Joshua 22

Modern

Literal

The Eastern Tribes Return Home

¹Then Joshua summoned the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh

¹Then Joshua called the Reubenite and the Gadite and the half-tribe of Manasseh,

²and told them, “You have done all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, and you have obeyed my voice in all that I commanded you.

²and he said to them, “You have kept all that Moses the servant of YHWH commanded you, and you have listened to my voice in all that I commanded you.

³All this time you have not deserted your brothers, up to this very day, but have kept the charge given you by the LORD your God.

³You have not left your brothers these many days up to this day, and you have kept the charge of the commandment of YHWH your God.

⁴And now that the LORD your God has given your brothers rest as He promised them, you may return to your homes in the land that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you across the Jordan.

⁴And YHWH your God has given rest to your brothers as He promised to them, and now return and go for yourselves to your tents and to the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of YHWH gave to you on the other side of the Jordan.

⁵But be very careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you: to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, to keep His commandments, to hold fast to Him, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.”

⁵Only greatly take heed to do the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of YHWH commanded you, to love YHWH your God, and to walk in all His ways, and to keep His commandments, and to hold fast to Him, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.”

⁶So Joshua blessed them and sent them on their way, and they went to their homes.

⁶And Joshua blessed them and sent them away, and they went to their tents.

⁷(To the half-tribe of Manasseh Moses had given land in Bashan, and to the other half Joshua gave land on the west side of the Jordan among their brothers.) When Joshua sent them to their homes he blessed them,

⁷(And to the half-tribe of Manasseh Moses had given a possession in Bashan, and to half of it Joshua had given among their brothers on this side of the Jordan westward.) And indeed, when Joshua sent them away to their tents, he blessed them

⁸saying, “Return to your homes with your great wealth, with immense herds of livestock, with silver, gold, bronze, iron, and very many clothes. Divide with your brothers the spoil of your enemies.”

⁸and spoke to them, saying, “With great riches return to your tents, and with very much livestock, with silver, and with gold, and with bronze, and with iron, and with very much clothing. Divide the spoil of your enemies with your brothers.”

The Altar of Witness

⁹So the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh left the Israelites at Shiloh in the land of Canaan to return to their own land of Gilead, which they had acquired according to the command of the LORD through Moses.

⁹And the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh turned back and departed from the sons of Israel at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go to the country of Gilead, to the land of their possession, which they had acquired according to the word of YHWH by the hand of Moses.

¹⁰And when they came to Geliloth^a near the Jordan in the land of Canaan, the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an imposing altar there by the Jordan.

¹⁰And they came to Geliloth near the Jordan, which is 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, an altar great in appearance.

¹¹Then the Israelites received the report: “Behold, the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built an altar on the border of the land of Canaan, at Geliloth near the Jordan on the Israelite side.”

¹¹And the sons of Israel heard it said, “Behold, the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built the altar over against the border of the land of Canaan in the region of the Jordan on the side of the sons of Israel.”

¹²And when they heard this, the whole congregation of Israel assembled at Shiloh to go to war against them.

¹²And the sons of Israel heard, and the whole congregation of the sons of Israel gathered together at Shiloh to go to war against them.

¹³The Israelites sent Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest to the land of Gilead, to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.

¹³And the sons of Israel sent to the sons of Reuben, and to the sons of Gad, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, into the land of Gilead, Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest,

¹⁴With him they sent ten chiefs—one family leader from each tribe of Israel, each the head of a family among the clans of Israel.

¹⁴and ten leaders with him, one leader, one leader from the house of a father of every tribe of Israel; and each one was the head of the house of his father among the divisions of Israel.

¹⁵They went to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh in the land of Gilead and said to them,

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“This is what the whole congregation of the LORD says: ‘What is this breach of faith you have committed today against the God of Israel by turning away from the LORD and building for yourselves an altar, that you might rebel against the LORD this day?

¹⁶“Thus says the whole congregation of YHWH: ‘What is this treachery that you have committed against the God of Israel, to turn away this day from following YHWH, in that you have built for yourselves an altar, that you might rebel this day against YHWH?

¹⁷Was not the sin of Peor enough for us, from which we have not cleansed ourselves to this day? It even brought a plague upon the congregation of the LORD.

¹⁷Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us, from which we are not cleansed until this day? And there was a plague in the congregation of YHWH.

¹⁸And now, would you turn away from the LORD? If you rebel today against the LORD, tomorrow He will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel.

¹⁸And you turn away this day from following YHWH? And if it comes to pass that you rebel today against YHWH, tomorrow He will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel.

¹⁹If indeed the land of your inheritance is unclean, then cross over to the land of the LORD’s possession, where the LORD’s tabernacle stands, and take possession of it among us. But do not rebel against the LORD or against us by building for yourselves an altar other than the altar of the LORD our God.

¹⁹And nevertheless, if the land of your possession is unclean, then pass over to the land of the possession of YHWH, where the tabernacle of YHWH stands, and take possession in our midst. And against YHWH do not rebel, and against us do not rebel, by building for yourselves an altar besides the altar of YHWH our God.

