1 ¶ Then Joshua called the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh,

2 And said to them, You have done all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, and have obeyed my voice in all that I commanded you:

3 You all this time have not deserted your brethren to this day, but have kept the charge of the commandment of the LORD your God.

4 And now the LORD your God has given rest to your brethren, as he promised them: therefore go, and return to your tents, and to the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of the LORD gave you on the other side of the Jordan.

5 But be careful to follow the commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of the LORD gave you, to love the LORD your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave 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 homes.

7 Now to one half of the tribe of Manasseh Moses had given land in Bashan: but to the other half Joshua gave land among their brethren on the west side of the Jordan. And when Joshua sent them away to their tents, then he also blessed them,

8 And he spoke to them, saying, Return with much riches to your tents, and with very many cattle, with silver, and with gold, and with brass, and with iron, and with very much clothing: divide the spoil of your enemies with your brethren.

9 And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh returned, parting from the children of Israel at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go to the country of Gilead, to the land of their possession, there own land, according to the word of the LORD by the hand of Moses.

10 ¶ And when they came to the region of the Jordan, in the land of Canaan, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh built an altar there by the Jordan, an altar great to behold.

11 And hearing about it the children of Israel said, Behold, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh have built an altar at the edge of the land of Canaan, in the region of the Jordan, in the passage belonging to the children of Israel.

12 And when the children of Israel heard it, the whole congregation of the children of Israel gathered together at Shiloh, to make war against them.

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

14 And with him ten leaders, each the leader of a family from all the tribes of Israel; and each one was a head of the house of their fathers among the clans of Israel.

15 And they came to the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the half tribe of Manasseh, to the land of Gilead, and they spoke with them, saying,

16 The entire congregation of the LORD asks, What trespass is this that you have committed against the God of Israel, to turn away this day from following the LORD, in that you have built yourselves an altar, that you might rebel this day against the LORD?

17 Is the iniquity of Peor, from which we are not cleansed even now, and for which a plague came on the congregation of the LORD, too little for us,

18 That you must turn away this day from following the LORD? the result will be, seeing you rebel to day against the LORD, that tomorrow he will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel.

19 But now, if your own land is unclean, then pass over into the LORD’s land, in which the LORD’S tabernacle resides, and take for yourself a possession among us: but do not rebel against the LORD, or rebel against us, by building yourselves an other altar besides the altar of the LORD our God.

20 When Achan the son of Zerah was unfaithful in regard to the condemned goods, didn’t wrath fall on the entire congregation of Israel? and he was not the only one to die as a result of his iniquity.

21 ¶ Then the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh answered, and said to the leaders of the clans of Israel,

22 The LORD God of gods, the LORD God of gods, he knows, and Israel shall know; if it is in rebellion, or in transgression against the LORD, (do not spare us today,)

23 If we have built an altar to turn from following the LORD, or to offer on it burnt offerings or meat offerings, or to offer on it peace offerings, let the LORD himself take vengeance;

24 But we did it rather for fear of this thing, saying, In time to come your children might speak to our children, saying, What have you to do with the LORD God of Israel?

25 For the LORD has made Jordan a border between us and you, you children of Reuben and children of Gad; you have no part in the LORD: so shall your children make our children cease from fearing the LORD.

26 Therefore we said, Let us take action and build an altar for ourselves, not for burnt offering, or for sacrifice:

27 But as a witness between us, and you, and the generations after us, that we might worship before the LORD in his presence with our burnt offerings, and with our sacrifices, and with our peace offerings; that your children may not say to our children in time to come, You have no part in the LORD.

28 Therefore we said, that if that should be said to us or to our descendants in time to come, that we may reply, Look at the copy of the altar of the LORD, which our fathers made, not for burnt offerings, or for sacrifices; but as a witness between us and you.

29 Far be it from us to rebel against the LORD, and turn this day from following the LORD, to build an altar for burnt offerings, for meat offerings, or for sacrifices, other than the altar of the LORD our God that is before his tabernacle.

30 ¶ And when Phinehas the priest, and the leaders of the congregation and heads of the clans of Israel which were with him, heard the words that the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the children of Manasseh spoke, it pleased them.

31 And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said to the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the children of Manasseh, Today we know that the LORD is among us, because you have not committed this trespass against Him: as a result you have delivered the children of Israel from the hand of the LORD.

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

33 And the thing pleased the children of Israel; and the children of Israel blessed God, and spoke no more of going up against them in battle, to destroy the land in which the children of Reuben and Gad dwelt.

34 And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad named the altar Ed meaning Witness: saying it shall be a witness between us that the LORD is God.