King James Version

1 Then Joshua will call to the Reubenites and the Gadites and to half the tribe of Manasseh. 2 And he said to them, "You have kept all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, and you have listened to my voice in all that I have commanded you." 3 You have not abandoned your brothers for many days until this day, and you have kept the watch of the command of the Lord your God. 4 And now the Lord your God has given rest to your brothers, as He spoke to them. Now turn 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 take heed very much to do 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 cling to Him and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul. 6 And Joshua blessed them and sent them, and they went to their tents. 7 And to half of the tribe of Manasseh, Moses gave in Bashan, and to half of it, Joshua gave with their brothers across the Jordan to the west, and also, Joshua sent them to their tents and blessed them. 8 And he said to them to say, "With much property return to your tents, and with very many cattle, with silver and with gold, with copper and with iron, and with many garments; divide the spoils of your enemies with your brothers." 9 And the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh returned and went from the children of Israel at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go to the land of Gilead, to the land of their possession, which they possessed according to the word of the Lord by the hand of Moses. 10 And they came to the Galilee of the Jordan which is in the land of Canaan, and the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh built there an altar by the Jordan, an altar great to behold. 11 And the sons of Israel heard, saying, "Behold, the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh have built an altar facing the land of Canaan, at the edge of the Jordan, on the side of the sons of Israel." 12 And the children of Israel heard, and all the congregation of the children of Israel gathered in Shiloh to go up to them to the army. 13 And the sons of Israel sent to the sons of Reuben and to the sons of Gad and to half the tribe of Manasseh to the land of Gilead Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest. 14 And ten leaders, one leader for each house for all the tribes of Israel, and each man was the head of his father's house for the thousands of Israel. 15 And they came to the sons of Reuben and to the sons of Gad and to half the tribe of Manasseh to the land of Gilead, and they spoke with them, saying. 16 Thus spoke all the congregation of the LORD: "What is this sin that you have committed against the God of Israel, turning away today from following the LORD by building an altar for rebellion against the LORD today?" 17 "Is it a small thing for us that we have not cleansed ourselves from the sin of Peor until this day, and there has been a plague among the assembly of the Lord?" 18 And you will turn today from the Lord, and it will be that you will rebel today against the Lord, and tomorrow all the congregation of Israel will be angry. 19 But if the land of your possession is unclean, cross over to the land of the possession of the LORD, where the dwelling of the LORD is, and take possession among us; and do not rebel against the LORD, and do not rebel against us by building an altar for yourselves, besides the altar of the LORD our God. 20 Was it not Achan the son of Zerah who transgressed in the ban, and there was anger against all the congregation of Israel, and he was one man who did not perish in his iniquity? 21 And the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh answered and spoke to the leaders of the thousands of Israel. 22 God, the Lord, He knows, and Israel will be known whether in rebellion or whether in transgression against the Lord. Do not save us this day. 23 To build for us an altar to return to the LORD, and if to offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, and if to make sacrifices of peace offerings to the LORD, He will seek it. 24 And if it is not from worry about something, we have done this to say, tomorrow your children will say to our children, saying, "What is this to you and to the LORD God of Israel?" 25 And the boundary which the LORD has given between us and you, O sons of Reuben and sons of Gad, is the Jordan; you have no portion in the LORD, so that your children may not cause our children to cease fearing the LORD. 26 And we said, “Let us make for us an altar, not for burnt offering and not for sacrifice.” 27 For he is a witness between us and between you and between our descendants after us, to serve the service of the Lord before me with our burnt offerings and with our sacrifices and with our peace offerings, so that your children may not say to our children tomorrow, 'You have no part in the Lord.' 28 And we said, "It shall be when they say to us and to our descendants tomorrow, we will say, 'See the pattern of the altar of the Lord which our fathers made, not for burnt offering and not for sacrifice, for it is a witness between us and you.'" 29 Far be it from us to rebel against the LORD and to turn back today from following the LORD by building altars for burnt offerings, for grain offerings, and for sacrifices, apart from the altar of the LORD our God that is before His tabernacle. 30 And Phinehas the priest and the leaders of the congregation and the heads of thousands 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 was good in their eyes. 31 And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said to the sons of Reuben and to the sons of Gad and to the sons of Manasseh, "Today we know that the LORD is among us, because you have not acted unfaithfully against the LORD in this matter; therefore you have saved the children of Israel from the hand of the LORD." 32 And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest and the leaders from the sons of Reuben and from the sons of Gad from the land of Gilead came to the land of Canaan to the children of Israel and they spoke to them. 33 And it was good in the eyes of the sons of Israel, and they blessed God. The sons of Israel did not say to go up against them to destroy the land that the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad are dwelling in. 34 And the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad called to the altar, for it is a witness between us and you, that the LORD is God.