Joshua 22
1 Then Joshua summoned the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh
Then Joshua sent for the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh,
2 and told them, “You have done all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, and you have obeyed my voice in all that I commanded you.
And said to them, You have kept all the orders of Moses, the Lord's servant, and have done everything I gave you orders to do:
3 All this time you have not deserted your brothers, up to this very day, but have kept the charge given you by the LORD your God.
You have now been with your brothers for a long time; till this day you have been doing the orders of the Lord your God.
4 And now that the LORD your God has given your brothers rest as He promised them, you may return to your homes in the land that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you across the Jordan.
And now the Lord your God has given your brothers rest, as he said: so now you may go back to your tents, to the land of your heritage, which Moses, the Lord's servant, gave to you on the other side of Jordan.
5 But be very careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you: to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, to keep His commandments, to hold fast to Him, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.”
Only take great care to do the orders and the law which Moses, the Lord's servant, gave you; to have love for the Lord your God and to go in all his ways; and to keep his laws and to be true to him and to be his servants with all your heart and with all your soul.
6 So Joshua blessed them and sent them on their way, and they went to their homes.
Then Joshua gave them his blessing and sent them away: and they went back to their tents.
7 (To the half-tribe of Manasseh Moses had given land in Bashan, and to the other half Joshua gave land on the west side of the Jordan among their brothers.) When Joshua sent them to their homes he blessed them,
Now to the one half of the tribe of Manasseh, Moses had given a heritage in Bashan; but to the other half, Joshua gave a heritage among their brothers on the west side of Jordan. Now when Joshua sent them away to their tents, he gave them his blessing,
8 saying, “Return to your homes with your great wealth, with immense herds of livestock, with silver, gold, bronze, iron, and very many clothes. Divide with your brothers the spoil of your enemies.”
And said to them, Go back with much wealth to your tents, and with very much cattle, with silver and gold and brass and iron, and with a very great store of clothing; give your brothers a part of the goods taken in the war.
9 So the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh left the Israelites at Shiloh in the land of Canaan to return to their own land of Gilead, which they had acquired according to the command of the LORD through Moses.
So Reuben and Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh went back, parting from the children of Israel at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, to go to the land of Gilead, to the land of their heritage which had been given to them by the Lord's order to Moses.
10 And when they came to Geliloth near the Jordan in the land of Canaan, the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an imposing altar there by the Jordan.
Now when they came to the country by Jordan in the land of Canaan, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh put up there, by Jordan, a great altar, seen from far.
11 Then the Israelites received the report: “Behold, the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built an altar on the border of the land of Canaan, at Geliloth near the Jordan on the Israelite side.”
And news came to the children of Israel, See, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh have put up an altar opposite the land of Canaan, in the country by Jordan on the side which is Israel's.
12 And when they heard this, the whole congregation of Israel assembled at Shiloh to go to war against them.
Then all the meeting of the children of Israel, hearing this, came together at Shiloh to go up against them to war.
13 The Israelites sent Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest to the land of Gilead, to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.
And the children of Israel sent Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the priest, to the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh, to the land of Gilead,
14 With him they sent ten chiefs—one family leader from each tribe of Israel, each the head of a family among the clans of Israel.
And with him they sent ten chiefs, one for every tribe of the children of Israel, every one of them the head of his house among the families of Israel.
15 They went to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh in the land of Gilead and said to them,
And they came to the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh, to the land of Gilead, and said to them,
16 “This is what the whole congregation of the LORD says: ‘What is this breach of faith you have committed today against the God of Israel by turning away from the LORD and building for yourselves an altar, that you might rebel against the LORD this day?
This is what all the meeting of the people of the Lord has said, What is this wrong which you have done against the God of Israel, turning back this day from the Lord and building an altar for yourselves, and being false to the Lord?
17 Was not the sin of Peor enough for us, from which we have not cleansed ourselves to this day? It even brought a plague upon the congregation of the LORD.
Was not the sin of Baal-peor great enough, from which we are not clear even to this day, though punishment came on the people of the Lord,
18 And now, would you turn away from the LORD? If you rebel today against the LORD, tomorrow He will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel.
That now you are turned back from the Lord? and, because you are false to him today, tomorrow his wrath will be let loose on all the people of Israel.
19 If indeed the land of your inheritance is unclean, then cross over to the land of the LORD’s possession, where the LORD’s tabernacle stands, and take possession of it among us. But do not rebel against the LORD or against us by building for yourselves an altar other than the altar of the LORD our God.
