[1] Then Joshua summoned the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the
half-tribe of Manas'seh, [2] and said to them, "You have kept all that
Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, and have obeyed my voice in
all that I have commanded you; [3] you have not forsaken your brethren
these many days, down to this day, but have been careful to keep the charge
of the LORD your God. [4] And now the LORD your God has given rest to your
brethren, as he promised them; therefore turn and go to your home in the
land where your possession lies, which Moses the servant of the LORD gave
you on the other side of the Jordan. [5] Take good care to observe the
commandment and the law 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 cleave to him, and to serve him with all your heart
and with all your soul." [6] So Joshua blessed them, and sent them away;
and they went to their homes. [7] Now to the one half of the tribe of
Manas'seh Moses had given a possession in Bashan; but to the other half
Joshua had given a possession beside their brethren in the land west of the
Jordan. And when Joshua sent them away to their homes and blessed them, [8]
he said to them, "Go back to your homes with much wealth, and with very
many cattle, with silver, gold, bronze, and iron, and with much clothing;
divide the spoil of your enemies with your brethren." [9] So the Reubenites
and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manas'seh returned home, parting from
the people of Israel at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go to
the land of Gilead, their own land of which they had possessed themselves
by command of the LORD through Moses. [10] And when they came to the region
about the Jordan, that lies in the land of Canaan, the Reubenites and the
Gadites and the half-tribe of Manas'seh built there an altar by the Jordan,
an altar of great size. [11] And the people of Israel heard say, "Behold,
the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manas'seh have built
an altar at the frontier of the land of Canaan, in the region about the
Jordan, on the side that belongs to the people of Israel." [12] And when
the people of Israel heard of it, the whole assembly of the people of
Israel gathered at Shiloh, to make war against them. [13] Then the people
of Israel sent to the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of
Manas'seh, in the land of Gilead, Phin'ehas the son of Elea'zar the priest,
[14] and with him ten chiefs, one from each of the tribal families of
Israel, every one of them the head of a family among the clans of Israel.
[15] And they came to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of
Manas'seh, in the land of Gilead, and they said to them, [16] "Thus says
the whole congregation of the LORD, `What is this treachery which you have
committed against the God of Israel in turning away this day from following
the LORD, by building yourselves an altar this day in rebellion against the
LORD? [17] Have we not had enough of the sin at Pe'or from which even yet
we have not cleansed ourselves, and for which there came a plague upon the
congregation of the LORD, [18] that you must turn away this day from
following the LORD? And if you rebel against the LORD today he will be
angry with the whole congregation of Israel tomorrow. [19] But now, if your
land is unclean, pass over into the LORD's land where the LORD's tabernacle
stands, and take for yourselves a possession among us; only do not rebel
against the LORD, or make us as rebels by building yourselves an altar
other than the altar of the LORD our God. [20] Did not Achan the son of
Zerah break faith in the matter of the devoted things, and wrath fell upon
all the congregation of Israel? And he did not perish alone for his
iniquity.'" [21] Then the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of
Manas'seh said in answer to the heads of the families of Israel, [22] "The
Mighty One, God, the LORD! The Mighty One, God, the LORD! He knows; and let
Israel itself know! If it was in rebellion or in breach of faith toward the
LORD, spare us not today [23] for building an altar to turn away from
following the LORD; or if we did so to offer burnt offerings or cereal
offerings or peace offerings on it, may the LORD himself take vengeance.
[24] Nay, but we did it from 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] For the LORD has made the Jordan a boundary between us and you, you
Reubenites and Gadites; you have no portion in the LORD.' So your children
might make our children cease to worship the LORD. [26] Therefore we said,
`Let us now build an altar, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice, [27]
but to be a witness between us and you, and between the generations after
us, that we do perform the service of the LORD in his presence with our
burnt offerings and sacrifices and peace offerings; lest your children say
to our children in time to come, "You have no portion in the LORD."' [28]
And we thought, If this should be said to us or to our descendants in time
to come, we should say, `Behold the copy of the altar of the LORD, which
our fathers made, not for burnt offerings, nor for sacrifice, but to be a
witness between us and you.' [29] Far be it from us that we should rebel
against the LORD, and turn away this day from following the LORD by
building an altar for burnt offering, cereal offering, or sacrifice, other
than the altar of the LORD our God that stands before his tabernacle!" [30]
When Phin'ehas the priest and the chiefs of the congregation, the heads of
the families of Israel who were with him, heard the words that the
Reubenites and the Gadites and the Manas'sites spoke, it pleased them well.
[31] And Phin'ehas the son of Elea'zar the priest said to the Reubenites
and the Gadites and the Manas'sites, "Today we know that the LORD is in the
midst of us, because you have not committed this treachery against the
LORD; now you have saved the people of Israel from the hand of the LORD."
[32] Then Phin'ehas the son of Elea'zar the priest, and the chiefs,
returned from the Reubenites and the Gadites in the land of Gilead to the
land of Canaan, to the people of Israel, and brought back word to them.
[33] And the report pleased the people of Israel; and the people of Israel
blessed God and spoke no more of making war against them, to destroy the
land where the Reubenites and the Gadites were settled. [34] The Reubenites
and the Gadites called the altar Witness; "For," said they, "it is a
witness between us that the LORD is God."

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