Joshua24:16

Translation

But the people responded

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and said, “Far be it from us to desert YHVH (read Adonai) to serve other gods.”

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Paraphrase

But the people shouted their response saying, “There’s no way we will ever forsake THE ETERNAL AND PERSONAL GOD in order to serve other gods.”

Footnotes

1

“responded” can mean “respond, answer, speak, shout, sing, or testify as a witness.” The word itself does not give any indication about the intensity of what is spoken, nor does the grammar utilized here contain an intensive verb form, but their actual words demonstrate a high degree of intensity. Therefore, in the translation column I have kept it as a simple response, while in the paraphrase column I describe it as an intense response.

2

This is the word Elohim. In this case it is not a proper name, rather it is just what the word would normally be, “gods.”