1Then Joshua called the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh,
2and said to them, “You yourselves have kept all that Moses the servant of Yahweh commanded you, and you have obeyed my voice in all that I commanded you.
3You have not forsaken your brothers these many days, down to this day, but have kept the charge of the commandment of Yahweh your God.
4And now Yahweh your God has given rest to your brothers, as he promised them. So now turn and go to your tents, to the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of Yahweh gave you beyond the Jordan.
5Only take great care to do the commandment and the law that 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 cling to him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your self.
6So Joshua blessed them and sent them off, and they went to their tents.
7Now to the one half of the tribe of Manasseh Moses had given a possession in Bashan, but to the other half Joshua gave a possession alongside their brothers on the west side of the Jordan. And when Joshua sent them off to their tents, he also blessed them,
8and said to them, “Return to your tents with great wealth and with very much livestock, with silver and gold, with bronze and iron, and with very many garments. Divide the spoil of your enemies with your brothers.”
9So the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh turned back and departed from the sons of Israel at Shiloh, which is 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 mouth of Yahweh by the hand of Moses.
10And they came to the regions of the Jordan that are in the land of Canaan, and there the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an altar by the Jordan, a great altar to look upon.
11And the sons of Israel heard it said, “Behold, the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built the altar facing the land of Canaan, in the regions of the Jordan, on the Israelite side.”
12And when the sons of Israel heard of it, the whole congregation of the sons of Israel assembled at Shiloh to go up against them for war.
13And the sons of Israel sent to the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh, into the land of Gilead, Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest,
14and ten chiefs with him, one chief for each ancestral house from all the tribes of Israel; and each was the head of his ancestral house among the clans of Israel.
15And they came to the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh, into the land of Gilead, and they spoke with them, saying:
16Thus said the whole congregation of Yahweh: ‘What is this treachery that you have committed against the God of Israel, turning away this day from following Yahweh by building for yourselves an altar, so as to rebel this day against Yahweh?
17Was the iniquity of Peor too little for us, from which we have not cleansed ourselves to this day, though a plague came upon the congregation of Yahweh,
18that you must turn away this day from following Yahweh? If you rebel today against Yahweh, then tomorrow he will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel.
19But if the land of your possession is unclean, then cross over into the land of Yahweh’s possession, where the tabernacle of Yahweh dwells, and take possession among us. Only do not rebel against Yahweh, and do not rebel against us, by building for yourselves an altar other than the altar of Yahweh our God.
20Did not Achan son of Zerah commit treachery in the devoted things, and wrath fell on the whole congregation of Israel? And he was but one man — did he not perish in his iniquity?’”
21Then the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered and spoke to the heads of the clans of Israel:
22“The Mighty One, God, Yahweh! The Mighty One, God, Yahweh! He knows, and let Israel itself know — if it was in rebellion or in treachery against Yahweh, do not spare us this day!
23If it was to build ourselves an altar to turn away from following Yahweh, or to offer on it burnt offering and grain offering, or to make on it peace offerings, may Yahweh himself call it to account!
24No, we did this out of concern, for a reason, saying, ‘In time to come your children might say to our children, “What have you to do with Yahweh, the God of Israel?
25For Yahweh has made the Jordan a border between us and you, sons of Reuben and sons of Gad; you have no share in Yahweh.” So your children might make our children cease from fearing Yahweh.’
26So we said, ‘Let us now act for ourselves to build the altar, not for burnt offering nor for sacrifice,
27but that it may be a witness between us and you, and between our generations after us, that we are to perform the service of Yahweh before him with our burnt offerings and our sacrifices and our peace offerings, so that your children may not say to our children in time to come, “You have no share in Yahweh.”’
28And we thought, if in time to come they should say this to us or to our generations, then we will answer, ‘Look at the replica of the altar of Yahweh that our fathers made — not for burnt offering nor for sacrifice, but it is a witness between us and you.’
29Far be it from us that we should rebel against Yahweh and turn away this day from following Yahweh by building an altar for burnt offering, grain offering, or sacrifice, other than the altar of Yahweh our God that is before his tabernacle!”
30And when Phinehas the priest and the chiefs of the congregation, the heads of the clans of Israel who were with him, heard the words that the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the sons of Manasseh spoke, it was good in their eyes.
31Then Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest said to the sons of Reuben, the sons of Gad, and the sons of Manasseh, “Today we know that Yahweh is in our midst, because you have not committed this treachery against Yahweh. Now you have delivered the sons of Israel from the hand of Yahweh.”
32So Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest and the leaders returned from the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad, from the land of Gilead to the land of Canaan, to the sons of Israel, and brought back word to them.
33And the matter was good in the eyes of the sons of Israel, and the sons of Israel blessed God; and they no longer spoke of going up against them in battle, to destroy the land in which the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad were living.
34And the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad named the altar, “For it is a witness between us that Yahweh is God.”
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