Js 22:1Then Joshua called the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh.
Js 22:2And he said to them, You have kept all that Moses the servant of Jehovah commanded you, and you have listened to my voice in all that I have commanded you.
Js 22:3You have not forsaken your brothers these many days unto this day, but have kept the charge of the commandment of Jehovah your God.
Js 22:4And now Jehovah your God has given your brothers rest as He promised them. And now turn and go to your tents, to the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of Jehovah gave you across the Jordan.
Js 22:5However be very careful to perform the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of Jehovah commanded you, to love Jehovah your God and to walk in all His ways and to keep His commandments and to cling to Him and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.
Js 22:6And Joshua blessed them and sent them away; and they went to their tents.
Js 22:7Now to the one half-tribe of Manasseh Moses had given an inheritance in Bashan, and to the other half of it Joshua gave an inheritance with their brothers across the Jordan on the west. Furthermore, when Joshua sent them away to their tents and blessed them,
Js 22:8He spoke to them, saying, Return with many riches to your tents and with very many cattle, with silver and with gold and with bronze and with iron and with very much clothing; divide the spoil of your enemies with your brothers.
Js 22:9So the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh went; and they departed from among the children of Israel out of Shiloh, which was in the land of Canaan, to go to the land of Gilead, to the land of their possession, which they had taken possession of according to the commandment of Jehovah through Moses.
Js 22:10And when they came into the region of the Jordan that is in the land of Canaan, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an altar there at the Jordan, an altar great in appearance.
Js 22:11And the children of Israel heard the report, which said, Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built an altar out in front of the land of Canaan, in the region of the Jordan, on the side of the children of Israel.
Js 22:12And when the children of Israel heard this, all the assembly of the children of Israel gathered together at Shiloh to go up in battle against them.
Js 22:13And 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 in the land of Gilead,
Js 22:14And with him ten leaders, one leader each to a fathers’ house of all the tribes of Israel; and they were each the head of their fathers’ houses among the thousands of Israel.
Js 22:15And they went to the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh in the land of Gilead and spoke to them, saying,
Js 22:16Thus says all the assembly of Jehovah, What is this trespass that you have committed against the God of Israel in turning this day from following after Jehovah by building yourselves an altar to rebel against Jehovah this day?
Js 22:17Was the iniquity of Peor too little for us, from which we have not cleansed ourselves unto this day, though there was a plague upon the assembly of Jehovah,
Js 22:18That you have turned this day from following after Jehovah? And now, if you rebel against Jehovah this day, tomorrow He will be angry with the whole assembly of Israel.
Js 22:19But if the land of your possession is unclean, cross over into the land of the possession of Jehovah, where Jehovah’s tabernacle dwells, and take a possession in the midst of us. But do not rebel against Jehovah, nor rebel against us, by building yourselves an altar besides the altar of Jehovah our God.
Js 22:20Did not Achan the son of Zerah act unfaithfully in that which was devoted to destruction? But there was wrath upon the whole assembly of Israel, and that one man did not perish alone for his iniquity.
Js 22:21Then the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered and said to the heads of the thousands of Israel,
Js 22:22The Mighty One, God Jehovah; the Mighty One, God Jehovah; He knows, and may Israel itself know, whether it was in rebellion, or whether it was in trespass against Jehovah — may You not save us today —
Js 22:23That we built an altar for ourselves to turn away from following after Jehovah; or if we did so to offer burnt offerings and meal offerings upon it or to make sacrifices of peace offerings upon it, may Jehovah Himself require it.
Js 22:24But truly we have done this for a reason and out of a concern that in the future your children might speak to our children, saying, What have you to do with Jehovah the God of Israel?
Js 22:25For Jehovah has made the Jordan a border between us and you, O children of Reuben and children of Gad. You have no portion in Jehovah. Thus your children would cause our children to cease fearing Jehovah.
Js 22:26Therefore we said, Let us now take action to build the altar, though not for burnt offering or for sacrifice;
Js 22:27But it will be a witness between us and between you, and between our generations after us, that we may do the service of Jehovah before Him with our burnt offerings and our sacrifices and our peace offerings, and that your children may not say in the future to our children, You have no portion in Jehovah.
Js 22:28And we said, When they say this to us and to our generations in the future, we will say, Look at the copy of the altar of Jehovah that our fathers made, though not for burnt offering or for sacrifice; but it is a witness between us and you.
Js 22:29Far be it from us that we would rebel against Jehovah and turn away today from following after Jehovah by building an altar for burnt offering, for meal offering, or for sacrifice, besides the altar of Jehovah our God, which is before His tabernacle!
Js 22:30And when Phinehas the priest and the leaders of the assembly and the heads of the thousands of Israel who were with him heard the words that the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the children of Manasseh spoke, it seemed good in their sight.
Js 22:31And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said to the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the children of Manasseh, Today we know that Jehovah is in the midst of us, because you have not committed this trespass against Jehovah. Now you have delivered the children of Israel out of the hand of Jehovah.
Js 22:32So Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest and the leaders returned from the children of Reuben and the children of Gad, from the land of Gilead, to the land of Canaan, to the children of Israel; and they brought back word to them.
Js 22:33And the matter seemed good in the sight of the children of Israel; and the children of Israel blessed God and never spoke again of going up in battle against them to destroy the land in which the children of Reuben and the children of Gad dwelt.
Js 22:34And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad named the altar; for, they said, it is a witness between us that Jehovah is God.
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