Josue 22
22
1At the same time Josue called the Rubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasses,
2And said to them: You have done all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you: you have also obeyed me in all things.
3Neither have you left your brethren this long time, until this present day, keeping the commandment of the Lord your God.
4Therefore, as the Lord your God hath given your brethren rest and peace, as he promised, return, and go to your dwellings, and to the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you beyond the Jordan.
5Yet so that you observe attentively, and in work fulfil the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you. That you love the Lord your God, and walk in all his ways, and keep all his commandments, and cleave to him, and serve him with all your heart, and with all your soul.
6And Josue blessed them, and sent them away: and they returned to their dwellings.
7Now to half the tribe of Manasses Moses had given a possession in Basan and therefore to the half that remained, Josue gave a lot among the rest of their brethren beyond the Jordan to the west. And when he sent them away to their dwellings and had blessed them,
8He said to them: With much substance and riches, you return to your settlements: with silver and gold, brass and iron, and variety of raiment. Divide the prey of your enemies with your brethren.
9So the children of Ruben, and the children of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasses returned, and parted from the children of Israel in Silo, which is in Chanaan, to go into Galaad the land of their possession, which they had obtained according to the commandment of the Lord by the hand of Moses.
10And when they were come to the banks of the Jordan, in the land of Chanaan, they built an altar immensely great near the Jordan.
11And when the children of Israel had heard of it, and certain messengers had brought them an account that the children of Ruben, and of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasses had built an altar in the land of Chanaan, upon the banks of the Jordan, over against the children of Israel,
12They all assembled in Silo, to go up and fight against them.
13And in the mean time they sent to them into the land of Galaad: Phinees the son of Eleazar the priest:
14And ten princes with him, one of every tribe.
15Who came to the children of Ruben, and of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasses, into the land of Galaad, and said to them:
16Thus saith all the people of the Lord: What meaneth this transgression? Why have you forsaken the Lord the God of Israel, building a sacrilegious altar, and revolting from the worship of him?
17Is it a small thing to you that you sinned with Beelphegor, and the stain of that crime remaineth in us to this day? And many of the people perished.
18And you have forsaken the Lord to-day, and to-morrow his wrath will rage against all Israel.
19But if you think the land of your possession to be unclean, pass over to the land wherein is the tabernacle of the Lord, and dwell among us. Only depart not from the Lord, and from our society, by building an altar beside the altar of the Lord our God.
20Did not Achan the son of Zare transgress the commandment of the Lord, and his wrath lay upon all the people of Israel? And he was but one man, and would to God he alone had perished in his wickedness!
21And the children of Ruben, and of Gad, and of the half tribe of Manasses answered the princes of the embassage of Israel:
22The Lord, the most mighty God, the Lord, the most mighty God, he knoweth, and Israel also shall understand: If with the design of transgression we have set up this altar, let him not save us, but punish us immediately.
23And if we did it with that mind, that we might lay upon it holocausts, and sacrifice, and victims of peace-offerings, let him require and judge.
24And not rather with this thought and design, that we should say: To-morrow your children will say to our children: What have you to do with the Lord the God of Israel?
25The Lord hath put the river Jordan for a border between us and you, O ye children of Ruben, and ye children of Gad: and therefore you have no part in the Lord. And by this occasion you children shall turn away our children from the fear of the Lord. We therefore thought it best,
26And said: Let us build us an altar, not for holocausts, nor to offer victims,
27But for a testimony between us and you, and our posterity and yours, that we may serve the Lord, and that we may have a right to offer both holocausts, and victims and sacrifices of peace-offerings. And that your children to-morrow may not say to our children: You have no part in the Lord.
28And if they will say so, they shall answer them: Behold the altar of the Lord, which our fathers made, not for holocausts, nor for sacrifice, but for a testimony between us and you.
29God keep us from any such wickedness that we should revolt from the Lord, and leave off following his steps, by building an altar to offer holocausts, and sacrifices, and victims, beside the altar of the Lord our God, which is erected before his tabernacle.
30And when Phinees the priest, and the princes of the embassage, who were with him, had heard this, they were satisfied: and they admitted most willingly the words of the children of Ruben, and Gad and of the half tribe of Manasses.
31And Phinees the priest the son of Eleazar said to them: Now we know that the Lord is with us, because you are not guilty of this revolt, and you have delivered the children of Israel from the hand of the Lord.
32And he returned with the princes from the children of Ruben and Gad, out of the land of Galaad, into the land of Chanaan, to the children of Israel, and brought them word again.
33And the saying pleased all that heard it. And the children of Israel praised God, and they no longer said that they would go up against them, and fight, and destroy the land of their possession.