²⁰Was not Achan^a son of Zerah unfaithful regarding what was set apart for destruction,^b bringing wrath upon the whole congregation of Israel? Yet it was not only Achan who perished because of his sin!’”

²⁰Did not Achan son of Zerah act unfaithfully—an unfaithfulness—with the devoted thing, so that wrath fell upon all the congregation of Israel? And not only he, one man, perished in his iniquity.’”

²¹Then the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered the leaders of the clans of Israel:

²¹And the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered, and said to the heads of the divisions of Israel,

²²“The LORD, the Mighty One, is God! The LORD, the Mighty One, is God! He knows, and may Israel also know. If this was in rebellion or breach of faith against the LORD, do not spare us today.

²²“God of gods—YHWH, God of gods—YHWH, He knows, and Israel He does know. If it is in rebellion or if in treachery against YHWH, do not save us this day!

²³If we have built for ourselves an altar to turn away from Him and to offer burnt offerings and grain offerings on it, or to sacrifice peace offerings on it, may the LORD Himself hold us accountable.

²³If we have built for ourselves an altar to turn from following YHWH, or if to offer on it burnt offerings or grain offerings, or if to offer on it peace offerings, YHWH Himself will require it.

²⁴But in fact we have done this for fear that in the future your descendants might say to ours, ‘What have you to do with the LORD, the God of Israel?

²⁴And nevertheless, we have done it from fear of this thing, saying, hereafter your sons may speak to our seed, saying, ‘And what have you to do with YHWH, God of Israel?

²⁵For the LORD has made the Jordan a border between us and you Reubenites and Gadites. You have no share in the LORD!’ So your descendants could cause ours to stop fearing the LORD.

²⁵For YHWH a border has given between us and between you, sons of Reuben and sons of Gad—the Jordan. To you is no portion in YHWH.’ And your sons would make our sons cease from fearing YHWH.

²⁶That is why we said, ‘Let us take action and build an altar for ourselves, but not for burnt offerings or sacrifices.

²⁶And we said, ‘Let us now prepare ourselves to build the altar—not for burnt offering nor for sacrifice—

²⁷Rather, let it be a witness between us and you and the generations to come, that we will worship the LORD in His presence with our burnt offerings, sacrifices, and peace offerings.’ Then in the future, your descendants cannot say to ours, ‘You have no share in the LORD!’

²⁷but that a witness it may be between us and between you and between our generations after us, that we may perform the service of YHWH before Him with our burnt offerings, and with our sacrifices, and with our peace offerings,’ that your sons may not say hereafter to our sons, ‘To you is no portion in YHWH.’

²⁸Therefore we said, ‘If they ever say this to us or to our descendants, we will answer: Look at the replica of the altar of the LORD that our fathers made, not for burnt offerings or sacrifices, but as a witness between us and you.’

²⁸And we said, ‘And it will come to pass, when they say this to us or to our generations hereafter, that we may say: Here is the replica of the altar of YHWH, which our fathers made, though not for burnt offerings nor for sacrifices, but a witness it is between us and between you.’

²⁹Far be it from us to rebel against the LORD and turn away from Him today by building an altar for burnt offerings, grain offerings, or sacrifices, other than the altar of the LORD our God, which stands before His tabernacle.”

²⁹Far be it from us that we should rebel against YHWH and turn this day from following YHWH to build an altar for burnt offerings, for grain offerings, and for sacrifice, besides the altar of YHWH our God which is before His tabernacle.”

³⁰When Phinehas the priest and the chiefs of the congregation—the heads of Israel’s clans who were with him—heard what the descendants of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh had to say, they were satisfied.

³⁰And Phinehas the priest and the princes of the congregation and the heads of the divisions of Israel who were with him heard the words that the sons of Reuben, and the sons of Gad, and the sons of Manasseh, spoke, and it pleased them.

³¹Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest said to the descendants of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh, “Today we know that the LORD is among us, because you have not committed this breach of faith against Him. Consequently, you have delivered the Israelites from the hand of the LORD.”

³¹And Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest said to the sons of Reuben, and the sons of Gad, and the sons of Manasseh, “This day we perceive that YHWH is in our midst, because you have not committed this treachery against YHWH. Therefore, you have delivered the sons of Israel out of the hand of YHWH.”

³²Then Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest, together with the other leaders, returned to the Israelites in the land of Canaan and brought back a report regarding the Reubenites and Gadites in the land of Gilead.

³²And Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest and the leaders returned from the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad, from the land of Gilead, to the land of Canaan, to the sons of Israel, and they brought back to them word.

³³The Israelites were satisfied with the report, and they blessed God and spoke no more about going to war against them to destroy the land where the Reubenites and Gadites lived.

³³And the word was pleasing in the eyes of the sons of Israel; and the sons of Israel blessed God, and they spoke no more of going against them in battle to destroy the land that the sons of Reuben and of Gad were dwelling in.

³⁴So the Reubenites and Gadites named the altar Witness, for they said,^a “It is a witness between us that the LORD is God.”

³⁴And the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad proclaimed of the altar that, “It is a witness between us that YHWH is God.”