Joshua 22

1 Then Joshua sent for the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh,

Then, called Joshua—for the Reubenites, and for the Gadites, —and for the half tribe of Manasseh;

2 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:

and said unto them, Ye, have observed all that Moses the servant of Yahweh commanded you, —and have hearkened unto my voice, in all that I commanded you:

3 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.

ye have not forsaken your brethren, these many days, unto this day, —but have kept the charge of the commandment of Yahweh your God.

4 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.

Now, therefore, that Yahweh your God hath given rest unto your brethren, according as he spake unto them, —now, therefore, turn ye and get you to your homes within the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of Yahweh gave unto you, over the Jordan.

5 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.

Only, take ye diligent heed, to do the commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of Yahweh commanded you—to love Yahweh 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 Then Joshua gave them his blessing and sent them away: and they went back to their tents.

So Joshua blessed them, —and sent them away, and they took their journey unto their homes.

7 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,

Now, unto the [one] half tribe of Manesseh, had Moses given a possession in Bashan, and, unto the [other] half, did Joshua give possession with their brethren, over the Jordan, westward, —moreover also, when Joshua sent them away unto their homes, he blessed them,

8 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.

and spake unto them, saying—With much wealth, return ye unto your homes, even with very much cattle, with silver and with gold, and with copper and with iron, and with very much raiment, —divide ye the spoil of your enemies with your brethren.

9 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.

So the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh. returned and departed from the sons of Israel, from Shiloh, which was in the land of Canaan, —to go unto the land of Gilead, unto the land of their possession, wherein they had received their possessions, at the bidding of Yahweh by the hand of Moses.

10 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.

And, when they came into the circles of the Jordan, which were in the land of Canaan, —then did the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh build there an altar by the Jordan, an altar of large dimensions,

11 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.

And the sons of Israel heard say, —Lo! the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh have built an altar in front of the land of Canaan, in the circles of the Jordan, in the region opposite the sons of Israel.

12 Then all the meeting of the children of Israel, hearing this, came together at Shiloh to go up against them to war.

And, when the sons of Israel heard, all the assembly of the sons of Israel gathered themselves together at Shiloh, to go up against them to war.

13 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,

And the sons of Israel sent unto the sons of Reuben and unto the sons of Gad and unto the half tribe of Manasseh, within the land of Gilead, —Phinehas, son of Eleazar the priest;

14 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.

and ten princes with him, one prince of an ancestral house for each of the tribes of Israel, —they being, severally heads of their ancestral houses, among the thousands of Israel.

15 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,

So they came in unto the sons of Reuben and unto the sons of Gad and unto the half tribe of Manasseh, within the land of Gilead, —and spake with them, saying:

16 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?

Thus, say all the assembly of Yahweh—What is this act of treachery which ye have committed against the God of Israel, that ye should turn back, to-day, from following Yahweh, —in that ye have builded you an altar, that ye might rebel, to-day, against Yahweh?

17 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,

Too little for us, was the iniquity of Peor, from which we have not cleansed ourselves, unto this day, —although the plague came upon the assembly of Yahweh;

18 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.

but that, ye, must turn back to-day from following Yahweh, —though it must needs be that, if, ye, rebel to-day against Yahweh, then, to-morrow, with all the assembly of Israel, will he be wroth?

19 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.

Howbeit, if, unclean, be the land of your possession, do ye on your part come over into the land of the possession of Yahweh, where abideth the habitation of Yahweh, and take your possession in our midst, —but, against Yahweh, do not rebel, nor, against us, rebel, by building yourselves an altar apart from the altar of Yahweh our God.

20 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.

Did not, Achan son of Zerah, commit an act of treachery, with a devoted thing, and, upon all the assembly of Israel, came wrath, —so that not, he—one man alone, died in his iniquity.

21 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,

Then responded the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh, —and spake unto the heads of the thousands of Israel:

22 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,

El-Elohim-Yahweh, El-Elohim-Yahweh, he knoweth, and, Israel, he, shall know, —if in rebellion, or if in treachery, against Yahweh, do not save us this day:

23 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;

that we should build for ourselves an altar, to turn back from following Yahweh, —or, if that we might cause to go up thereon ascending-sacrifice or meal-offering, or if that we might offer thereon peace-offerings, let Yahweh himself require it;

24 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?

if, indeed, we have not, rather, out of anxiety and of purpose, done this thing, saying, —. In time to come, your sons might speak to our sons, saying, What have ye to do with Yahweh, God of Israel;

25 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.

seeing that, a boundary, hath Yahweh put between us and you, ye sons of Reuben and ye sons of Gad—even the Jordan, ye have no portion in Yahweh, —so might your sons cause our sons, to cease from revering Yahweh.

26 So we said, Let us now make an altar for ourselves, not for burned offerings or for the offerings of beasts:

We said, therefore, Let us prepare, we pray you, to build us an altar, —not for ascending-offering, nor for sacrifice;

27 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.

but that, a witness, it may be between us and you, and between our generations after us, that we are to do the service of Yahweh, before him, with our ascending-offerings and with our sacrifices, and with our peace-offerings, —that your sons may not say, in time to come, to our sons, Ye have no portion in Yahweh.

28 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.

Therefore said we, And it shall be, when they [so] say to us, or to our generations, in time to come, —that we will say—Behold ye the pattern of the altar of Yahweh, which our fathers made, not for ascending-offerings nor for sacrifice, but that, a witness, it might be between us and you.

29 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.

Far be it from us—that we should rebel against Yahweh, or turn back, to-day, from following Yahweh, by building an altar, for ascending-offering, or meal-offering or for sacrifice, —other than the altar of Yahweh our God, which is before his habitation.

30 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.

And, when Phinehas the priest, and the princes of the assembly, even the heads of the thousands of Israel who were with him, heard the words which the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the sons of Manasseh spake, then was it well-pleasing in their eyes.

31 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.

And Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest said unto the sons of Reuben and unto the sons of Gad and unto the sons of Manasseh—To-day, we know that, in our midst, is Yahweh, in that ye have not committed, against Yahweh, this act of treachery, —now, have ye rescued the sons of Israel out of the hand of Yahweh.

32 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.

So Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest and the princes returned from the sons of Reuben and from the sons of Gad, out of the land of Gilead, unto the land of Canaan, unto the sons of Israel, —and brought them back word.

33 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.

And the thing was well-pleasing in the eyes of the sons of Israel, and the sons of Israel blessed God, —and spake not of going up against them, to war, to lay waste the land, wherein the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad dwelt.

34 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.

So the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad named the altar [a Witness]: A witness, it is between us, That, Yahweh, is God.