34And the children of Ruben, and the children of Gad called the altar which they had built, Our testimony, that the Lord is God.
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Josue 22: DRC1752
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An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.
Joshua 22
22
Three Tribes Go Home
1Then Joshua called a meeting of all the people from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh. 2He said to them, “You have done everything Moses, the Lord’s servant, told you to do. You have also obeyed all my commands. 3For a long time you have supported the other Israelites. You have been careful to obey the commands the Lord your God gave you. 4The Lord your God promised to give the Israelites peace, and he has kept his promise. Now you may go back to your homes, to the land that Moses, the Lord’s servant, gave you, on the east side of the Jordan River. 5But be careful to obey the teachings and laws Moses, the Lord’s servant, gave you: to love the Lord your God and obey his commands, to continue to follow him and serve him the very best you can.”
6Then Joshua said good-bye to them, and they left and went away to their homes. 7Moses had given the land of Bashan to East Manasseh. Joshua gave land on the west side of the Jordan River to West Manasseh. And he sent them to their homes and he blessed them. 8He said, “Go back to your homes and your riches. You have many animals, silver, gold, bronze, and iron, and many beautiful clothes. Also, you have taken many things from your enemies that you should divide among yourselves.”
9So the people from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh left the other Israelites at Shiloh in Canaan and went back to Gilead. It was their own land, given to them by Moses as the Lord had commanded.
10The people of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh went to Geliloth, near the Jordan River in the land of Canaan. There they built a beautiful altar. 11The other Israelites still at Shiloh heard about the altar these three tribes built at the border of Canaan at Geliloth, near the Jordan River on Israel’s side. 12All the Israelites became very angry at these three tribes, so they met together and decided to fight them.
13The Israelites sent Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest to Gilead to talk to the people of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh. 14They also sent one leader from each of the ten tribes at Shiloh. Each of them was a leader of his family group of Israelites.
15These leaders went to Gilead to talk to the people of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh. They said: 16“All the Israelites ask you: ‘Why did you turn against the God of Israel by building an altar for yourselves? You know that this is against God’s law. 17Remember what happened at Peor? We still suffer today because of that sin, for which God made many Israelites very sick. 18And now are you turning against the Lord and refusing to follow him?
“ ‘If you don’t stop what you’re doing today, the Lord will be angry with everyone in Israel tomorrow. 19If your land is unclean, come over into our land where the Lord’s Tent is. Share it with us. But don’t turn against the Lord and us by building another altar for the Lord our God. 20Remember how Achan son of Zerah refused to obey the command about what must be completely destroyed. That one man broke God’s law, but all the Israelites were punished. Achan died because of his sin, but others also died.’ ”
21The people from Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh answered, 22“The Lord is God of gods! The Lord is God of gods! God knows, and we want you to know also. If we have done something wrong, you may kill us. 23If we broke God’s law, we ask the Lord himself to punish us. We did not build this altar to offer burnt offerings or grain and fellowship offerings.
24“We did not build it for that reason. We feared that someday your people would not accept us as part of your nation. Then they might say, ‘You cannot worship the Lord, the God of Israel. 25The Lord made the Jordan River a border between us and you people of Reuben and Gad. You cannot worship the Lord.’ So we feared that your children might make our children stop worshiping the Lord.
26“That is why we decided to build this altar. But it is not for burnt offerings and sacrifices. 27This altar is proof to you and us and to all our children who will come after us that we worship the Lord with our whole burnt offerings, grain, and fellowship offerings. This was so your children would not say to our children, ‘You are not the Lord’s.’
28“In the future if your children say that, our children can say, ‘See the altar made by our ancestors. It is exactly like the Lord’s altar, but we do not use it for sacrifices. It shows that we are part of Israel.’
29“Truly, we don’t want to be against the Lord or to stop following him by building an altar for burnt offerings, grain offerings, or sacrifices. We know the only true altar to the Lord our God is in front of the Holy Tent.”
30When Phinehas the priest and the ten leaders heard the people of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh, they were pleased. 31So Phinehas, son of Eleazar the priest, said, “Now we know the Lord is with us and that you didn’t turn against him. Now the Israelites will not be punished by the Lord.”
32Then Phinehas and the leaders left the people of Reuben and Gad in Gilead and went back to Canaan where they told the Israelites what had happened. 33They were pleased and thanked God. So they decided not to fight the people of Reuben and Gad and destroy those lands.
34And the people of Reuben and Gad named the altar Proof That We Believe the Lord Is God.
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The Holy Bible, New Century Version, Copyright © 2005 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.