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MOF JOS Chapter 22

22 Then Joshua summoned the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half clan of Manasseh. 2 He said to them, “You have obeyed all that Moses the servant of the Eternal ordered you, and listened to what I have said by way of command to you; 3 you have not abandoned your kinsmen all this time, but have obeyed the injunctions laid down for you b the Eternal your God. 4 Now that the Eternal your God has granted rest to your kinsmen, as he promised, you may go home to your tents in the land of your holding, assigned to you by Moses the servant of the Eternal on the east of the Jordan. 5 Only be most careful to obey the commands and laws laid down for you by Moses the servant of the Eternal, mindful to love the Eternal your God, always to live his life, to obey his commands, to be loyal to him, and to serve him with all your mind and soul,” 6 So Joshua blessed them and sent them away home. 7 To the one half clan of Manasseh Moses had assigned an inheritance in Bashan, but Joshua assigned the other half an inheritance beside their kinsmen to the west of the Jordan. When Joshua sent them home he blessed them, 8 and they returned home to their tents with great wealth, rich in cattle, silver and gold, bronze, iron, and raiment, the plunder of their enemies which they divided among their kinsmen.

9 The Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half clan of Manasseh went home, leaving the Israelites at Shilo in the land of Canaan, and returning to the land of Gilead which was their holding, assigned them by Moses under orders from the Eternal. 10 When they reached the Gilgal district, inside the land of Canaan, the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half clan of Manasseh set up an altar there beside the Jordan, a large conlspicuous altar. 11 The Israelites were told that the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half clan of Manasseh had set up an altar at Gilgal, on the western bank belonging to Israel, 12 and on hearing this the whole community of Israel mustered at Shilo to make war upon them. 13 The Israelites sent a mission to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half clan of Manasseh in Gilead, namely, Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, 14 and ten chieftains, each a chieftain of his clan, a headman of his house among the septs of Israel. 15 They went to Gilead and said to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half clan of Manasseh, 16 “The whole community of the Eternal asks what you mean by breaking faith with the God of Israel and ceasing now to follow him by setting up an altar for yourselves? This is rebellion against the Eternal. 17 Was it not enough to sin at Péor?—a sin from which we have not even yet cleansed ourselves, though a death-stroke fell upon the community of the Eternal then. 18 And here you cease to follow the Eternal now! You rebel to-day against the Eternal, and to-morrow he will be angry with the whole community of Israel. 19 If the land you hold is defiled by pagans, then cross over to the land which the Eternal himself holds, where his Dwelling stands, and occupy a holding among us; but do not rebel against the Eternal, do not make us rebels against the Eternal, by setting up for yourselves an altar other than the altar of the Eternal our God. 20 Was not Achan the son of Zerah guilty of a breach of faith in the matter of doomed spoil, till God’s anger fell upon the whole community ? He did not perish alone in his iniquity.” 21 The Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half clan of Manasseh replied to the headmen of Israel: 22 “The Mighty One, God, the Eternal, the Mighty One, God, the Eternal, knows well, and Israel shall know, if we were rebels or broke faith (if we did, spare us not!) 23 when we set up an altar for ourselves, if we meant to cease following the Eternal, or to sacrifice burnt-offerings, cereal-offerings, and recompense-offerings. 24 Let the Eternal himself punish us, if we did not do this in the fear that, later, your sons might say to our sons, ‘What have you to do with the Eternal the God of Israel? 25 The Eternal made the Jordan the boundary between us and you, you Reubenites and Gadites. You have no share in the Eternal.” Your sons would thus make our sons give up the religion of the Eternal. 26 So we thought we would prepare to build an altar for ourselves, not to sacrifice burnt-offerings or any sacrifice at all, 27 but to stand as a witness between us and you, and between our descendants and yours, attesting that we are to worship before the Eternal with our burnt-offerings and recompense-offerings, so that your sons may never taunt our sons in time to come by saying that we have no share in the Eternal. 28 If ever that is said to us or to our descendants in time to come, we thought the answer would be, ‘There is the pattern of the altar of the Eternal, the pattern made by our fathers, though not for burnt-offering nor for sacrifice; it stands as a witness between us and you!’ 29 Far be it from us to rebel against the Eternal and cease now to follow him by setting up any altar for burnt-offerings, cereal-offerings, or any sacrifice, apart from the altar of the Eternal our God in front of his own tent.” 30 When Phinehas the priest and the headmen of the community, the chieftains of the septs of Israel who were with him, heard what the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the Manassites said, they were quite satisfied; 31 Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the Manassites, “Now we know that the Eternal is among us, since you have not broken faith here with the Eternal. You have delivered the Israelites from the hand of the Eternal.” 32 Then Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest and the chieftains withdrew from the Reubenites and the Gadites in the land of Gilead to the land of Canaan, and reported the news to the Israelites. 33 The Israelites were satisfied; they blessed God and said no more about making war upon them and destroying the land where the Reubenites and the Gadites lived. 34 The Reubenites and the Gadites called that altar Galed (Witnessheap), “For,” they said, “it is a witness between us that the Eternal is God.”

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