An Altar by the Jordan

¹⁰ And when they came to the region of the Jordan which is in the land of Canaan, the children of Reuben, the children of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh built an altar there by the Jordan—a great, impressive altar.

²⁶ Then Joshua ^(A)wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God. And he took ^(B)a large stone, and ^(C)set it up there ^(D)under the oak that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. ²⁷ And Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, this stone shall be ^(E)a witness to us, for ^(F)it has heard all the words of the Lord which He spoke to us. It shall therefore be a witness to you, lest you deny your God.”

²⁵ For the Lord has made the Jordan a border between you and us, you children of Reuben and children of Gad. You have no part in the Lord.” So your descendants would make our descendants cease fearing the Lord.’ ²⁶ Therefore we said, ‘Let us now prepare to build ourselves an altar, not for burnt offering nor for sacrifice, ²⁷ but that it may be ^(A)a ^[a]witness between you and us and our generations after us, that we may ^(B)perform the service of the Lord before Him with our burnt offerings, with our sacrifices, and with our peace offerings; that your descendants may not say to our descendants in time to come, “You have no part in the Lord.” ’ ²⁸ Therefore we said that it will be, when they say this to us or to our generations in time to come, that we may say, ‘Here is the replica of the altar of the Lord which our fathers made, though not for burnt offerings nor for sacrifices; but it is a witness between you and us.’

⁵ and Joshua said to them: “Cross over before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan, and each one of you take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, ⁶ that this may be ^(A)a sign among you ^(B)when your children ask in time to come, saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ ⁷ Then you shall answer them that ^(C)the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord; when it crossed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. And these stones shall be for ^(D)a memorial to the children of Israel forever.”

⁸ And the children of Israel did so, just as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones from the midst of the Jordan, as the Lord had spoken to Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, and carried them over with them to the place where they lodged, and laid them down there. ⁹ Then Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests who bore the ark of the covenant stood; and they are there to this day.

⁴⁶ Then Jacob said to his brethren, “Gather stones.” And they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there on the heap. ⁴⁷ Laban called it ^[a]Jegar Sahadutha, but Jacob called it ^[b]Galeed. ⁴⁸ And Laban said, ^(A)“This heap is a witness between you and me this day.” Therefore its name was called Galeed, ⁴⁹ also ^(B)Mizpah,^[c] because he said, “May the Lord watch between you and me when we are absent one from another. ⁵⁰ If you afflict my daughters, or if you take other wives besides my daughters, although no man is with us—see, God is witness between you and me!”

⁵¹ Then Laban said to Jacob, “Here is this heap and here is this pillar, which I have placed between you and me. ⁵² This heap is a witness, and this pillar is a witness, that I will not pass beyond this heap to you, and you will not pass beyond this heap and this pillar to me, for harm.

¹⁸ Then Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put at his head, ^(A)set it up as a pillar, ^(B)and poured oil on top of it.