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Joshua / The Eastern Tribes' Altar and the Reconciliation
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The Eastern Tribes' Altar and the Reconciliation

Joshua 22:1-34

22
Chapter 22
1 Then Joshua called the Reubenites, the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh. 2 And he said to them, "You have kept all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, and you have listened to my voice in all that I commanded you." 3 You have not abandoned your brothers these many days until this day, and you have kept the charge of the commandment of the LORD your God. 4 And now the LORD your God has given rest to your brothers just as he spoke to them. And now turn and go to your tents, to the land of your possession which Moses the servant of the LORD gave to you beyond the Jordan. 5 Only be very careful to do the commandment and the Torah which Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you: to love the LORD 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. 6 And Joshua blessed them and sent them away, and they went to their tents. 7 And to half the tribe of Manasseh Moses gave in Bashan, and to their half Joshua gave with their brothers beyond the Jordan westward. And also when Joshua sent them to their tents, he blessed them. 8 And he said to them, “With many assets return to your tents, and with livestock very abundant, in silver and in gold and in bronze and in iron and in peace-garments very abundant, divide the spoil of your enemies with your brothers.” 9 The sons of Reuben, the sons of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh returned and went 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 possessed there, according to the mouth of the LORD by the hand of Moses. 10 And they came to the Gilgals of the Jordan that are in the land of Canaan, and the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh built there an altar on the Jordan, a great altar to sight. 11 And the sons of Israel heard, saying, "Behold, the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh have built an altar opposite the land of Canaan, toward the districts of the Jordan, toward the Eber of the sons of Israel." 12 And the sons of Israel heard and assembled—all the congregation of the sons of Israel—to Shiloh to go up against them as an army. 13 And the sons of Israel sent Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest to the sons of Reuben and to the sons of Gad and to half the tribe of Manasseh in the land of Gilead. 14 And ten chieftains with him, one chieftain, one chieftain to the house of the father to all the tribes of Israel, and the man, the head of the house of their fathers—they to the thousands of Israel. 15 And they came to the sons of Reuben and to the sons of Gad and to half the tribe of Manasseh, to the land of Gilead, and they spoke to them, saying: 16 The entire congregation of the LORD said: What is this trespass that you have committed against the God of Israel, to turn away from following the LORD today by building an altar for yourselves to rebel against the LORD today? 17 Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us, from which we have not ritually purified ourselves until this day, and there was the plague in the congregation of the LORD? 18 And you sit today after the LORD, and it will be you rebel today against the LORD and tomorrow against all the congregation of Israel he will be angry. 19 But if the land of your possession is unclean, cross over for yourselves to the land of the LORD's possession, where the tabernacle of the LORD dwells, and take hold among us. Do not rebel against the LORD, and do not rebel against us by building for yourselves an altar apart from the altar of the LORD our God. 20 Did not Achan son of Zerah commit unfaithfulness—a trespass in the ban—and wrath fall upon all the congregation of Israel? And he, a single man, did not perish in his iniquity. 21 The sons of Reuben, the sons of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh answered and said to the heads of the thousands of Israel. 22 The LORD God knows, God the LORD knows, and Israel will know. If it was in rebellion or in transgression against the LORD, do not save us today. 23 to build for ourselves an altar to turn back from following the LORD, or if to offer on it a burnt offering or a grain offering, or if to offer on it sacrifices of peace offerings, the LORD will require it. 24 And if it is not from anxiety about a matter that we have done this, saying, "Tomorrow your sons will say to our sons, 'What to you and to the LORD God of Israel?'" 25 For the LORD has made the Jordan a boundary between us and you, you sons of Reuben and sons of Gad. You have no portion in the LORD. So your sons might make our sons cease to fear the LORD. 26 And we said, "Let us make an altar for ourselves, not for burnt offering and not for sacrifice." 27 for it is a witness between us and you and the generations after us, that we may serve the service of the LORD before him with our burnt offerings and with our sacrifices and with our peace offerings, so that your sons may not say to our sons in the future, “You have no portion in the LORD.” 28 And we said, "And it will be if they say to us and to our generations tomorrow, then we will say, 'See the pattern of the altar of the LORD which our fathers made, not for burnt offering and not for sacrifice; for it is a witness between us and between you.'" 29 Far be it from us to rebel against the LORD and to turn today from following the LORD by building an altar for burnt offering, for grain offering, and for sacrifice, apart from the altar of the LORD our God which is before his tabernacle. 30 And Phinehas the priest heard, and the princes of the congregation and the heads of the thousands of Israel who were with him, the words which the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the sons of Manasseh had spoken, and it was good in their eyes. 31 And Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest said to the sons of Reuben and to the sons of Gad and to the sons of Manasseh, “Today we know that the LORD is among us, since you have not committed this treachery against the LORD. Now you have delivered the sons of Israel from the hand of the LORD.” 32 And Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest and the princes returned from the sons of Reuben and from the sons of Gad, from the land of Gilead to the land of Canaan, to the sons of Israel, and they told them the word. 33 And it was good in the eyes of the sons of Israel, and the sons of Israel blessed God, and they did not say to go up against them in war to destroy the land in which the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad were dwelling. 34 And the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad called the altar Witness, for it is a witness between us before the LORD God.