约书亚记 22
Chinese Contemporary Bible (Simplified)
建祭坛之争
22 约书亚召来了吕便、迦得和玛拿西半个支派的人来， 2 对他们说：“你们都遵守了耶和华的仆人摩西的一切吩咐，也遵守了我的一切吩咐。 3 这些日子以来，你们从没有离弃自己的弟兄，遵守了你们的上帝耶和华的吩咐。 4 现在你们的上帝耶和华已经照祂的应许使你们的弟兄安居，你们可以回到约旦河东，到摩西赐给你们作产业的地方。 5 不过，你们要谨遵耶和华的仆人摩西吩咐你们的诫命和律法，要爱你们的上帝耶和华，遵行祂的旨意，听从祂的命令，忠于祂，全心全意地事奉祂。”
6 于是，约书亚为他们祝福，送他们回去，他们就各自返回家园去了。
7 摩西已经在巴珊把土地分给了玛拿西半个支派，约书亚把约旦河西的土地分给了玛拿西另外的半个支派及其他支派。约书亚派他们回家的时候，为他们祝福， 8 说：“现在你们带着大量的财物、牲畜、金银、铜、铁和衣物返回家园，要把从敌人那里得来的财物分给你们的弟兄。” 9 于是，吕便、迦得和玛拿西半个支派的人便离开在迦南的示罗的以色列人，返回耶和华借摩西分配给他们的基列。
10 他们来到约旦河附近的迦南境内，就在约旦河边筑了一座高大的祭坛。 11 以色列人听见吕便、迦得和玛拿西半个支派的人在约旦河西的迦南境内筑起了一座祭坛， 12 便全部聚集在示罗，要讨伐他们。
13 以色列人派祭司以利亚撒的儿子非尼哈去基列见他们， 14 又从每支派差遣一位族长，共十位随行。 15 他们来到基列的吕便、迦得和玛拿西半个支派的人那里，对他们说： 16 “耶和华的全体会众问你们，你们怎能这样背叛以色列的上帝，离弃耶和华，为自己另建祭坛呢？ 17 从前拜毗珥的罪恶不够大吗？那一次，瘟疫降到耶和华的会众身上，直到今日我们还没有洗净这罪。 18 你们今日要离弃耶和华吗？今日你们背叛耶和华，明日祂必向以色列全体会众发怒。 19 如果你们认为自己的土地不洁净，可以搬到耶和华的土地跟我们一起居住，这里有耶和华的圣幕。只是不可在耶和华的祭坛以外，自己另筑祭坛，以致背叛耶和华，连累我们。 20 从前谢拉的曾孙亚干私自留下那些耶和华吩咐要毁灭的东西，以致耶和华的烈怒临到以色列全体会众，因他的罪而死的不只他一个人！”
21 吕便、迦得和玛拿西半个支派的人便回答这些以色列的族长说： 22 “大能的上帝耶和华，大能的上帝耶和华，祂知道一切！以色列人也当知道！如果我们做了违背或干犯耶和华的事，愿祂今天就不放过我们！ 23 如果我们离弃耶和华，为自己造祭坛，或是在坛上献燔祭、素祭和平安祭，愿耶和华亲自惩罚我们。 24 我们这样做是怕以后你们的子孙可能会对我们的子孙说，‘你们和以色列的上帝耶和华有什么关系？ 25 耶和华把约旦河定为我们跟你们吕便和迦得人的边界，你们与耶和华一点关系也没有。’这样，恐怕你们的子孙会使我们的子孙不再敬畏耶和华。 26 因此，我们便商议在这里筑一座祭坛，这坛不是用来献燔祭或别的祭， 27 只是在你们和我们之间，也在彼此的后人之间立个证据，证明我们也献燔祭、平安祭及其他祭事奉耶和华，免得日后你们的子孙对我们的子孙说，‘你们与耶和华一点关系也没有。’ 28 万一你们对我们或我们的子孙这样说，我们可以回答说，‘你们看我们祖先筑的这座祭坛跟耶和华的祭坛一模一样，只是这座坛不是用来献燔祭或别的祭，而是作为你们和我们之间的证据！’ 29 我们根本无意背叛、离弃我们的上帝耶和华，在祂圣幕前的祭坛以外另筑祭坛来献燔祭、素祭和别的祭。”
30 祭司非尼哈和以色列会众的族长听了他们的解释，都很满意。 31 以利亚撒的儿子祭司非尼哈对他们说：“今日我们知道耶和华在我们当中，因为你们没有对耶和华不忠，现在你们使以色列人免遭耶和华的惩罚了。”
32 以利亚撒的儿子非尼哈祭司和众族长便离开吕便人和迦得人，从基列回到迦南向以色列人报告这事。 33 大家听后，都很满意，便颂赞耶和华，打消了出兵讨伐吕便人和迦得人、毁灭他们家园的念头。
34 吕便和迦得人给那座祭坛取名叫“证坛”，意思是这坛在我们中间证明耶和华是上帝。
Joshua 22
Evangelical Heritage Version
Dismissal of the Transjordan Tribes
22 Joshua summoned the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh. 2 He said to them, “You have carried out everything that Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded you, and you have obeyed my voice in everything that I commanded you. 3 You have not forsaken your brothers for many days[a] now, right up till today, and you have carried out the commands of the Lord your God. 4 Now the Lord your God has given rest to your brothers, just as he promised them. So now return to your tents, to the land assigned as your possession, which Moses, the servant of the Lord, gave to you east of the Jordan. 5 But be very careful to follow the commandment and teaching that Moses, the servant of the Lord, decreed to you, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to keep his commandments, to cling to him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.”
6 Then Joshua blessed them and dismissed them, and they went to their tents. 7 (To the half tribe of Manasseh Moses had made a grant of land in Bashan, and to the other half of that tribe Joshua had made a grant among their brothers west of the Jordan.) So when Joshua dismissed them to their tents, he blessed them 8 and said to them, “Return to your tents with very great wealth—with large herds of livestock, with silver, gold, bronze, and iron, and with a lot of clothing. Divide the plunder taken from your enemies with your brother Israelites.”
9 So the descendants of Reuben, the descendants of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh set out to return home. They left the people of Israel at Shiloh in the land of Canaan to travel to the land of Gilead, to the land assigned as their possession, which they had acquired there by the word of the Lord through Moses.
The Threat of War
10 When they came to Geliloth by the Jordan, which is in the land of Canaan, the people of Reuben, the people of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh built an altar there by the Jordan, a conspicuously large altar. 11 The people of Israel heard about it and said, “See, the people of Reuben, the people of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh have built the altar on the frontier of the land of Canaan at Geliloth of the Jordan, on the side of the river that belongs to the people of Israel.” 12 When the people of Israel heard this, the whole commuity of the people of Israel gathered at Shiloh to go to war against them.
13 Then the people of Israel sent the priest Phinehas son of Eleazar to the people of Reuben, to the people of Gad, and to the half tribe of Manasseh in the land of Gilead. 14 Together with him they sent ten tribal leaders, a leader for each fathers’ house[b] for all the tribes of Israel. Each one was a head of his fathers’ house according to the divisions[c] of Israel.
15 They came to the people of Reuben, to the people of Gad, and to the half tribe of Manasseh in the land of Gilead, and they spoke with them. They said, 16 “This is what the whole community of the Lord has said: Why have you committed such an unfaithful act against the God of Israel by turning from the Lord today? When you built an altar for yourselves, you rebelled against the Lord today. 17 Was the sin of Peor so trivial—something from which we have not cleansed ourselves to this day, and for which a plague came on the community of the Lord— 18 so that today you have to turn away from the Lord? This is what will happen if you rebel against the Lord today: Tomorrow he will be furious against the whole community of Israel! 19 But by all means, if the land you have received as your possession is unclean, cross over to the Lord’s own land where the Dwelling of the Lord has its home and take your possession among us. But do not rebel against the Lord, and do not make us rebels by your act of building an altar for yourselves apart from the altar of the Lord our God! 20 When Achan son of Zerah acted unfaithfully in regard to the devoted things, did it not bring anger against the whole community of Israel? He was not the only one who perished because of his guilt!”
The Response of the Tribes
21 Then the people of Reuben, the people of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh responded to the heads of the divisions of Israel:
22 By God, the true God, the Lord! By God, the true God, the Lord![d] He knows, and Israel will know too. If we acted in rebellion or if we acted in unfaithfulness against the Lord, do not spare us this day. 23 If we acted to build an altar for ourselves to turn from the Lord, or if we acted to offer up burnt offerings or grain offerings on it, or if we acted to make sacrifices of fellowship offerings on it, let the Lord himself demand an accounting from us.
24 But in truth, we did this because we were concerned that in the future your children would say to our children, “What connection do you have to the Lord, the God of Israel? 25 The Lord placed a border between us and you people of Reuben and Gad, namely, the Jordan. You have no portion in the Lord.” Then your children would stop our children from fearing the Lord.
26 So we said, “Come on now, let us build an altar—but not for burnt offerings and not for sacrifice.” 27 Rather, it is to be a witness between us and you and between our generations after us concerning our right to perform the worship of the Lord before him by our burnt offerings, by our sacrifices, and by our fellowship offerings, so that your children cannot say in the future to our children, “You have no share in the Lord.”
28 So we said, “If they say that to us and to our generations in the future, then we will say, ‘Look at the replica of the altar of the Lord that our fathers made—but not for burnt offerings and not for sacrifice. Rather it is a witness between us and you.’”
29 Far be it from us to rebel[e] against the Lord and to turn today from the Lord by building an altar for burnt offerings, for grain offerings, or for fellowship offerings apart from the altar of the Lord our God that is in front of his dwelling.
War Avoided
30 Phinehas the priest heard this, as did the tribal leaders of the community and the heads of the divisions of the tribes of Israel who were with him. They heard the words that the people of Reuben, the people of Gad, and the people of Manasseh spoke, and they were pleased. 31 So Phinehas, son of Eleazar the priest, said to the people of Reuben, to the people of Gad, and to the people of Manasseh, “Today we know that the Lord is among us since you did not act unfaithfully against the Lord. Now you have saved the people of Israel from the hand of the Lord.”
32 So the priest Phinehas son of Eleazar and the leaders returned from the people of Reuben and Gad in the land of Gilead to the people of Israel in the land of Canaan, and they brought them a report. 33 The report pleased the people of Israel, so the people of Israel blessed God, and they did not say anything more about going to war against them to destroy the land that the people of Reuben and the people of Gad were living in.
34 The people of Reuben and the people of Gad named the altar “Witness” because they said, “It is a witness between us that the Lord is the one God.”
Footnotes
- Joshua 22:3 The many days amounted to about seven years.
- Joshua 22:14 Each successive generation of tribal elders were the fathers of that generation. The fathers’ house was a social division that seems to have been smaller than the tribe or clan but larger than the immediate family. The term, however, seems to have been used for more than one level of the social structure of Israel because of the importance of kinship and descent in Israel’s social structure.
- Joshua 22:14 Literally the thousands
- Joshua 22:22 The Hebrew oath has three divine names: El, Elohim, Yahweh.
- Joshua 22:29 Or may we be cursed if we rebel. The Hebrew expression refers to something that is profane or cursed.
Joshua 22
Christian Standard Bible Anglicised
Eastern Tribes Return Home
22 Joshua summoned the Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh 2 and told them, ‘You have done everything Moses the Lord’s servant commanded you(A) and have obeyed me in everything I commanded you. 3 You have not deserted your brothers even once this whole time but have carried out the requirement of the command of the Lord your God. 4 Now that he has given your brothers rest, just as he promised them, return to your homes in your own land that Moses the Lord’s servant gave you across the Jordan. 5 Only carefully obey the command and instruction that Moses the Lord’s servant gave you: to love the Lord your God, walk in all his ways, keep his commands, be loyal to him, and serve him with all your heart and all your soul.’(B)
6 Joshua blessed them and sent them on their way,(C) and they went to their homes. 7 Moses had given territory to half the tribe of Manasseh in Bashan, but Joshua had given territory to the other half,[a] with their brothers, on the west side of the Jordan.(D) When Joshua sent them to their homes and blessed them, 8 he said, ‘Return to your homes with great wealth: a huge number of cattle, and silver, gold, bronze, iron, and a large quantity of clothing. Share the spoil of your enemies with your brothers.’(E)
Eastern Tribes Build an Altar
9 The Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh left the Israelites at Shiloh in the land of Canaan to return to their own land of Gilead,(F) which they took possession of according to the Lord’s command through Moses. 10 When they came to the region of[b] the Jordan in the land of Canaan, the Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh built a large, impressive altar there by the Jordan.
11 Then the Israelites heard it said, ‘Look, the Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh have built an altar on the frontier of the land of Canaan at the region of[c] the Jordan, on the Israelite side.’ 12 When the Israelites heard this, the entire Israelite community assembled at Shiloh to go to war against them.(G)
Explanation of the Altar
13 The Israelites sent Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest to the Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead.(H) 14 They sent ten leaders with him – one family leader for each tribe of Israel. All of them were heads of their ancestral families among the clans of Israel.(I) 15 They went to the Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead, and told them, 16 ‘This is what the Lord’s entire community says: “What is this treachery you have committed today against the God of Israel by turning away from the Lord and building an altar for yourselves, so that you are in rebellion against the Lord today? 17 Wasn’t the iniquity of Peor,(J) which brought a plague on the Lord’s community, enough for us? We have not cleansed ourselves from it even to this day,(K) 18 and now would you turn away from the Lord? If you rebel against the Lord today, tomorrow he will be angry with the entire community of Israel.(L) 19 But if the land you possess is defiled, cross over to the land the Lord possesses where the Lord’s tabernacle stands, and take possession of it among us. But don’t rebel against the Lord or against us by building for yourselves an altar other than the altar of the Lord our God. 20 Wasn’t Achan son of Zerah unfaithful regarding what was set apart for destruction, bringing wrath on the entire community of Israel? He was not the only one who perished because of his iniquity.” ’(M)
21 The Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh answered the heads of the Israelite clans, 22 ‘The Mighty One, God, the Lord! The Mighty One, God, the Lord He knows,(O) and may Israel also know. Do not spare us today, if it was in rebellion or treachery against the Lord 23 that we have built for ourselves an altar to turn away from him. May the Lord himself hold us accountable if we intended to offer burnt offerings and grain offerings on it, or to sacrifice fellowship offerings on it. 24 We actually did this from a specific concern that in the future your descendants might say to our descendants, “What relationship do you have with the Lord, the God of Israel? 25 For the Lord has made the Jordan a border between us and you descendants of Reuben and Gad. You have no share in the Lord! ” So your descendants may cause our descendants to stop fearing the Lord.
26 ‘Therefore we said: Let’s take action and build an altar for ourselves, but not for burnt offering or sacrifice. 27 Instead, it is to be a witness between us and you,(P) and between the generations after us, so that we may carry out the worship of the Lord in his presence with our burnt offerings, sacrifices, and fellowship offerings.(Q) Then in the future, your descendants will not be able to say to our descendants, “You have no share in the Lord! ” 28 We thought that if they said this to us or to our generations in the future, we would reply: Look at the replica of the Lord’s altar that our ancestors made, not for burnt offering or sacrifice, but as a witness between us and you. 29 We would never ever rebel against the Lord or turn away from him today by building an altar for burnt offering, grain offering, or sacrifice, other than the altar of the Lord our God, which is in front of his tabernacle.’
Conflict Resolved
30 When the priest Phinehas and the community leaders, the heads of Israel’s clans who were with him, heard what the descendants of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh had to say, they were pleased. 31 Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest said to the descendants of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh, ‘Today we know that the Lord is among us, because you have not committed this treachery against him.(R) As a result, you have rescued the Israelites from the Lord’s power.’
32 Then the priest Phinehas son of Eleazar and the leaders returned from the Reubenites and Gadites in the land of Gilead to the Israelites in the land of Canaan and brought back a report to them. 33 The Israelites were pleased with the report, and they blessed God.(S) They spoke no more about going to war against them to ravage the land where the Reubenites and Gadites lived. 34 So the Reubenites and Gadites named the altar: It[e] is a witness between us that the Lord is God.
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