Joshua 22

1 In the same time, Joshua called the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the one half tribe of Manasseh.

At that time Joshua called the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh.

2 And he said to them: “You have done all that Moses, the servant of the Lord, instructed you. You have also obeyed me in all things.

He said to them, “You have done everything that Moses the servant of Yahweh commanded you. You have obeyed my voice in all that I commanded you.

3 Neither have you forsaken your brothers during this long time, even to the present day, keeping the orders of the Lord your God.

You have not deserted your brothers these many days, down to this present day, and you have fulfilled the duties required by the commandments of Yahweh your God.

4 Therefore, since the Lord your God has given your brothers peace and quiet, just as he promised: return, and go into your tents and into the land of your possession, which Moses, the servant of the Lord, delivered to you beyond the Jordan.

Now Yahweh your God has given rest to your brothers, just as he promised them. Therefore turn and go to your tents in the land you own, which Moses the servant of Yahweh gave you on the other side of the Jordan.

5 And may you continue to observe attentively, and to work to fulfill, the commandment and the law that Moses, the servant of the Lord, instructed to you, so that you may love the Lord your God, and walk in all his ways, and keep all his commandments, and cling to him, and serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.”

Just be very careful to observe the commandments and the law that Moses the servant of Yahweh commanded you, to love Yahweh your God, to walk in all his ways, to keep his commandments, and to cling to him and worship him with all your heart and with all your soul.”

6 And Joshua blessed them, and he sent them away. And they returned to their tents.

So Joshua blessed them and sent them away, and they went back to their tents.

7 Now to the one half tribe of Manasseh, Moses had given a possession in Bashan. And therefore, to the one half that was left over, Joshua gave a lot among the remainder of their brothers across the Jordan, in the western region. And when he had blessed them and dismissed them to their tents,

Now to one-half of the tribe of Manasseh Moses had given an inheritance in Bashan, but to the other half Joshua gave an inheritance beside their brothers in the land west of the Jordan. Joshua sent them away to their tents; he blessed them

8 he said to them: “Return to your settlements with much substance and wealth, with silver and gold, brass and iron, and a multitude of garments. Divide the spoils of your enemies with your brothers.”

and said to them, “Return to your tents with much money, and with very much livestock, and with silver and gold, and with bronze and iron, and with very many garments. Divide the plunder from your enemies with your brothers.”

9 And the sons of Reuben, and the sons of Gad, and the one half tribe of Manasseh returned, and they went away from the sons of Israel at Shiloh, which is situated in Canaan, so that they might enter into Gilead, the land of their possession, which they had obtained according to the order of the Lord, by the hand of Moses.

So the descendants of Reuben, the descendants of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh returned home, leaving the people of Israel at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan. They left to go to the region of Gilead, to their own land, which they themselves possessed, in obedience to the commandment of Yahweh, by the hand of Moses.

10 And when they had arrived at the hills of the Jordan in the land of Canaan, they built an altar of immense magnitude beside the Jordan.

When they came to the Jordan that is in the land of Canaan, the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half tribe of Manasseh built an altar beside the Jordan, a very large and prominent altar.

11 And when the sons of Israel had heard of it, and certain messengers had reported to them that the sons of Reuben, and of Gad, and of the one half tribe of Manasseh had built an altar in the land of Canaan, upon the hills of the Jordan, facing the sons of Israel,

The people of Israel heard about this and said, “Look! The people of Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh have built an altar at the front of the land of Canaan, at Geliloth, in the region near the Jordan, on the side that belongs to the people of Israel.”

12 they all assembled at Shiloh, so that they might go up and battle against them.

When the people of Israel heard of it, the whole assembly of the people of Israel gathered together at Shiloh to go up to make war against them.

13 And in the interim, they sent to them, in the land of Gilead, Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the priest,

Then the people of Israel sent messengers to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead. They also sent Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest,

14 and ten leaders with him, one from each tribe.

and with him ten leaders, one from each of the tribal families of Israel, and every one of them was the head of a family among the clan of Israel.

15 And they went to the sons of Reuben, and of Gad, and of the one half tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead, and they said to them:

They came to the people of Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead, and they spoke to them:

16 “All the people of the Lord declare this: What is this transgression? Why have you forsaken the Lord, the God of Israel, by building a sacrilegious altar, and by withdrawing from the worship of him?

“The whole assembly of Yahweh says this, 'What is this unfaithfulness that you have committed against the God of Israel, by turning this day from following Yahweh by building yourself an altar this day in rebellion against Yahweh?

17 Is it a small thing to you that you have sinned with Baal of Peor, and that the stain of that crime continues among us, even to the present day? And many of the people have fallen.

Was our sin at Peor not enough for us? Yet we have not even now cleansed ourselves from it. For that sin there came a plague on the assembly of Yahweh.

18 And yet you have forsaken the Lord today, and tomorrow his wrath will rage against all of Israel.

Must you also turn away from following Yahweh at this present day? If you also rebel against Yahweh today, tomorrow he will be angry with the whole assembly of Israel.

19 But if you consider the land of your possession to be unclean, cross over to the land in which is the tabernacle of the Lord, and live among us. But do not withdraw from the Lord, and from our fellowship, by building an altar contrary to the altar of the Lord our God.

