Tribes beyond the Jordan Return
1 Then Joshua called the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh 2 and said to them, “You have kept all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you and have listened to my voice in all that I commanded you. 3 You have not abandoned your brothers all this time, even to this day, but have performed the duty of the commandment of the Lord your God.
4 Now the Lord your God has given rest to your brothers, just as he said to them. Therefore now return and go to your tents, to the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you beyond the Jordan. 5 Only diligently heed the commandments and the law which 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 hold fast 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 tents. 7 Now to the one half-tribe of Manasseh, Moses had given an inheritance in Bashan, but Joshua gave to the other half among their brothers beyond the Jordan westward. Moreover when Joshua sent them away to their tents, he blessed them 8 and spoke to them, saying, “Return with much wealth to your tents, with a great deal of livestock, with silver, with gold, with bronze, with iron, and with a great deal of clothing. Divide the plunder of your enemies with your brothers.”
9 The Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh returned and departed from the Israelites out of Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go to the land of Gilead, to the land of their possession, which they owned, according to the commandment of the Lord through Moses.
The Offensive Alter
10 When they came to the region near the Jordan, that is in the land of Canaan, the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an altar there by the Jordan, a great altar to look at. 11 The Israelites heard this, “The Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built an altar along the border of the land of Canaan, in the region around the Jordan, on the side that belongs to the Israelites.” 12 When the Israelites heard of it, the whole congregation of the Israelites gathered together at Shiloh, to wage war against them.
13 The Israelites sent Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, into the land of Gilead. 14 With him were ten leaders, one family leader for each of the tribes of Israel, and they were each head of their fathers’ houses among the thousands of Israel.
15 They came to the Reubenites and to the Gadites and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, to the land of Gilead, and they spoke with them, saying, 16 “The whole congregation of the Lord says, ‘What trespass is this that you have committed against the God of Israel, to turn away today from following the Lord, in that you have built yourselves an altar, to rebel today against the Lord? 17 Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us, from which we have not cleansed ourselves to this day, although there came a plague on the congregation of the Lord, 18 that you must turn away today from following the Lord? It will be, since you rebel today against the Lord, that tomorrow he will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel. 19 However, if the land of your possession is unclean, then pass over to the land of the possession of the Lord, in which the Lord’s tabernacle dwells and take possession among us, but do not rebel against the Lord, nor rebel against us in building an altar other than the alter of the Lord our God. 20 Did Achan the son of Zerah not commit a trespass in the devoted thing and wrath fell on all the congregation of Israel? That man did not perish alone in his iniquity.’ ”
21 Then the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered and spoke to the heads of the thousands of Israel, 22 “The Lord God of gods! The Lord God of gods! He knows, and Israel shall know. Do not save us today if it was in rebellion, or if it was in trespass against the Lord, 23 that we have built ourselves an altar to turn away from following the Lord, or if it was to offer burnt offering or grain offering, or if it was to offer sacrifices of peace offerings, let the Lord himself hold us accountable for it.
24 “We have done this for a reason, out of concern for our descendants, saying, ‘In time to come your children might speak to our children, saying: What have you to do with the Lord, the God of Israel? 25 For the Lord has made the Jordan a border between us and you, Reubenites and Gadites. You have no portion in the Lord. So your children might make our children cease from fearing the Lord.’
26 Therefore we said, ‘Let us now prepare to build ourselves an altar, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice, 27 but it will be a witness between us and you and between our generations after us, that we may perform the service of the Lord before him with our burnt offerings, with our sacrifices and with our peace offerings,’ that your descendants may not tell our desendants in time to come: You have no portion in the Lord.
28 Therefore we said, ‘It shall be, when they tell us or our generations this in time to come, that we shall say: The pattern of the Lord’s altar, which our fathers made, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice, but it is a witness between us and you.’
29 Far be it from us that we should rebel against the Lord and turn away today from following the Lord, to build an altar for burnt offering, for grain offering, or for sacrifice, besides the alter of the Lord our God, that is before his tabernacle!”
30 When Phinehas the priest, and the leaders of the congregation, the heads of the thousands of Israel that were with him, heard the words that the Reuben and Gadites and the descendants of Manasseh spoke, they were very pleased. 31 Phinehas the 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 trespass against the Lord. Now you have delivered the Israelites out of the Lord’s hand.”
32 Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest and the leaders returned from the Reubenites and from the Gadites, out of the land of Gilead, to the land of Canaan, to the Israelites, and brought word back to them. 33 This pleased the Israelites, and the Israelites blessed the Lord and spoke no more of going up against them to war, to destroy the land in which the Reubenites and the Gadites lived. 34 The Reubenites and the Gadites named the altar “A Witness Between Us that the Lord is God.”