Joshua
Chapter 22
1 Then Joshua called the people of Reuben, Gad, and the half group from Manasseh,
2 He told them, “You have followed all that Moses, God’s servant, ordered you to do, and you have listened to me in everything I commanded you.”
3 You have not left your relatives all this time until today, but have followed the orders of God’s commandment.
4 Now God has given your brothers peace, just as he promised. So go back to your tents and to your own land that Moses, God’s servant, gave you across the Jordan River.
5 Be careful to follow the command and laws that Moses, God’s servant, gave you: love God, walk in all His paths, keep His commands, stay close to Him, and serve Him with all your heart and soul.
6 Joshua blessed them and sent them off, and they went to their tents.
7 Moses had given one half of the Manasseh tribe land in Bashan. Joshua gave the other half land among their relatives west of the Jordan River. When Joshua sent them to their homes, he blessed them.
8 He told them, “Go back to your homes with lots of wealth, and lots of cows, silver, gold, bronze, iron, and many clothes: share what you took from your enemies with your brothers.”
9 The families from Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh left their kin from Israel in Shiloh, in Canaan, to return to Gilead, the land given to them as God promised through Moses.
10 When they reached the Jordan River borders in Canaan, the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh built a big altar there by the Jordan.
11 The Israelites heard, “Look, the Reubenites, Gadites, and half-tribe of Manasseh built an altar near Canaan’s land by the Jordan River where the Israelites cross.”
12 When the Israelites heard about it, they all met at Shiloh to prepare for battle against them.
13 The Israelites sent Phinehas, son of Priest Eleazar, to the people of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh in Gilead.
14 With him were ten leaders, one leader from each important family of all Israel’s tribes; and each was in charge of their family among the many in Israel.
15 They went to the descendants of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh in Gilead and talked to them, saying,
16 The whole group of God’s people says, “What wrong have you done against the God of Israel by building an altar for yourselves today? Are you turning away from God and rebelling against him?”
17 Wasn’t the sin at Peor enough for us, which we haven’t been cleansed from to this day, even though there was a plague among God’s people?
18 But do you have to stop following God today? If you go against God today, He will be angry with all of Israel tomorrow.
19 If your land is not clean, then go to the land that belongs to God, where God’s tent stands, and settle with us. But do not go against God, or us, by making your own altar to compete with God’s altar.
20 Didn’t Achan, Zerah’s son, do wrong with the cursed item, and all the people of Israel faced anger? And he didn’t die alone for his sin.
21 The children of Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh replied to Israel’s leaders.
22 The God of all gods knows, and Israel will come to know; if we are rebelling, or if we are sinning against God, (do not save us today,)
23 We built an altar not to stop following God, or to burn sacrifices or give grain offerings on it, or to make peace offerings there. If that’s wrong, let God deal with it.
24 If we didn’t do it because we were afraid, thinking, ‘Later, your kids might tell our kids, “What do you have to do with the God of Israel?”’
25 God has made the Jordan River a border between us and you, Reuben’s and Gad’s children; you are not part of God, so your children will cause our children to stop respecting God.
26 So we decided to make an altar, not for burnt offerings or sacrifices.
27 Let this be a sign between us, you, and our future generations, so we can serve God in his presence with our burnt offerings, sacrifices, and peace offerings; so your children won’t tell our children in the future, “You have no part in God.”
28 We said it would happen, that when later generations or we are asked, we can reply, ‘Look at the model of God’s altar, built by our ancestors not for burnt offerings or sacrifices, but as a sign between us and you.’
29 Let’s not sin by turning away from God today and making an altar for burnt, grain, or other offerings, apart from the one at God’s tent.
30 When Phinehas the priest, the leaders, and the chiefs of Israel’s groups with him heard what the people of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh said, they were happy.
31 Phinehas, son of Eleazar the priest, said to the descendants of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh, “Today we see that God is with us, for you did not do this wrong against God. Now you have saved the people of Israel from God’s punishment.”
32 Phinehas, who was the son of the priest Eleazar, and the leaders, came back from the land of Gilead where the Reubenites and the Gadites lived, to Canaan, to tell the Israelites what happened.
33 The Israelites liked this idea; they praised God and decided not to attack them or ruin the land where the Reubenites and Gadites lived.
34 The children of Reuben and the children of Gad named the altar Ed: it will be a sign among us that God is God.