22 Then Joshua called together the tribes of Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh. 2 Joshua said, ‘You have done everything that Moses, the Lord 's servant, told you to do. [ a ] You have also obeyed everything that I told you to do. 3 You have helped the other tribes for a long time now. You have stayed with them even until today. You have done all the work that the Lord your God gave you to do. 4 Now your brothers can live safely in the land, as the Lord promised them. So you can return to your homes on the other side of the Jordan River. Moses, the Lord 's servant, gave that land to you. 5 But you must be very careful to obey the rules and the laws that Moses gave to you. You must love the Lord your God. You must obey the rules and commands that he has given to us. You must worship him and serve him with everything that you have.’
6 Joshua then blessed them and he sent them away to their homes. 7 (Moses had given land in Bashan to half the tribe of Manasseh. But Joshua had given land on the west side of the Jordan to the other half of the tribe, as he did for the other tribes.) When Joshua sent the 2½ tribes home, he blessed them. 8 He said, ‘Go back to your homes with the valuable things that you took from your enemies. Take many animals with you. Take silver, gold, bronze and iron things, as well as beautiful clothes. Share these things with the other people of your tribes.’
9 So the tribes of Reuben, Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh left the other Israelites in Shiloh, in the land of Canaan. They returned to their own land in Gilead. Moses had given this land to them, as the Lord had told him.
10 The 2½ tribes came to Geliloth, near the Jordan River, in Canaan. They built a big altar there, beside the river. 11 The other Israelites heard this news: ‘Those 2½ tribes have built an altar on the border of Canaan, at Geliloth! They have built it on the west side of the Jordan River, our side!’ 12 So the Israelites came together at Shiloh to fight against the other 2½ tribes.
13 The Israelites sent Phinehas, son of Eleazar the priest, to the land of Gilead. He went to meet with the 2½ tribes, Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh. 14 10 Israelite leaders went with him, one man from each of their tribes. Each man was a leader of his own clan.
15 The Israelite leaders arrived in the land of Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh, in Gilead. 16 They said, ‘You have not obeyed the Lord , Israel's God. All the people of Israel agree that you have done a bad thing. You have turned against the Lord . You should not have built this altar for yourselves. [ b ] 17 We did something very bad at Peor. [ c ] Even now, we have not made it right. The Lord brought a bad disease to punish us as his people. 18 Now you are doing another bad thing. You no longer want to obey the Lord . You are turning against him today. So tomorrow the Lord may punish us all!
19 If your land here in Gilead is unclean, come back across the river to the Lord 's own land. You can come and live among us, in the land where the Lord 's tabernacle is. But do not turn against the Lord or against us. Do not build an altar for yourselves. The Lord our God already has his altar here. 20 Remember the time when Achan, son of Zerah, took things that belonged to God for himself. He refused to obey God's command about Jericho's valuable things. Then God became angry with all the people of Israel. Achan died because of his sin, but he was not the only one.’ [ d ]
21 Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh answered the Israelite leaders. 22 They said, ‘God, the Lord , is the great God! God, the Lord knows what is true! So all Israel must also know! Punish us today if we have turned against the Lord . We have not refused to obey him. 23 We did not build our own altar to make burnt offerings or grain offerings or friendship offerings on it. If we have done that, the Lord himself should certainly punish us.
24 No! We had a very different idea. We were afraid that in the future, your descendants might say to our descendants, “You have nothing to do with the Lord , Israel's God. 25 The Lord put the Jordan River as a border between our tribes and your tribes. The tribes of Reuben and Gad cannot worship the Lord !” In that way, your descendants might stop our descendants from serving the Lord .
26 That is why we decided to build this altar. It will not be an altar where we make sacrifices or burnt offerings. 27 But it will help us all, our descendants and your descendants, to remember to obey the Lord . We will go to worship him at his tabernacle. There we will bring to him our burnt offerings, our sacrifices and our friendship offerings. Then, in future years, your descendants will not say to our descendants, “You cannot worship the Lord with us.”
28 If they say that to us, we will reply, “Look at this altar that our ancestors built. It is a copy of the Lord 's true altar. It is not for burnt offerings or sacrifices. They built it so that we would remember that we all belong to the Lord .”
29 We would never decide to turn against the Lord . We want to continue to obey him. We know that the only altar where we must make burnt offerings, sacrifices and friendship offerings is the true altar of the Lord our God. That altar stands in front of his tabernacle.’