But if the land you now have is unclean, come over into the Lord's land where his House is, and take up your heritage among us: but do not be false to the Lord and to us by building yourselves an altar in addition to the altar of the Lord our God.
20 Was not Achan son of Zerah unfaithful regarding what was set apart for destruction, bringing wrath upon the whole congregation of Israel? Yet it was not only Achan who perished because of his sin!’”
Did not Achan, the son of Zerah, do wrong about the cursed thing, causing wrath to come on all the people of Israel? And not on him only came the punishment of death.
21 Then the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered the leaders of the clans of Israel:
Then the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh said in answer to the heads of the families of Israel,
22 “The LORD, the Mighty One, is God! The LORD, the Mighty One, is God! He knows, and may Israel also know. If this was in rebellion or breach of faith against the LORD, do not spare us today.
God, even God the Lord, God, even God the Lord, he sees, and Israel will see — if it is in pride or in sin against the Lord,
23 If we have built for ourselves an altar to turn away from Him and to offer burnt offerings and grain offerings on it, or to sacrifice fellowship offerings on it, may the LORD Himself hold us accountable.
That we have made ourselves an altar, being false to the Lord, keep us not safe from death this day; and if for the purpose of offering burned offerings on it and meal offerings, or peace-offerings, let the Lord himself send punishment for it;
24 But in fact we have done this for fear that in the future your descendants might say to ours, ‘What have you to do with the LORD, the God of Israel?
And if we have not, in fact, done this designedly and with purpose, having in our minds the fear that in time to come your children might say to our children, 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 Reubenites and Gadites. You have no share in the LORD!’ So your descendants could cause ours to stop fearing the LORD.
For the Lord has made Jordan a line of division between us and you, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad; you have no part in the Lord: so your children will make our children give up fearing the Lord.
26 That is why we said, ‘Let us take action and build an altar for ourselves, but not for burnt offerings or sacrifices.
So we said, Let us now make an altar for ourselves, not for burned offerings or for the offerings of beasts:
27 Rather, let it be a witness between us and you and the generations to come, that we will worship the LORD in His presence with our burnt offerings, sacrifices, and peace offerings.’ Then in the future, your descendants cannot say to ours, ‘You have no share in the LORD!’
But to be a witness between us and you, and between the future generations, that we have the right of worshipping the Lord with our burned offerings and our offerings of beasts and our peace-offerings; so that your children will not be able to say to our children in time to come, You have no part in the Lord.
28 Therefore we said, ‘If they ever say this to us or to our descendants, we will answer: Look at the replica of the altar of the LORD that our fathers made, not for burnt offerings or sacrifices, but as a witness between us and you.’
For we said to ourselves, If they say this to us or to future generations, then we will say, See this copy of the Lord's altar which our fathers made, not for burned offerings or offerings of beasts, but for a witness between us and you.
29 Far be it from us to rebel against the LORD and turn away from Him today by building an altar for burnt offerings, grain offerings, or sacrifices, other than the altar of the LORD our God, which stands before His tabernacle.”
Never let it be said that we were false to the Lord, turning back this day from him and building an altar for burned offerings and meal offerings and offerings of beasts, in addition to the altar of the Lord our God which is before his House.
30 When Phinehas the priest and the chiefs of the congregation—the heads of Israel’s clans who were with him—heard what the descendants of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh had to say, they were satisfied.
Then Phinehas the priest and the chiefs of the meeting and the heads of the families of Israel who were with him, hearing what the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the children of Manasseh said, were pleased.
31 Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest said to the descendants of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh, “Today we know that the LORD is among us, because you have not committed this breach of faith against Him. Consequently, you have delivered the Israelites from the hand of the LORD.”
And Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the priest, said to the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the children of Manasseh, Now we are certain that the Lord is among us, because you have not done this wrong against the Lord: and you have kept us from falling into the hands of the Lord.
32 Then Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest, together with the other leaders, returned to the Israelites in the land of Canaan and brought back a report regarding the Reubenites and Gadites in the land of Gilead.
Then Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the priest, and the chiefs went back from the land of Gilead, from the children of Reuben and the children of Gad, and came to the children of Israel in Canaan and gave them the news.
33 The Israelites were satisfied with the report, and they blessed God and spoke no more about going to war against them to destroy the land where the Reubenites and Gadites lived.
And the children of Israel were pleased about this; and they gave praise to God, and had no more thought of going to war against the children of Reuben and the children of Gad for the destruction of their land.
34 So the Reubenites and Gadites named the altar Witness, for they said, “It is a witness between us that the LORD is God.”
And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad gave to that altar the name of Ed. For, they said, It is a witness between us that the Lord is God.
