What Does Joshua 24:21 Mean in the King James?

And the people said unto Joshua, Nay; but we will serve the LORD.

Joshua 24:21 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

THE KEY

The promise to “serve” carries the root of both labor and servant: the people’s “No” pledges their work and allegiance to the LORD.

THE MEANING

The verse places a decisive answer before the reader: “No; we will serve the LORD.” Its verb names work and service, so the declaration carries the shape of an allegiance expressed through what a life serves.

THE ROOT

עָבַד

ʿāvad

GROWS FROM

עבד

To work, serve, or labor.

The same root gives Hebrew its words for a servant and for work or service. “We will serve” therefore reaches beyond a spoken pledge: it names a life’s labor and allegiance.

ALSO GROWS

ʿeved: Servant, worker

עֶבֶד

The servant is named from the same root as the people’s promise to serve, tying allegiance to a lived role.

ʿavodah: Work, service

עֲבֹדָה

This branch makes the labor inside “serve” visible: the pledge concerns the work given to the LORD.

THE PATTERN

Service is a whole-life allegiance: what the mouth pledges, the hands enact, and one cannot serve competing masters.

And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.

Exodus 3:12 · KJVThe same verb for serving connects being brought out with a life directed toward God.

And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,

Deuteronomy 10:12 · KJVService here belongs to the whole person, joining the pledge to the heart, soul, love, and way of life.

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Matthew 6:24 · KJVThe verse makes service an allegiance that cannot be divided between competing masters.

THE THREAD

And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.

Exodus 3:12 · KJV

The same ⁨עבד⁩ root joins Joshua’s pledge to the service named here: being brought out opens into a life oriented toward God. “We will serve” names what freedom is for.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us