30 Phinehas the priest and the Israelite leaders that were with him heard this. They were happy with what the people of Reuben, Gad and Manasseh had told them. 31 They said to them, ‘Now we know that the Lord is with us! You have not refused to obey the Lord . So we know that he will not punish us Israelites.’
32 Then Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the priest, and the leaders left Gilead and they went back to the land of Canaan. They told the Israelites in Canaan what the people of Reuben and Gad had said. 33 The Israelites were happy to hear their report. They thanked God. They did not think any more that they might attack the other tribes and destroy their land.
34 The people of Reuben and Gad gave their altar a name, because they wanted to remember that the Lord is their God. So they called the altar ‘Remember’.
22 Then Joshua called a meeting of all the people from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh. 2 Joshua said to them, “Moses was the Lord ’s servant. You obeyed everything that Moses told you to do. And you also obeyed all of my commands. 3 All this time you have supported all the other Israelites. You carefully obeyed all the commands that the Lord your God gave you. 4 The Lord your God promised to give the Israelites peace. And now, he has kept his promise, so now you can go home. The Lord ’s servant Moses gave you the land on the east side of the Jordan River. Now you can go home to that land. 5 But remember—continue to obey the law that the Lord ’s servant Moses gave you. You must love the Lord your God and obey his commands. You must continue to follow him and serve him the very best that you can.”
6 Then Joshua said goodbye to them, and they left and went home. 7 Moses had given the land of Bashan to half of the Manasseh tribe. Joshua gave land on the west side of the Jordan River to the other half of the Manasseh tribe. Joshua blessed them and sent them home. 8 He said, “You have become very rich. You have many animals. You have gold, silver, and expensive jewelry. You have many beautiful clothes. You have taken many things from your enemies. Go home and divide these things among yourselves.”
9 So the people from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh left the other Israelites at Shiloh in Canaan. They went back home to Gilead. This was their own land, the land that Moses gave them, as the Lord had commanded.
10 They went to the place called Geliloth, near the Jordan River in the land of Canaan. There they built a beautiful altar. 11 But the other Israelites who were still at Shiloh heard about the altar that these three tribes built. They heard that the altar was at the border of Canaan at the place called Geliloth. It was near the Jordan River on Israel’s side. 12 All the Israelites became very angry with these three tribes. They met together and decided to fight against them.
13 So the Israelites sent some men to talk to the people of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh. The leader of these men was Phinehas, son of Eleazar the priest. 14 They also sent ten of the leaders of the tribes there. There was one man from each family group of Israel who was at Shiloh.
15 So these eleven men went to Gilead. They went to talk to the people of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh. The eleven men said to them, 16 “All the Lord ’s people sent us to ask you this: ‘Why did you do this thing against the God of Israel? Why did you stop following the Lord ? Why did you build an altar for yourselves? You know that this is against the Lord ’s command. 17 Remember what happened at Peor? Was the sin we committed there not bad enough? Because of that sin, the Lord punished his people with a terrible sickness. And we are still suffering from that sin. 18 And now you are doing the same thing. You are turning against the Lord . Will you refuse to follow the Lord ? If you don’t stop what you are doing, he will be angry with everyone in Israel.
19 “‘If your land is not a good place to worship God, come over to the Lord ’s land. This is where the Lord ’s Tent is. You can have some of the land and live here. But don’t turn against the Lord or against us by building another altar. We already have the altar of the Lord our God at the Meeting Tent.
20 “‘Remember how Achan son of Zerah refused to obey the command about things that must be destroyed. That one man broke God’s law, but all the Israelites were punished. Achan died because of his sin, but also many other people died.’”
21 The people from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh answered the eleven men. They said, 22 “The Lord is our God! [ a ] Again we say that the Lord is our God! And God knows why we did this thing. We want you to know also. You can judge what we did. If you think we did it because we are against the Lord or refuse to obey him, you can kill us today. 23 Do you think we built our own altar because we want to turn away from the Lord ? Do you think we built another altar for burnt offerings, grain offerings, and fellowship offerings? If that is why we built this altar, we ask the Lord himself to punish us. 24 But that is not why we built it. We built it because we were afraid that in the future your descendants might not accept us as part of God’s people. So your children might say to our children, ‘You people have no reason to worship the Lord , the God of Israel. 25 The Lord separated you people of Reuben and Gad from us by giving you the land on the other side of the Jordan River. So you are not part of the Lord ’s people.’ If your children said that, it might make our children stop worshiping the Lord .
