Bible Strands
Joshua 24:25
On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people, and there at Shechem he established for them a statute and ordinance.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Joshua acts on behalf of the assembled people at Shechem immediately after their verbal pledge to serve the Lord. This formalizes their collective commitment at the conclusion of his final address.
The words — The text highlights בְּרִית (be.Rit), literally a covenant, and חֹק (chok), literally a decree or statute. These terms mark the transition from oral promise to binding legal arrangement.
The thread — Covenant-making between leaders and communities recurs in Jehoiada’s pact with the king and people (2 Chronicles 23:16) and the sealed post-exilic agreement (Nehemiah 9:38). The establishment of statutes parallels Mosaic legal traditions recorded in Exodus 15:25.
Why it lands — The verse requires readers to recognize a formalized, publicly witnessed commitment to divine law. It demands accountability through written record and physical markers at a designated sanctuary site.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and set them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem.
Cross-references
- Exodus 15:25 And Moses cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a log. And when he cast it into the waters, they were sweetened. There the LORD made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there He tested them,
- 2 Chronicles 23:16 Then Jehoiada made a covenant between himself and the king and the people that they would be the LORD’s people.
- Nehemiah 9:38 In view of all this, we make a binding agreement, putting it in writing and sealing it with the names of our leaders, Levites, and priests.”
- 2 Kings 11:17 Then Jehoiada made a covenant between the LORD and the king and the people that they would be the LORD’s people. He also made a covenant between the king and the people.
- Exodus 24:3 When Moses came and told the people all the words and ordinances of the LORD, they all responded with one voice: “All the words that the LORD has spoken, we will do.”
- Exodus 24:7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people, who replied, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.”
- Deuteronomy 5:2 The LORD our God made a covenant with us at Horeb.
- Deuteronomy 29:1 These are the words of the covenant that the LORD commanded Moses to make with the Israelites in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant He had made with them at Horeb.
- Deuteronomy 29:10 All of you are standing today before the LORD your God—you leaders of tribes, elders, officials, and all the men of Israel,
- Joshua 24:1 Then Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He summoned the elders, leaders, judges, and officers of Israel, and they presented themselves before God.