Joshua 22
1 Then Joshua called together the sons of Ruben, and the sons of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasse,
Then Joshua sent for the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh,
2 and said to them, You have heard all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, and you have listened to my voice in all that he 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 You have not deserted your brethren these many days: until this day you have kept the commandment of 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 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 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 take great heed to do the commands and the law, which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you to do; to love the Lord our God, to walk in all his ways, to keep his commands, and to cleave to him, and serve him with all your mind, 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 And Joshua blessed them, and dismissed them; and they went to their homes.
Then Joshua gave them his blessing and sent them away: and they went back to their tents.
7 And to [one] half the tribe of Manasse Moses gave a portion in the land of Basan, and to [the other] half Joshua gave a portion with his brethren on the other side of Jordan westward: and when Joshua sent them away to their homes, then 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 And they departed with much wealth to their houses, and they divided the spoil of their enemies with their brethren; very much cattle, and silver, and gold, and iron, and much raiment.
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 sons of Ruben, and the sons of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasse, departed from the children of Israel in Selo in the land of Chanaan, to go away into Galaad, into the land of their possession, which they inherited by the command of the Lord, by the hand of 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 they came to Galaad of Jordan, which is in the land of Chanaan: and the children of Ruben, and the children of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasse built there an altar by Jordan, a great altar to look at.
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 And the children of Israel heard say, Behold, the sons of Ruben, and the sons of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasse have built an altar at the borders of the land of Chanaan at Galaad of Jordan, on the opposite side to the children of Israel.
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 all the children of Israel gathered together to Selo, so as to go up and fight 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 And the children of Israel sent to the sons of Ruben, and the sons of Gad, and to the sons of the half tribe of Manasse into the land of Galaad, both Phinees the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest,
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 and ten of the chiefs with him; [there was] one chief of every household out of all the tribes of Israel; (the heads of families are the captains of thousands in 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 And they came to the sons of Ruben, and to the sons of Gad, and to the half tribe of Manasse into the land of Galaad; and they spoke to them, saying,
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 Thus says the whole congregation of the Lord, What [is] this transgression that you have transgressed before the God of Israel, to turn away today from the Lord, in that you have built for yourselves an altar, so that you should be apostates from the Lord?
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 Is the sin of Phogor too little for you, whereas we have not been cleansed from it until this day, though there was a plague amongst 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 you have this day revolted from the Lord; and it shall come to pass if you revolt this day from the Lord, that to-morrow there shall be wrath upon all 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 And now if the land of your possession [be too] little, cross over to the land of the possession of the Lord, where the tabernacle of the Lord dwells, and receive you an inheritance amongst us; and do not become apostates from God, neither do you apostatize from the Lord, because of your having built an altar apart from 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 Behold! did not Achar the [son] of Zara commit a trespass [taking] of the accursed thing, and there was wrath on the whole congregation of Israel? and he himself died alone in his own 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 And the sons of Ruben, and the sons of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasse answered, and spoke to the captains of the thousands of Israel, saying,
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 God [even] God is the Lord, and God [even] God himself knows, and Israel he shall know; if we have transgressed before the Lord by apostasy, let him not deliver us this day.
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 And if we have built to ourselves an altar, so as to apostatize from the Lord our God, so as to offer upon it a sacrifice of whole burnt offerings, so as to offer upon it a sacrifice of peace-offering, —the Lord shall require it.
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 we have done this for the sake of precaution [concerning this] thing, saying, Lest hereafter your sons should say to our sons, What have you to do with the Lord 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 Whereas the Lord has set boundaries between us and you, even Jordan, and you have no portion in the Lord: so your sons shall alienate our sons, that they should not worship 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 And we gave orders to do thus, to build this altar, not for burnt offerings, nor for meat-offerings;
So we said, Let us now make an altar for ourselves, not for burned offerings or for the offerings of beasts:
27 but that this may be a witness between you and us, and between our posterity after us, that we may do service to the Lord before him, with our burnt offerings and our meat-offerings and our peace-offerings: so your sons shall not say to our sons, hereafter, You have no portion 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 And we said, If ever it should come to pass that they should speak [so] to us, or to our posterity hereafter; then shall they say, Behold the likeness of the altar of the Lord, which our fathers made, not for the sake of burnt offerings, nor for the sake of meat-offerings, but it is a witness between you and us, and between our sons.
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 therefore that we should turn away from the Lord this day so as to apostatize from the Lord, so as that we should build an altar for burnt offerings, and for peace-offerings, besides the altar of the Lord which is 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 And Phinees the priest and all the chiefs of the congregation of Israel who were with him heard the words which the children of Ruben, and the children of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasse spoke; and it pleased them.
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 And Phinees the priest said to the sons of Ruben, and to the sons of Gad, and to the half of the tribe of Manasse, To-day we know that the Lord [is] with us, because you have not trespassed grievously against the Lord, and because you have delivered the children of Israel out of 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 So Phinees the priest and the princes departed from the children of Ruben, and from the children of Gad, and from the half tribe of Manasse out of Galaad into the land of Chanaan to the children of Israel; and reported the words to them.
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 And it pleased the children of Israel; and they spoke to the children of Israel, and blessed the God of the children of Israel, and told them to go up no more to war against the others to destroy the land of the children of Ruben, and the children of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasse: so they lived upon it.
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 And Joshua gave a name to the altar of the children of Ruben, and the children of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasse; and said, It is a testimony in the midst of them, that the Lord is their 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.