26 “So we decided to build this altar. But we did not plan to use it for burning offerings and sacrifices. 27 The real reason we wanted our altar was to show our people that we worship the same God you do. This altar will be the proof to you and us and to all our future children that we worship the Lord . We give our sacrifices, grain offerings, and fellowship offerings to the Lord . We wanted your children to grow up and know that we are also Israelites like yourselves. 28 In the future, if it happens that your children say that we don’t belong to Israel, then our children can say, ‘Look, our fathers who lived before us made an altar. That altar is exactly like the Lord ’s altar at the Holy Tent. We don’t use this altar for sacrifices—this altar is proof that we are part of Israel.’
29 “The truth is, we don’t want to be against the Lord . We don’t want to stop following him now. We know that the only true altar is the one that is in front of the Holy Tent. That altar belongs to the Lord our God.”
30 Phinehas the priest and the leaders with him heard what the people from Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh said. They were satisfied that they were telling the truth. 31 So Phinehas the priest said, “Now we know that the Lord is with us and that you did not turn against him. We are happy that the Israelites will not be punished by the Lord .”
32 Then Phinehas and the leaders left that place and went home. They left the people of Reuben and Gad in the land of Gilead and went back to Canaan. They went back to the Israelites and told them what had happened. 33 The Israelites were also satisfied. They were happy and thanked God. They decided not to go and fight against the people of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh. They decided not to destroy the land where those people live.
34 The people of Reuben and Gad named the altar “Proof That We Believe the Lord is God.”
22 Then Joshua called the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh,
2 And said unto them, Ye have kept all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, and have obeyed my voice in all that I commanded you:
3 Ye have not left your brethren these many days unto this day, but have kept the charge of the commandment of the Lord your God.
4 And now the Lord your God hath given rest unto your brethren, as he promised them: therefore now return ye, and get you unto your tents, and unto the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you on the other side Jordan.
5 But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of the Lord charged you, to love the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave unto him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.
6 So Joshua blessed them, and sent them away: and they went unto their tents.
7 Now to the one half of the tribe of Manasseh Moses had given possession in Bashan: but unto the other half thereof gave Joshua among their brethren on this side Jordan westward. And when Joshua sent them away also unto their tents, then he blessed them,
8 And he spake unto them, saying, Return with much riches unto your tents, and with very much cattle, with silver, and with gold, and with brass, and with iron, and with very much raiment: divide the spoil of your enemies with your brethren.
9 And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh returned, and departed from the children of Israel out of Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go unto the country of Gilead, to the land of their possession, whereof they were possessed, according to the word of the Lord by the hand of Moses.
10 And when they came unto the borders of Jordan, that are in the land of Canaan, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh built there an altar by Jordan, a great altar to see to.
11 And the children of Israel heard say, Behold, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh have built an altar over against the land of Canaan, in the borders of Jordan, at the passage of the children of Israel.
12 And when the children of Israel heard of it, the whole congregation of the children of Israel gathered themselves together at Shiloh, to go up to war against them.
13 And the children of Israel sent unto the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the half tribe of Manasseh, into the land of Gilead, Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest,
14 And with him ten princes, of each chief house a prince throughout all the tribes of Israel; and each one was an head of the house of their fathers among the thousands of Israel.
15 And they came unto the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the half tribe of Manasseh, unto the land of Gilead, and they spake with them, saying,
16 Thus saith the whole congregation of the Lord , What trespass is this that ye have committed against the God of Israel, to turn away this day from following the Lord , in that ye have builded you an altar, that ye might rebel this day against the Lord ?
17 Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us, from which we are not cleansed until this day, although there was a plague in the congregation of the Lord ,
18 But that ye must turn away this day from following the Lord ? and it will be, seeing ye rebel to day against the Lord , that to morrow he will be wroth with the whole congregation of Israel.
19 Notwithstanding, if the land of your possession be unclean, then pass ye over unto the land of the possession of the Lord , wherein the Lord 's tabernacle dwelleth, and take possession among us: but rebel not against the Lord , nor rebel against us, in building you an altar beside the altar of the Lord our God.
20 Did not Achan the son of Zerah commit a trespass in the accursed thing, and wrath fell on all the congregation of Israel? and that man perished not alone in his iniquity.
