JoshuaChapter 22

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¹Then Joshua called together the people of Reuben, the people of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh. ²He told them, "You have done everything Moses the servant of the LORD told you to do. And you have obeyed me in everything I told you. ³All this time you have not left your brothers, right up to today. You have done the job the LORD your God gave you. ⁴Now the LORD your God has given your brothers rest, as he promised them. So you may go back to your homes. Go to the land that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you across the Jordan. ⁵But be very careful to obey the command and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you. Love the LORD your God. Live the way he wants in all things. Keep his commands. Hold on tight to him. Serve him with all your heart and with all your soul." ⁶Then Joshua blessed them and sent them on their way. And they went to their homes. ⁷(Moses had given land in Bashan to half the tribe of Manasseh. Joshua gave the other half land west of the Jordan, among their brothers.) Joshua blessed them when he sent them home. ⁸He said, "Go back to your homes with your great riches. Take your huge herds of animals. Take your silver, gold, bronze, and iron, and lots and lots of clothes. Share with your brothers what you took from your enemies." ⁹So the people of Reuben, the people of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh left the Israelites at Shiloh in the land of Canaan. They went back home to their own land of Gilead. They had gotten it because the LORD commanded it through Moses. ¹⁰They came to Geliloth near the Jordan, in the land of Canaan. There, by the Jordan, the people of Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh built an altar. It was huge and could be seen from far away. ¹¹Then the rest of the Israelites heard the news. "Look!" people said. "The people of Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh have built an altar! It is at the edge of the land of Canaan, at Geliloth near the Jordan, on the Israelite side." ¹²When the Israelites heard this, the whole community gathered at Shiloh. They were ready to go to war against them. ¹³The Israelites sent Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest to the land of Gilead. He went to the people of Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh. ¹⁴They sent ten leaders with him. There was one family leader from each tribe of Israel. Each was the head of a family among the clans of Israel. ¹⁵They went to the people of Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh in the land of Gilead. They said to them, ¹⁶"The whole community of the LORD says this: 'Why have you been unfaithful to the God of Israel today? You have turned away from the LORD. You built an altar for yourselves. You have turned against the LORD today. ¹⁷Wasn't the sin at Peor bad enough for us? We still have not been made clean from it, even today. It even brought a deadly sickness on the LORD's people. ¹⁸And now will you turn away from the LORD? If you turn against the LORD today, he will be angry with the whole community of Israel tomorrow. ¹⁹Maybe the land you were given is unclean. If so, then come across to the LORD's own land, where the LORD's tabernacle stands. Take a share of land among us. But do not turn against the LORD or against us. Do not build an altar for yourselves other than the altar of the LORD our God. ²⁰Remember Achan son of Zerah. He was unfaithful about the things set apart to be destroyed. Didn't God's anger come on the whole community of Israel? And Achan was not the only one who died because of his sin!'" ²¹Then the people of Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh answered the leaders of the clans of Israel. ²²"The LORD, the Mighty One, is God! The LORD, the Mighty One, is God! He knows, and we want Israel to know too. Did we do this to turn against the LORD or to be unfaithful to him? If so, do not spare us today. ²³Did we build this altar to turn away from him? Did we build it to offer burnt offerings and grain offerings on it? Did we build it to offer peace offerings on it? If so, may the LORD himself make us pay for it. ²⁴No! We did this because we were afraid. Someday your children might say to our children, 'What do you have to do with the LORD, the God of Israel? ²⁵The LORD has made the Jordan a border between us and you people of Reuben and Gad. You have no share in the LORD!' Then your children might make our children stop fearing the LORD. ²⁶That is why we said, 'Let's do something. Let's build an altar for ourselves. But it won't be for burnt offerings or sacrifices.' ²⁷'Instead, it will be a witness between us and you, and for the people born after us. It will show that we will worship the LORD in his presence. We will bring our burnt offerings, sacrifices, and peace offerings.' Then someday your children cannot say to our children, 'You have no share in the LORD!' ²⁸So we said, 'Someday they might say this to us or to our children. Then we will answer, "Look at this copy of the LORD's altar. Our fathers made it. It is not for burnt offerings or sacrifices. It is a witness between us and you."' ²⁹We would never turn against the LORD! We would never turn away from him today by building an altar for burnt offerings, grain offerings, or sacrifices. We would never build any altar besides the altar of the LORD our God, which stands in front of his tabernacle." ³⁰Phinehas the priest and the leaders of the community were there. They were the heads of Israel's clans who came with him. They heard what the people of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh said. And they were pleased. ³¹Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest spoke to the people of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh. He said, "Today we know that the LORD is with us, because you have not been unfaithful to him in this. So you have saved the Israelites from the LORD's hand." ³²Then Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest and the other leaders came back from the people of Reuben and Gad in the land of Gilead. They went back to the Israelites in the land of Canaan. They brought back a report about them. ³³The Israelites were pleased with the report. They praised God. They stopped talking about going to war against them. They no longer planned to destroy the land where the people of Reuben and Gad lived. ³⁴So the people of Reuben and Gad named the altar Witness. They said, "It is a witness between us that the LORD is God."