Verse Lens · Concise explanation
Joshua 24:14 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 14. 14Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Joshua 24:14 contributes this concrete line to the movement: “Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods…”.
Sincerity means putting away gods that are still available
This verse is one part of that explanation in Joshua 24:14-18. The complete section carries the connected meaning and how it should shape life.
Read It With
- Joshua 24:14–18
Read Joshua 24:14 with 24:14–18. Joshua 24:14 advances “Joshua Calls for Exclusive Service and the People Respond” with the textual step “Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods…”. The complete unit establishes this movement: Joshua calls Israel to fear and serve the LORD sincerely, discard ancestral and Egyptian gods, and choose whom to serve; he commits his household, and the people answer by recalling deliverance and protection.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Joshua 24:1-13 ends with this movement: Unworked cities, vineyards, and oliveyards expose gift and the moral problem of inherited benefit. Joshua 24:14-18 begins with this next step: Past gift demands present integrity and removal of rival gods. It reaches this outcome: The people's response cites rescue and protection as reasons for service. This movement materially develops the book's concern with choice rhetoric, household authority, exclusive service, testimony, and protection of conscience. At Joshua 24:14, this verse contributes the following distinct step: Joshua 24:14 advances “Joshua Calls for Exclusive Service and the People Respond” with the textual step “Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods…”.
What Remains True
Joshua 24:14 contributes this bounded enduring truth: Covenant loyalty joins remembered grace, accountable leadership, embodied practice, and voluntary integrity; it cannot be reduced to force or spectacle.
Continue in Context
Read the complete section for the connected explanation and how it should shape life. This verse is a doorway into that passage, not a saying that stands alone.
Read Joshua 24:14-18 — Joshua Calls for Exclusive Service and the People RespondSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: Joshua 24:14-18, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Joshua
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, clauses, names, repeated roots, boundary formulas, covenant terms, and the base text behind translation discussion.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Josh.xml, 24:14–18
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Joshua with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-level Hebrew, textual, translation, list, number, geographical, historical, and cross-reference notes.
Exact location: NET Bible Joshua PDF, printed pp. 450-451, translation and translator notes on 24:14–18
Open source ↗scholarly commentary article
Joshua
Richard D. Nelson
Oxford University Press, in The Oxford Bible Commentary, edited by John Barton and John Muddiman, 2001
Supports: Whole-book movement, literary boundaries, composition, history and archaeology limits, geography, theology, and material interpretive alternatives.
Exact location: Nelson, 'Joshua,' Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 174-175, discussion of 24:14–18
Open source ↗