21 Then the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh answered, and said unto the heads of the thousands of Israel,
22 The Lord God of gods, the Lord God of gods, he knoweth, and Israel he shall know; if it be in rebellion, or if in transgression against the Lord , (save us not this day,)
23 That we have built us an altar to turn from following the Lord , or if to offer thereon burnt offering or meat offering, or if to offer peace offerings thereon, let the Lord himself require it;
24 And if we have not rather done it for fear of this thing, saying, In time to come your children might speak unto our children, saying, What have ye to do with the Lord God of Israel?
25 For the Lord hath made Jordan a border between us and you, ye children of Reuben and children of Gad; ye have no part in the Lord : so shall your children make our children cease from fearing the Lord .
26 Therefore we said, Let us now prepare to build us an altar, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice:
27 But that it may be a witness between us, and you, and our generations after us, that we might do the service of the Lord before him with our burnt offerings, and with our sacrifices, and with our peace offerings; that your children may not say to our children in time to come, Ye have no part in the Lord .
28 Therefore said we, that it shall be, when they should so say to us or to our generations in time to come, that we may say again, Behold the pattern of the altar of the Lord , which our fathers made, not for burnt offerings, nor for sacrifices; but it is a witness between us and you.
29 God forbid that we should rebel against the Lord , and turn this day from following the Lord , to build an altar for burnt offerings, for meat offerings, or for sacrifices, beside the altar of the Lord our God that is before his tabernacle.
30 And when Phinehas the priest, and the princes of the congregation and heads of the thousands of Israel which were with him, heard the words that the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the children of Manasseh spake, it pleased them.
31 And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said unto the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the children of Manasseh, This day we perceive that the Lord is among us, because ye have not committed this trespass against the Lord : now ye have delivered the children of Israel out of the hand of the Lord .
32 And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, and the princes, returned from the children of Reuben, and from the children of Gad, out of the land of Gilead, unto the land of Canaan, to the children of Israel, and brought them word again.
33 And the thing pleased the children of Israel; and the children of Israel blessed God, and did not intend to go up against them in battle, to destroy the land wherein the children of Reuben and Gad dwelt.
34 And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad called the altar Ed: for it shall be a witness between us that the Lord is God.
22 ( A ) Then Joshua summoned the Reubenites and the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, 2 and said to them, “You have kept all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, ( B ) and have listened to my voice in all that I commanded you. 3 You have not abandoned your brothers these many days to this day, but have fulfilled the obligation of the commandment of the Lord your God. 4 And now ( C ) the Lord your God has given rest to your brothers, as He spoke to them; therefore turn now and go to your tents, to the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you beyond the Jordan. 5 Only be very careful to [ a ] follow the commandment and the Law which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, to ( D ) love the Lord your God and walk in all His ways, and keep His commandments and cling to Him, and serve Him ( E ) with all your heart and with all your soul.” 6 So Joshua ( F ) blessed them and sent them away, and they went to their tents.
7 Now ( G ) to the one half-tribe of Manasseh Moses had given a possession in Bashan, but ( H ) to the other half Joshua gave a possession among their brothers westward beyond the Jordan. So when Joshua sent them away to their tents, he also blessed them, 8 and said to [ b ] them, “Return to your tents with great riches and with very many livestock, with silver, gold, bronze, iron, and with very many clothes; ( I ) divide the spoils of your enemies with your brothers.” 9 So the sons of Reuben, the sons of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh returned home , [ c ] leaving the sons of Israel at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go to the ( J ) land of Gilead, to the land of their possession in which they had settled, in accordance with the [ d ] command of the Lord [ e ] through Moses.
10 When they came to the region of the Jordan which is in the land of Canaan, the sons of Reuben, the sons of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an altar there by the Jordan, [ f ] a large altar in appearance. 11 But the sons of Israel [ g ] heard a report: “Behold, the sons of Reuben, the sons of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh have ( K ) built an altar at the [ h ] frontier of the land of Canaan, in the region of the Jordan, on the side belonging to the sons of Israel.” 12 And when the sons of Israel heard about it , the entire congregation of the sons of Israel assembled at ( L ) Shiloh to go up against them in battle.
