约书亚记 24:19

Chinese NCV (Simplified)

約書亞對眾民說：“你們不能事奉耶和華，因為他是聖潔的　神；他是嫉妒的　神，他必不赦免你們的過犯和罪惡。

Parallel Translations

Chinese Union (Simplified)
约 书 亚 对 百 姓 说 ： 你 们 不 能 事 奉 耶 和 华 ； 因 为 他 是 圣 洁 的 　 神 ， 是 忌 邪 的 　 神 ， 必 不 赦 免 你 们 的 过 犯 罪 恶 。

Contextual Overview

¹⁵ But if you don't want to serve the Lord , you must choose for yourselves today whom you will serve. You may serve the gods that your ancestors worshiped when they lived on the other side of the Euphrates River, or you may serve the gods of the Amorites who lived in this land. As for me and my family, we will serve the Lord ." ¹⁶ Then the people answered, "We will never stop following the Lord to serve other gods! ¹⁷ It was the Lord our God who brought our ancestors out of Egypt. We were slaves in that land, but the Lord did great things for us there. He brought us out and protected us while we traveled through other lands. ¹⁸ Then he forced out all the people living in these lands, even the Amorites. So we will serve the Lord , because he is our God." ¹⁹ Then Joshua said, "You are not able to serve the Lord , because he is a holy God and a jealous God. If you turn against him and sin, he will not forgive you. ²⁰ If you leave the Lord and serve other gods, he will send you great trouble. The Lord may have been good to you, but if you turn against him, he will destroy you." ²¹ But the people said to Joshua, "No! We will serve the Lord ." ²² Then Joshua said, "You are your own witnesses that you have chosen to serve the Lord ." The people said, "Yes, we are." ²³ Then Joshua said, "Now throw away the gods that you have. Love the Lord , the God of Israel, with all your heart." ²⁴ Then the people said to Joshua, "We will serve the Lord our God, and we will obey him."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Ye cannot: Joshua 24:23, Ruth 1:15, Matthew 6:24, Luke 14:25-33

holy: Leviticus 10:3, Leviticus 19:2, 1 Samuel 6:20, Psalms 99:5, Psalms 99:9, Isaiah 5:16, Isaiah 6:3-5, Isaiah 30:11, Isaiah 30:15, Habakkuk 1:13

a jealous: Exodus 20:5, Exodus 34:14, 1 Corinthians 10:20-22

he will not: Exodus 23:21, Exodus 34:7, 1 Samuel 3:14, 2 Chronicles 36:16, Isaiah 27:11

Reciprocal: Numbers 25:11 - that I Psalms 99:3 - for it Isaiah 2:9 - therefore Ezekiel 8:3 - provoketh Nahum 1:2 - General Luke 9:58 - Jesus Luke 14:28 - counteth 1 Corinthians 10:22 - we provoke

Cross-References

Genesis 24:14
I will say to one of them, ‘Please put your jar down so I can drink.' Then let her say, ‘Drink, and I will also give water to your camels.' If that happens, I will know she is the right one for your servant Isaac and that you have shown kindness to my master."

Genesis 24:45
"Before I finished my silent prayer, Rebekah came out of the city with her water jar on her shoulder. She went down to the spring and got water. I said to her, ‘Please give me a drink.'

Genesis 24:46
She quickly lowered the jar from her shoulder and said, ‘Drink this. I will also get water for your camels.' So I drank, and she gave water to my camels too.

1 Peter 4:9
Open your homes to each other, without complaining.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And Joshua said unto the people,.... To their heads and representatives now assembled together, and who had returned to him the preceding answer:

ye cannot serve the Lord; which he said not to discourage or deter them from serving the Lord, since it was his principal view, through the whole of this conversation with them, to engage them in it, but to observe to them their own inability and insufficiency of themselves to perform service acceptable to God; and therefore it became them to implore grace and strength from the Lord to assist them in it, and to depend upon that and not to lean to and trust in their own strength; as also to observe to them, that they could not serve him perfectly without any defect and failure in their service, for there is no man that does good and sins not; and therefore when a man has done all he can, he must not depend upon it for his justification before God; or consider it as his justifying righteousness, which was what that people were always prone to; some supply it,

"you cannot serve the Lord with your images,''

or along with them, so Vatablus:

for he [is] an holy God: perfectly holy, so that the best of men, and the heat of their services, are impure and unholy before him and will not bear to be compared with him, and therefore by no means to be trusted in; and it requires much grace and spiritual strength to perform any service that may be acceptable to him through Christ. In the Hebrew text it is, "for the Holy Ones [are] he": which may serve to illustrate and confirm the doctrine of the trinity of, persons in the unity of the divine Essence, or of the three divine holy Persons, holy Father, holy Son, holy Spirit, as the one God, see Isaiah 6:3;

he [is] a jealous God; of his honour and glory, and of his worship, in which he will admit of no rival, of no graven images, or any idols to be worshipped with him, or besides him; nor will he suffer the idol of men's righteousness to be set up in the room of, or in opposition to, the righteousness of God, even no services and works of men, be they ever so good, since they cannot be perfect before him:

he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins; even the transgressions and sins of such that forsake the worship and service of him, and fall into idolatry, or who seek for justification by their own services, these are both abominable to him; otherwise he is a God pardoning the iniquity, transgression, and sin, of all those who seek unto him and serve him, confess their sins, and renounce their own righteousness; see Exodus 23:21.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Joshua 24:19. Ye cannot serve the Lord: for he is a holy God — If we are to take this literally, we cannot blame the Israelites for their defection from the worship of the true God; for if it was impossible for them to serve God, they could not but come short of his kingdom: but surely this was not the case. Instead of לא תוכלו lo thuchelu, ye CANNOT serve, &c., some eminent critics read לא תכלו lo thechallu, ye shall not CEASE to serve, &c. This is a very ingenious emendation, but there is not one MS. in all the collections of Kennicott and De Rossi to support it. However, it appears very possible that the first ו vau in תוכלו did not make a part of the word originally. If the common reading be preferred, the meaning of the place must be, "Ye cannot serve the Lord, for he is holy and jealous, unless ye put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the flood. For he is a jealous God, and will not give to nor divide his glory with any other. He is a holy God, and will not have his people defiled with the impure worship of the Gentiles."