Joshua 22

VIN^{(i) 1} 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 you: you have also obeyed me in all things, ³ Ye left not your brethren this many days till this day, and ye watched the watches of the command of the LORD your God. ⁴ And now the Lord our God has given our brethren rest, as He told them. Now then, return and depart to your homes, and to the land of your possession, which Moses gave you on the other side of the Jordan. ⁵ Only take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of the LORD commanded 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." ⁶ So Joshua blessed them, and sent them away; and they went to their tents. ⁷ Now to the one half-tribe of Manasseh Moses had given in Bashan, but to the other half Joshua gave among their brothers beyond the Jordan westward. Moreover when Joshua sent them away to their tents, he blessed them, ⁸ "Return to your tents with great wealth, plenty of livestock, silver, gold, bronze, iron, and lots of clothing. Divide the spoil from your enemies among your relatives." ⁹ The Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh went back to the land of Gilead, leaving the Israelites at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, for their territorial possession that they had inherited in accordance with the command of the LORD given through Moses. ¹⁰ And when they came to the borders of Jordan in the land of Canaan, the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh built an altar of grand appearance there by Jordan. ¹¹ The children of Israel heard that the half tribe of Manasseh built an altar in the land of Canaan on the side belonging to the sons of Israel, at the Jordan when they passed by. ¹² all the Israelites assembled at Selo, to go up to war against them. ¹³ And the sons of Israel sent Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest to the sons of Reuben, and to the sons of Gad, and to the half tribe of Manasseh, to the land of Gilead, ¹⁴ Ten leading men went with Phinehas, one from each of the western tribes and each one the head of a family among the clans. ¹⁵ Who came to the children of Ruben, and of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasses, into the land of Galaad, and said to them: ¹⁶ “The whole congregation of the LORD says, 'What trespass is this that you have committed against the God of Israel, to turn away today from following the LORD, in that you have built yourselves an altar, to rebel today against the LORD? ¹⁷ Is not the sin of Peor enough for us, from which we have not cleansed ourselves today, and for which a plague came to the congregation of the LORD, ¹⁸ Now then, are you turning away from following the LORD today? If you rebel against the LORD today, by tomorrow he will be angry with the entire community of Israel. ¹⁹ "If your land is not fit to worship in, come over into the LORD's land, where his Tabernacle is. Claim some land among us. But do not rebel against the LORD or make rebels out of us by building an altar in addition to the altar of the LORD our God. ²⁰ Did not Achan the son of Zerah commit a sin in the cursed thing, and was there not wrath on all the company of Israel? And he was not the only one to die in his iniquity. ²¹ The Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered the officials of the clans of Israel, ²² The Mighty One, God, the LORD, the Mighty One, God, the LORD, He knows; and Israel shall know if it was in rebellion, or in trespass against the LORD (don't save us this day). ²³ for building for ourselves an altar to turn away from the LORD, or if it was to offer burnt offerings, grain offerings, or fellowship offerings on it, may the LORD himself take vengeance. ²⁴ "No! We did it because we were afraid that in the future your descendants would say to ours: What do you have to do with the LORD, the God of Israel? ²⁵ For the LORD has made Jordan a border between us and you, sons of Reuben and sons of Gad. You have no part in the LORD. And your sons shall make our sons stop fearing the LORD. ²⁶ Therefore we said, Let us now prepare to build us an altar, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice: ²⁷ instead, it is a witness between us and you, and between our generations after us for performing the serving of the LORD in his presence with our burnt offerings, sacrifices, and fellowship offerings; so that your children may not say in the future to our children, "You have no portion in the LORD." ' ²⁸ And we thought, if they say to us and to our children in the future, we can say, 'Look at this replica of the altar of Yahweh, which our ancestors made, not for burnt offerings or sacrifices; rather, it is a witness between us and you.' ²⁹ Far be it from us to rebel against the LORD, to turn today from following the LORD, to build an altar for burnt offerings, grain offerings, or sacrifices, instead of the altar of the LORD our God that is before his tabernacle." ³⁰ When Phinehas the priest, the leaders of the community, and the heads of the families of Israel who were with him heard what the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the Manassites said, they were pleased. ³¹ Phinehas the priest, son of Eleazar, said to the descendants of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh, "Today we know that the LORD is among us, because you have not committed this treachery against the LORD. Therefore you have rescued the Israelites from the hand of the LORD." ³² Phinehas and the leaders left the people of reuben and gad in the land of gilead and went back to canaan, to the people of israel, and reported to them. ³³ The Israelites were satisfied and praised God. They no longer talked about going to war to devastate the land where the people of Reuben and Gad had settled. ³⁴ And the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad called the altar Ed; for it is a witness between us that the LORD is God.