13 Then the sons of Israel sent to the sons of Reuben, to the sons of Gad, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead, ( M ) Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, 14 and with him ten leaders, one leader for each father’s household from each of the tribes of Israel; and ( N ) each one of them was the head of his father’s household among the [ i ] thousands of Israel. 15 They came to the sons of Reuben, the sons of Gad, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead, and they spoke with them, saying, 16 “This is what the whole congregation of the Lord says: ‘What is this unfaithful act which you have committed against the God of Israel, turning away from following the Lord this day, by ( O ) building yourselves an altar, to rebel against the Lord this day? 17 Is ( P ) the wrongdoing of Peor [ j ] not enough for us, from which we have not cleansed ourselves to this day, although [ k ] a plague came on the congregation of the Lord , 18 that you must turn away this day from following the Lord ? If you rebel against the Lord today, ( Q ) He will be angry with the entire congregation of Israel tomorrow. 19 If, however, the land of your possession is unclean, then [ l ] cross into the land of the possession of the Lord , where the Lord ’ s [ m ] tabernacle [ n ] stands, and settle among us. Only do not rebel against the Lord , or rebel against us, by ( R ) building an altar for yourselves besides the altar of the Lord our God. 20 Did ( S ) Achan the son of Zerah not act unfaithfully in the things designated for destruction, and wrath fall on the entire congregation of Israel? So that man did not perish alone in his guilt.’”
21 Then the sons of Reuben, the sons of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered and spoke to the heads of the [ o ] families of Israel. 22 “The ( T ) Mighty One, God, the Lord , the Mighty One, God, the Lord ! ( U ) He knows, and may Israel itself know. If it was in rebellion, or if in an unfaithful act against the Lord , do not save us this day! 23 If we have built us an altar to turn away from following the Lord , or if to ( V ) offer a burnt offering or grain offering on it, or if to offer sacrifices of peace offerings on it, may the Lord Himself [ p ] demand it. 24 But truly we have done this out of concern, [ q ] for a reason, saying, ‘In time to come your sons may say to our [ r ] sons, “What have you to do with the Lord , the God of Israel? 25 For the Lord has made the Jordan a border between us and you, you sons of Reuben and sons of Gad; you have no portion in the Lord .” So your sons may make our sons stop fearing the Lord .’
26 “Therefore we said, ‘Let’s [ s ] build an altar, not for burnt offering or for sacrifice; 27 rather, it shall be ( W ) a witness between us and you and between our generations after us, that we are to ( X ) perform the service of the Lord before Him with our burnt offerings, our sacrifices, and with our peace offerings, so that your sons will not say to our sons in time to come, “You have no portion in the Lord .”’ 28 Therefore we said, ‘It shall also come about if they say this to us or to our generations in time to come, then we shall say, “See the copy of the altar of the Lord which our fathers made, not for burnt offering or for sacrifice; rather, it is a witness between us and you.”’ 29 Far be it from us that we should rebel against the Lord and turn away from following the Lord this day, by ( Y ) building an altar for burnt offering, for grain offering, or for sacrifice, besides the altar of the Lord our God which is before His [ t ] tabernacle.”
30 So when Phinehas the priest and the leaders of the congregation, that is, the heads of the [ u ] families of Israel who were with him, heard the words which the sons of Reuben, the sons of Gad, and the sons of Manasseh spoke, it pleased them. 31 And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said to the sons of Reuben, the sons of Gad, and to the sons of Manasseh, “Today we know that the ( Z ) Lord is in our midst, because you have not committed this unfaithful act against the Lord ; now you have saved the sons of Israel from the hand of the Lord .”
32 Then Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest and the leaders returned from the sons of Reuben and from the sons of Gad, from the land of Gilead to the land of Canaan, to the sons of Israel, and brought back word to them. 33 The word pleased the sons of Israel, and the sons of Israel ( AA ) blessed God; and they did not speak of going up against them in battle to destroy the land in which the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad were living. 34 And the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad ( AB ) called the altar Witness ; “For,” they said , “it is a witness between us that the Lord is God.”
22 Then Joshua summoned the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh 2 and said to them, “You have done all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded, ( A ) and you have obeyed me in everything I commanded. 3 For a long time now—to this very day—you have not deserted your fellow Israelites but have carried out the mission the Lord your God gave you. 4 Now that the Lord your God has given them rest ( B ) as he promised, return to your homes ( C ) in the land that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you on the other side of the Jordan. ( D ) 5 But be very careful to keep the commandment ( E ) and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you: to love the Lord ( F ) your God, to walk in obedience to him, to keep his commands, ( G ) to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul. ( H ) ”
6 Then Joshua blessed ( I ) them and sent them away, and they went to their homes. 7 (To the half-tribe of Manasseh Moses had given land in Bashan, ( J ) and to the other half of the tribe Joshua gave land on the west side ( K ) of the Jordan along with their fellow Israelites.) When Joshua sent them home, he blessed them, ( L ) 8 saying, “Return to your homes with your great wealth—with large herds of livestock, ( M ) with silver, gold, bronze and iron, ( N ) and a great quantity of clothing—and divide ( O ) the plunder ( P ) from your enemies with your fellow Israelites.”
