Joshua 22
22At that time Joshua summoned the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh,H3091H7121H7206H1425H2677H4294H45192and 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.H559H8104H4872H5650H3068H6680H8085H6963H66803You have not forsaken your brothers these many days, down to this day, but have been careful to keep the charge of the LORD your God.H5800H251H7227H3117H3117H8104H4931H4687H3068H4304And now the LORD your God has given rest to your brothers, as he promised them. Therefore turn and go to your tents in the land where your possession lies, which Moses the servant of the LORD gave you on the other side of the Jordan.H3068H430H5117H251H1696H6437H3212H168H776H272H4872H5650H3068H5414H5676H33835Only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law that 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."H3966H8104H6213H4687H8451H4872H5650H3068H6680H157H3068H430H3212H1870H8104H4687H1692H5647H3824H53156So Joshua blessed them and sent them away, and they went to their tents.H3091H1288H7971H3212H1687Now to the one half of the tribe of Manasseh Moses had given a possession in Bashan, but to the other half Joshua had given a possession beside their brothers in the land west of the Jordan. And when Joshua sent them away to their homes and blessed them,H2677H7626H4519H4872H5414H1316H2677H5414H3091H5973H251H5676H3383H3220H3091H7971H168H12888he said to them, "Go back to your tents with much wealth and with very much livestock, with silver, gold, bronze, and iron, and with much clothing. Divide the spoil of your enemies with your brothers."H559H559H7725H7227H5233H168H3966H7227H4735H3701H2091H5178H1270H3966H7235H8008H2505H7998H341H2519So the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh 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.H1121H7205H1121H1410H2677H7626H4519H7725H3212H1121H3478H7887H776H3667H3212H776H1568H776H272H270H6310H3068H3027H487210And when they came to the region of the Jordan that is in the land of Canaan, the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh built there an altar by the Jordan, an altar of imposing size.H935H1552H3383H776H3667H1121H7205H1121H1410H2677H7626H4519H1129H4196H3383H1419H4196H475811And the people of Israel heard it said, "Behold, the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built the 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."H1121H3478H8085H559H1121H7205H1121H1410H2677H7626H4519H1129H4196H4136H776H3667H1552H3383H5676H1121H347812And when the people of Israel heard of it, the whole assembly of the people of Israel gathered at Shiloh to make war against them.H1121H3478H8085H5712H1121H3478H6950H7887H5927H663513Then the people of Israel sent to the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead, Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest,H1121H3478H7971H1121H7205H1121H1410H2677H7626H4519H776H1568H6372H1121H499H354814and 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.H6235H5387H259H259H5387H5387H1004H1H4294H3478H376H7218H1004H1H505H347815And they came to the people of Reuben, the people of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead, and they said to them,H935H1121H7205H1121H1410H2677H7626H4519H776H1568H1696H55916"Thus says the whole congregation of the LORD, 'What is this breach of faith that 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?H559H5712H3068H4604H4603H430H3478H7725H3117H310H3068H1129H4196H4775H3117H306817Have we not had enough of the sin at Peor from which even yet we have not cleansed ourselves, and for which there came a plague upon the congregation of the LORD,H5771H6465H4592H2891H3117H5063H5712H306818that you too must turn away this day from following the LORD? And if you too rebel against the LORD today then tomorrow he will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel.H7725H3117H310H3068H4775H3117H3068H4279H7107H5712H347819But now, if the land of your possession 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 for yourselves an altar other than the altar of the LORD our God.H389H776H272H2931H5674H776H272H3068H3068H4908H7931H270H8432H4775H3068H408H4775H1129H4196H1107H4196H3068H43020Did 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.'"H5912H1121H2226H4603H4604H2764H7110H1961H5712H3478H376H1478H259H577121Then the people of Reuben, the people of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh said in answer to the heads of the families of Israel,H1121H7205H1121H1410H2677H7626H4519H6030H1696H7218H505H347822"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 against the LORD, do not spare us todayH3068H410H430H3068H410H430H3045H3478H3045H4777H4604H3068H3467H311723for building an altar to turn away from following the LORD. Or if we did so to offer burnt offerings or grain offerings or peace offerings on it, may the LORD himself take vengeance.H1129H4196H7725H310H3068H5927H5930H4503H6213H8002H2077H3068H124524No, 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?H6213H1674H1697H559H4279H1121H559H1121H559H3068H430H347825For the LORD has made the Jordan a boundary between us and you, you people of Reuben and people of Gad. You have no portion in the LORD.' So your children might make our children cease to worship the LORD.H3068H5414H3383H1366H1121H7205H1121H1410H2506H3068H1121H7673H1121H7673H1115H3372H306826Therefore we said, 'Let us now build an altar, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice,H559H6213H1129H4196H5930H207727but to be a witness between us and you, and between our generations after us, that we do perform the service of the LORD in his presence with our burnt offerings and sacrifices and peace offerings, so your children will not say to our children in time to come, "You have no portion in the LORD."'H5707H1755H310H5647H5656H3068H6440H5930H2077H8002H1121H559H1121H4279H2506H306828And 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.'H559H559H1755H4279H559H7200H8403H4196H3068H1H6213H5930H2077H570729Far 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, grain offering, or sacrifice, other than the altar of the LORD our God that stands before his tabernacle!"H2486H4775H3068H7725H3117H310H3068H1129H4196H5930H4503H2077H4196H3068H430H6440H490830When Phinehas the priest and the chiefs of the congregation, the heads of the families of Israel who were with him, heard the words that the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the people of Manasseh spoke, it was good in their eyes.H6372H3548H5387H5712H7218H505H3478H8085H1697H1121H7205H1121H1410H1121H4519H1696H3190H586931And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said to the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the people of Manasseh, "Today we know that the LORD is in our midst, because you have not committed this breach of faith against the LORD. Now you have delivered the people of Israel from the hand of the LORD."H6372H1121H499H3548H559H1121H7205H1121H1410H1121H4519H3117H3045H3068H8432H4603H4604H3068H227H5337H1121H3478H3027H306832Then Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, and the chiefs, returned from the people of Reuben and the people of Gad in the land of Gilead to the land of Canaan, to the people of Israel, and brought back word to them.H6372H1121H499H3548H5387H7725H1121H7205H1121H1410H776H1568H776H3667H1121H3478H7725H1697H772533And the report was good in the eyes of 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 people of Reuben and the people of Gad were settled.H1697H3190H5869H1121H3478H1121H3478H1288H430H559H5927H6635H7843H776H1121H7205H1410H342734The people of Reuben and the people of Gad called the altar Witness, "For," they said, "it is a witness between us that the LORD is God."H1121H7205H1121H1410H7121H4196H5707H3068H430