1Then Joshua summoned the Reubenite and the Gadite and the half tribe of Manasseh.2He said to them, "You have kept everything that the LORD commanded you through Moses his servant, and you have obeyed my voice in everything I commanded you."3You 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.4Now the LORD your God has given your brothers rest, just as he promised them; therefore turn now and go to your tents in the land of your possession that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you beyond the Jordan.5Only be very careful to do the commandment and the instruction that 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 cling to him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.6Then Joshua blessed them, sent them away, and they went to their tents.7And Moses had given the half tribe of Manasseh in Bashan, and to its half Joshua gave with their brothers on the other side of the Jordan westward; and Joshua also sent them to their tents and blessed them.8And he said to them, "Return to your tents with much wealth, and with very much livestock, with silver and with gold and with bronze and with 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 returned from the sons of Israel from Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go to the land of Gilead, to the land of their possession that they had taken possession of in it, according to the mouth of the LORD by the hand of Moses.10And they came to the borders of the Jordan that are in the land of Canaan, and the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh built there an altar by the Jordan, a great altar in appearance.11And the sons of Israel heard, saying, "Behold, the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh have built the altar opposite the land of Canaan, at the borders of the Jordan, on the side of the sons of Israel."12The sons of Israel assembled the whole congregation at Shiloh to go up against them in force.13And the sons of Israel sent to the sons of Reuben and to the sons of Gad and to the half tribe of Manasseh, to the land of Gilead, Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest.14With him were ten leaders, one from each tribal house of Israel; each was the head of his ancestral house among the clans of Israel.15And they came to the sons of Reuben and to the sons of Gad and to the half tribe of Manasseh, to the land of Gilead, and they spoke with them, saying,16"Thus says the whole congregation of the LORD: What is this unfaithfulness that you have committed against the God of Israel, by turning away today from after the LORD, by building for yourselves an altar, by rebelling today against the LORD?"17Was the sin of Peor too small for us, from which we have not yet been cleansed to this day, so that plague came upon the congregation of the LORD?18If you turn away from the LORD today, you will rebel against him, and tomorrow he will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel.19And surely, if the land of your possession is unclean, cross over for yourselves to the land of the possession of the LORD where the tabernacle of the LORD dwells, and take possession in our midst; but do not rebel against the LORD, and do not rebel against us, by building for yourselves an altar besides the altar of the LORD our God.20"Did not Achan son of Zerah commit unfaithfulness with the devoted thing, and wrath came upon all the congregation of Israel, though he was one man and did not perish alone for his iniquity?"21Then the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh answered and spoke with the heads of the thousands of Israel.22"God, God the LORD, God, God the LORD, he knows, and Israel, he shall know: if it was in rebellion or if in unfaithfulness against the LORD, do not save us today."23If we built this altar to turn away from the LORD, or to offer on it burnt offerings, grain offerings, or peace offerings, may the LORD himself call us to account.24"And if not from anxiety, from a word, we have done this, saying, 'Tomorrow your sons may say to our sons, saying, "What have you to do with the LORD, the God of Israel?"'25The LORD made the Jordan a boundary between us and you, the sons of Reuben and Gad, so that your children would not cause ours to stop fearing the LORD."26"Therefore we said, 'Let us build an altar, not for burnt offering or sacrifice,'"27"For it is a witness between us and you, and between our 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 will not say tomorrow to our sons, 'You have no portion in the LORD.'"28"And we said, 'And it shall be, when they say to us and to our generations tomorrow, then we will say, "See the pattern of the altar of the LORD that our fathers made; it is not for burnt offering or for sacrifice, but it is a witness between us and you."'"29"Far be it from us to rebel against the LORD and to turn away today from after the LORD, by building an altar for burnt offering, for offering, and for sacrifice, besides the altar of the LORD our God that is before his tabernacle."30When Phinehas the priest, the leaders of the congregation, and the heads of the Israelite clans who were with him heard the statement of the sons of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh, they were satisfied.31And 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 in our midst, because you have not committed this unfaithfulness against the LORD; now you have delivered the sons of Israel from the hand of the LORD."32Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest and the leaders returned from the Reubenites and Gadites in the land of Gilead to the sons of Israel in Canaan and reported the matter.33The report pleased the sons of Israel, and they blessed God; they did not speak of going up against them in force to destroy the land where the Reubenites and Gadites lived.34The sons of Reuben and Gad named the altar 'Witness,' because it stands between us as a witness that the LORD is God.