9 So the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh left the Israelites at Shiloh ( Q ) in Canaan to return to Gilead, ( R ) their own land, which they had acquired in accordance with the command of the Lord through Moses.
10 When they came to Geliloth ( S ) near the Jordan in the land of Canaan, the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an imposing altar ( T ) there by the Jordan. 11 And when the Israelites heard that they had built the altar on the border of Canaan at Geliloth near the Jordan on the Israelite side, 12 the whole assembly of Israel gathered at Shiloh ( U ) to go to war against them.
13 So the Israelites sent Phinehas ( V ) son of Eleazar, ( W ) the priest, to the land of Gilead—to Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh. 14 With him they sent ten of the chief men, one from each of the tribes of Israel, each the head of a family division among the Israelite clans. ( X )
15 When they went to Gilead—to Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh—they said to them: 16 “The whole assembly of the Lord says: ‘How could you break faith ( Y ) with the God of Israel like this? How could you turn away from the Lord and build yourselves an altar in rebellion ( Z ) against him now? 17 Was not the sin of Peor ( AA ) enough for us? Up to this very day we have not cleansed ourselves from that sin, even though a plague fell on the community of the Lord ! 18 And are you now turning away from the Lord ?
“‘If you rebel against the Lord today, tomorrow he will be angry with the whole community ( AB ) of Israel. 19 If the land you possess is defiled, come over to the Lord ’s land, where the Lord ’s tabernacle ( AC ) stands, and share the land with us. But do not rebel against the Lord or against us by building an altar ( AD ) for yourselves, other than the altar of the Lord our God. 20 When Achan son of Zerah was unfaithful in regard to the devoted things, [ a ] ( AE ) did not wrath ( AF ) come on the whole community ( AG ) of Israel? He was not the only one who died for his sin.’” ( AH )
21 Then Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh replied to the heads of the clans of Israel: 22 “The Mighty One, God, the Lord ! The Mighty One, God, ( AI ) the Lord ! ( AJ ) He knows! ( AK ) And let Israel know! If this has been in rebellion or disobedience to the Lord , do not spare us this day. 23 If we have built our own altar to turn away from the Lord and to offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, ( AL ) or to sacrifice fellowship offerings on it, may the Lord himself call us to account. ( AM )
24 “No! We did it for fear that some day your descendants might say to ours, ‘What do you have to do with the Lord , the God of Israel? 25 The Lord has made the Jordan a boundary between us and you—you Reubenites and Gadites! You have no share in the Lord .’ So your descendants might cause ours to stop fearing the Lord .
26 “That is why we said, ‘Let us get ready and build an altar—but not for burnt offerings or sacrifices.’ 27 On the contrary, it is to be a witness ( AN ) between us and you and the generations that follow, that we will worship the Lord at his sanctuary with our burnt offerings, sacrifices and fellowship offerings. ( AO ) Then in the future your descendants will not be able to say to ours, ‘You have no share in the Lord .’
28 “And we said, ‘If they ever say this to us, or to our descendants, we will answer: Look at the replica of the Lord ’s altar, which our ancestors built, not for burnt offerings and sacrifices, but as a witness ( AP ) between us and you.’
29 “Far be it from us to rebel ( AQ ) against the Lord and turn away from him today by building an altar for burnt offerings, grain offerings and sacrifices, other than the altar of the Lord our God that stands before his tabernacle. ( AR ) ”
30 When Phinehas the priest and the leaders of the community—the heads of the clans of the Israelites—heard what Reuben, Gad and Manasseh had to say, they were pleased. 31 And Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, said to Reuben, Gad and Manasseh, “Today we know that the Lord is with us, ( AS ) because you have not been unfaithful to the Lord in this matter. Now you have rescued the Israelites from the Lord ’s hand.”
32 Then Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, and the leaders returned to Canaan from their meeting with the Reubenites and Gadites in Gilead and reported to the Israelites. ( AT ) 33 They were glad to hear the report and praised God. ( AU ) And they talked no more about going to war against them to devastate the country where the Reubenites and the Gadites lived.
34 And the Reubenites and the Gadites gave the altar this name: A Witness ( AV ) Between Us—that the Lord is God.