If the land that you possess is defiled, then you should pass over into the land where Yahweh's tabernacle stands and take for yourselves a possession among us. Only do not rebel against Yahweh, nor rebel against us by building an altar for yourselves other than the altar of Yahweh our God.

20 Did not Achan, the son of Zerah, go against the commandment of the Lord, and so his wrath was laid over all the people of Israel? And he was only one man. If only he had perished in his wickedness alone!”

Did not Achan son of Zerah break faith in the matter of those things that had been reserved for God? Did not wrath fall on all the people of Israel? That man did not perish alone for his iniquity.'”

21 And the sons of Reuben, and of Gad, and of the one half tribe of Manasseh responded to the leaders of the delegation from Israel:

Then the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh replied in answer to the heads of the clans of Israel:

22 “The Lord, the almighty God, the Lord, the almighty God, he knows, and also Israel will understand: If we have constructed this altar with intent of transgression, let him not preserve us, but instead punish us immediately.

“The Mighty One, God, Yahweh! The Mighty One, God, Yahweh!—He knows, and let Israel itself know! If it was in rebellion or in breach of faith against Yahweh, do not spare us on this day

23 And if we have acted with a mind so that we might present upon it holocausts, and sacrifice, and victims of peace offerings, let him inquire and judge.

for having built an altar to turn ourselves away from following Yahweh. If we built that altar in order to offer on it burnt offerings, grain offerings, or peace offerings, then let Yahweh make us pay for it.

24 Instead, we have acted with this greater thought and design, that we would say: Tomorrow your sons will say to our sons: ‘What is there between you and the Lord, the God of Israel?

No! We did it for fear that in time to come your children might say to our children, 'What have you to do with Yahweh, the God of Israel?

25 The Lord has stationed the river Jordan as the border between us and you, O sons of Reuben, O sons of Gad. And therefore, you have no part in the Lord.’ And by this occasion, your sons would turn away our sons from the fear of the Lord. And so we sought something better,

For Yahweh has made the Jordan a border between us and you. You people of Reuben and people of Gad, you have nothing to do with Yahweh.' So your children might make our children cease to worship Yahweh.

26 and we said: Let us build us an altar, not for holocausts, and not to offer victims,

So we said, 'Let us now build an altar, not for burnt offerings nor for any sacrifices,

27 but as a testimony between us and you, and between our descendants and your progeny, so that we may serve the Lord, and so that it may be our right to offer holocausts, and victims, and peace offerings, and so that tomorrow your sons may not say to our sons: ‘You have no part in the Lord.’

but to be a witness between us and you, and between our generations after us, that we will perform the service of Yahweh before him, with our burnt offerings and with our sacrifices and with our peace offerings, so that your children will never say to our children in time to come, “You have no share in Yahweh.”'

28 And if they decide to say this, they shall respond to them: ‘Behold, the altar of the Lord, which our fathers made, not for holocausts, and not for sacrifice, but instead as a testimony between us and you.’

So we said, 'If this should be said to us or to our descendants in time to come, we would say, “Look! This is a copy of the altar of Yahweh, which our ancestors made, not for burnt offerings, nor for sacrifices, but as a witness between us and you.”

29 May this wickedness be far from us, such that we would withdraw from the Lord, and would forsake his paths, by constructing an altar to offer holocausts, and sacrifices, and victims, contrary to the altar of the Lord our God, which was built before his tabernacle.”

May it be far from us that we should rebel against Yahweh, and today turn away from following him by building an altar for burnt offering, for grain offering, or for sacrifice, other than the altar of Yahweh our God that is before his tabernacle.'”

30 And when Phinehas, the priest, and the leaders of the delegation who were with him, had heard this, they were pleased. And they accepted very willingly the words of the sons of Reuben, and of Gad, and of the one half tribe of Manasseh.

When Phinehas the priest and the leaders of the people, that is, the heads of the clans of Israel who were with him, heard the words that the people of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh said, that it was good in their eyes.

31 And Phinehas, the priest, the son of Eleazar, said to them: “Now we know that the Lord is with us. For you are a stranger to this transgression. And so you have freed the sons of Israel from the hand of the Lord.”

Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest said to the people of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh, “Today we know that Yahweh is among us, because you have not committed this breach of faith against him. Now you have rescued the people of Israel out of the hand of Yahweh.”

32 And he returned with the leaders, from the sons of Reuben and of Gad, out of the land of Gilead, into the parts of Canaan, to the sons of Israel. And he reported to them.

Then Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest, and the leaders returned from the Reubenites and the Gadites, out of the land of Gilead, back to the land of Canaan, to the people of Israel, and brought back word to them.

33 And the word pleased all who heard it. And the sons of Israel praised God, and they no longer said that they would go up against them, and fight, and destroy the land of their possession.

Their report was good in the eyes of the people of Israel. The people of Israel blessed God and spoke no more about making war against the Reubenites and the Gadites, in order to destroy the land where they had settled.

34 And the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad called the altar that they had built: Our testimony that the Lord himself is God.

The Reubenites and the Gadites named the altar “Witness,” for they said, “It is a witness between us that Yahweh is God.”