate, heed, and cherish Him] and serve Him with a blameless heart and a willing mind; for the Lord searches all hearts and minds, and understands every intent and inclination of the thoughts. If you seek Him [inquiring for and of Him and requiring Him as your first and vital necessity] He will let you find Him; but if you abandon (turn away from) Him, He will reject you forever.
• 2 Chronicles 15:2and he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: the Lord is with you while you are with Him. If you seek Him [inquiring for and of Him, as your soul’s first necessity], He will let you find Him; but if you abandon (turn away from) Him, He will abandon (turn away from) you.
• Ezra 8:22For I was ashamed to request troops and horsemen from the king to protect us from the enemy along the way, because we had told the king, “The hand of our God is favorable toward all those who seek Him, but His power and His anger are against all those who abandon (turn away from) Him.”
• Isaiah 1:28But rebels and sinners will be crushed and destroyed together, And those who abandon (turn away from) the Lord will be consumed (perish).
• Isaiah 63:10But they rebelled And grieved His Holy Spirit; Therefore He changed into their enemy, And He fought against them.
• Isaiah 65:11But you who abandon (turn away from) the Lord, Who forget and ignore My holy mountain (Zion), Who set a table for Gad [the Babylonian god of fortune], And who fill a jug of mixed wine for Meni [the god of fate],
• Jeremiah 17:13O Lord, the hope of Israel, All who abandon You will be shamed. Those who turn away on earth will be written down, Because they have abandoned the Lord, the fountain of living waters.
• Ezekiel 18:24“But when the righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits sin and acts in accordance with all the repulsive things that the wicked man does, will he live? All of his righteous deeds which he has done will not be remembered because of the treachery that he has committed and for his sin which he has committed; for them he shall die.
• Acts 7:42But God turned away [from them] and handed them over to serve the host of heaven. As it is written and forever remains written in the book of the prophets, ‘It was not [really] to Me that you offered victims and sacrifices for forty years in the wilderness, was it, O house of Israel?
• Hebrews 10:26For if we go on willfully and deliberately sinning after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice [to atone] for our sins [that is, no further offering to anticipate],

Commentaries on Joshua 24:20

• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 15-28Verses 15-28 It is essential that the service of God's people be performed with a willing mind. For LOVE is the only genuine principle whence all acceptable service of God can spring. The Father seeks only such to worship him, as worship him in spirit and in truth. The carnal mind of man is enmity against God, therefore, is not capable of such spiritual worship. Hence the necessity of being born again. But numbers rest in mere forms, as tasks imposed upon…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 19-24Joshua challenged the Israelites from another perspective to show how serious their commitment needed to be. He wanted to make sure they were not responding only out of excitement in the moment.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 14-2814-28. Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in truth--After having enumerated so many grounds for national gratitude, Joshua calls on them to declare, in a public and solemn manner, whether they will be faithful and obedient to the God of Israel. He avowed this to be his own unalterable resolution, and urged them, if they were sincere in making a similar avowal, "to put away the strange gods that were among them"--a requirement…Read the comment

Topics related to Joshua 24:20

• Backsliders
• Covenant
• Decision
• Shechem

In the dictionaries

• Strange Gods
• Joshua
• Serve
• Apostasy; Apostate
• Covenant, in the Old Testament
• Gods
• Hurt
• Joshua, Book of
• forgive, forgiven, forgiveness, pardon, pardoned

Commentaries on Joshua 24

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings