²¹ Then the tribes of Reuben and Gad and half of the tribe of Manasseh replied. They answered the leaders of the family groups of Israel. ²² They said, “The Mighty One, God, the Lord! The Mighty One, God, the Lord! He knows! And we want Israel to know! Have we opposed the Lord? Have we refused to obey him? If we have, don’t spare us today. ²³ Have we built our own altar so we can turn away from the Lord? Have we built it to offer burnt offerings and grain offerings on it? Have we built it to sacrifice friendship offerings on it? If we have, may the Lord himself hold us accountable.

²⁴ “No! We built it because we were afraid. Someday your children might speak to our children. We were afraid they might say, ‘What do you have to do with the Lord? What do you have to do with the God of Israel? ²⁵ The Lord has made the Jordan River a border between us and you. You people of Reuben! You people of Gad! You don’t have anything to do with the Lord.’ If your children say that, they might cause our children to stop worshiping the Lord.

²⁶ “That’s why we said to ourselves, ‘Let’s get ready and build an altar. But let’s not build it to offer burnt offerings or sacrifices on it.’ ²⁷ So just the opposite is true. The altar will be a witness between us and you. It will be a witness between our children and yours after us. It will also be a witness that we will worship the Lord at his sacred tent. We’ll worship him there with our burnt offerings, sacrifices and friendship offerings. Then in days to come your children won’t be able to say to ours, ‘You don’t have anything to do with the Lord.’

²⁸ “So we said to ourselves, ‘Suppose they say that to us sometime. Or suppose they say it to our children after us. Then we’ll answer, “Look at this altar. It’s exactly like the Lord’s altar. Our people built it. They didn’t build it to offer burnt offerings and sacrifices on it. Instead, they built it to be a witness between us and you.” ’

²⁹ “We would never refuse to obey the Lord. We would never turn away from him now. We wouldn’t build an altar to offer burnt offerings, grain offerings and sacrifices on it. We wouldn’t use any altar other than the altar of the Lord our God. That altar stands in front of his holy tent.”

³⁰ Phinehas the priest heard what the tribes of Reuben, Gad and Manasseh had to say. The leaders of the family groups of the community of Israel heard it too. All of them were pleased with what they heard. ³¹ Phinehas the priest spoke to the tribes of Reuben, Gad and Manasseh. Phinehas was the son of Eleazar. He said, “Today we know that the Lord is with us. That’s because you have been faithful to him in this matter. Now you have saved the Israelites from the Lord’s anger against them.”

³² Then Phinehas the priest, the son of Eleazar, returned to Canaan. So did the leaders. All of them went back from their meeting with the tribes of Reuben and Gad in Gilead. They brought a report back to the Israelites. ³³ The people were glad to hear the report. They praised God. They didn’t talk anymore about going to war against the eastern tribes. And they didn’t talk anymore about destroying the country where the tribes of Reuben and Gad lived.

³⁴ The tribes of Reuben and Gad gave the altar a name. They called it A Witness Between Us that the Lord is God.

Joshua Says Goodbye to the Leaders

23 A long time had passed. The Lord had given Israel peace and rest from all their enemies around them. By that time Joshua was very old. ² So he sent for all the elders, leaders, judges and officials of Israel. He said to them, “I’m very old. ³ You yourselves have seen everything the Lord your God has done. You have seen what he’s done to all these nations because of you. The Lord your God fought for you. ⁴ Remember how I’ve given you all the land of the nations that remain here. I’ve given each of your tribes a share of it. It’s the land of the nations I conquered. It’s between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea in the west. ⁵ The Lord your God himself will drive those nations out of your way. He will push them out to make room for you. You will take over their land, just as the Lord your God promised you.

⁶ “Be very strong. Be careful to obey everything written in the Book of the Law of Moses. Don’t turn away from it to the right or the left. ⁷ Don’t have anything to do with the nations that remain among you. Don’t use the names of their gods for any reason at all. Don’t give your word and make promises in their names. You must not serve them. You must not bow down to them. ⁸ You must remain true to the Lord your God, just as you have done until now.

⁹ “The Lord has driven out great and powerful nations to make room for you. To this day no one has been able to fight against you and win. ¹⁰ One of you can chase a thousand away. That’s because the Lord your God fights for you, just as he promised he would. ¹¹ So be very careful to love the Lord your God.

¹² “But suppose you turn away from him. You mix with the people who are left alive in the nations that remain among you. Later, you and they get married to each other. And you do other kinds of things with them. ¹³ Then you can be sure of what the Lord your God will do. He won’t drive out those nations to make room for you anymore. Instead, they will become traps and snares for you. They will be like whips on your backs. They will be like thorns in your eyes. All that will continue until you are destroyed. It will continue until you are removed from this good land. It’s the land the Lord your God has given you.

¹⁴ “Now I’m about to die, just as everyone else on earth does. The Lord your God has kept all the good promises he gave you. Every one of them has come true. Not one has failed to come true. And you know that with all your heart and soul. ¹⁵ Every good thing has come to pass that the Lord your God has promised you. So you know that he can also bring against you all the evil things he has warned you about. He’ll do it until he has destroyed you. He’ll do it until he has removed you from this good land. It’s the land he has given you. ¹⁶ Suppose you break the covenant the Lord your God made with you. He commanded you to obey it. But suppose you go and serve other gods. And you bow down to them. Then the Lord will be very angry with you. You will quickly be destroyed. You will be removed from the good land he has given you.”

Marriage When the Dead Rise

²⁷ The Sadducees do not believe that people rise from the dead. Some of them came to Jesus with a question. ²⁸ “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us about a man’s brother who dies. Suppose the brother leaves a wife but has no children. Then the man must marry the widow. He must provide children to carry on his dead brother’s name. ²⁹ There were seven brothers. The first one married a woman. He died without leaving any children. ³⁰ The second one married her. ³¹ And then the third one married her. One after another, the seven brothers married her. They all died. None left any children. ³² Finally, the woman died too. ³³ Now then, when the dead rise, whose wife will she be? All seven brothers were married to her.”

³⁴ Jesus replied, “People in this world get married. And their parents give them to be married. ³⁵ But it will not be like that when the dead rise. Those who are considered worthy to take part in the world to come won’t get married. And their parents won’t give them to be married. ³⁶ They can’t die anymore. They are like the angels. They are God’s children. They will be given a new form of life when the dead rise. ³⁷ Remember the story of Moses and the burning bush. Even Moses showed that the dead rise. The Lord said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham. I am the God of Isaac. And I am the God of Jacob.’ (Exodus 3:6) ³⁸ He is not the God of the dead. He is the God of the living. In his eyes, everyone is alive.”

³⁹ Some of the teachers of the law replied, “You have spoken well, teacher!” ⁴⁰ And no one dared to ask him any more questions.

Whose Son Is the Messiah?

⁴¹ Jesus said to them, “Why do people say that the Messiah is the son of David? ⁴² David himself says in the Book of Psalms,

⁴⁴ David calls him ‘Lord.’ So how can he be David’s son?”

Warning Against the Teachers of the Law

⁴⁵ All the people were listening. Jesus said to his disciples, ⁴⁶ “Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in long robes. They love to be greeted with respect in the market. They love to have the most important seats in the synagogues. They also love to have the places of honor at banquets. ⁴⁷ They take over the houses of widows. They say long prayers to show off. God will punish these men very much.”