Joshua 22

New International Version

Eastern Tribes Return Home

22 Then Joshua summoned the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh ²and said to them, “You have done all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded,^(A) and you have obeyed me in everything I commanded. ³For a long time now—to this very day—you have not deserted your fellow Israelites but have carried out the mission the Lord your God gave you. ⁴Now that the Lord your God has given them rest^(B) as he promised, return to your homes^(C) in the land that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you on the other side of the Jordan.^(D) ⁵But be very careful to keep the commandment^(E) and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you: to love the Lord^(F) your God, to walk in obedience to him, to keep his commands,^(G) to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.^(H)”

⁶Then Joshua blessed^(I) them and sent them away, and they went to their homes. ⁷(To the half-tribe of Manasseh Moses had given land in Bashan,^(J) and to the other half of the tribe Joshua gave land on the west side^(K) of the Jordan along with their fellow Israelites.) When Joshua sent them home, he blessed them,^(L) ⁸saying, “Return to your homes with your great wealth—with large herds of livestock,^(M) with silver, gold, bronze and iron,^(N) and a great quantity of clothing—and divide^(O) the plunder^(P) from your enemies with your fellow Israelites.”

⁹So the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh left the Israelites at Shiloh^(Q) in Canaan to return to Gilead,^(R) their own land, which they had acquired in accordance with the command of the Lord through Moses.

¹⁰When they came to Geliloth^(S) near the Jordan in the land of Canaan, the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an imposing altar^(T) there by the Jordan. ¹¹And when the Israelites heard that they had built the altar on the border of Canaan at Geliloth near the Jordan on the Israelite side, ¹²the whole assembly of Israel gathered at Shiloh^(U) to go to war against them.

¹³So the Israelites sent Phinehas^(V) son of Eleazar,^(W) the priest, to the land of Gilead—to Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh. ¹⁴With him they sent ten of the chief men, one from each of the tribes of Israel, each the head of a family division among the Israelite clans.^(X)

¹⁵When they went to Gilead—to Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh—they said to them: ¹⁶“The whole assembly of the Lord says: ‘How could you break faith^(Y) with the God of Israel like this? How could you turn away from the Lord and build yourselves an altar in rebellion^(Z) against him now? ¹⁷Was not the sin of Peor^(AA) enough for us? Up to this very day we have not cleansed ourselves from that sin, even though a plague fell on the community of the Lord! ¹⁸And are you now turning away from the Lord?

“‘If you rebel against the Lord today, tomorrow he will be angry with the whole community^(AB) of Israel. ¹⁹If the land you possess is defiled, come over to the Lord’s land, where the Lord’s tabernacle^(AC) stands, and share the land with us. But do not rebel against the Lord or against us by building an altar^(AD) for yourselves, other than the altar of the Lord our God. ²⁰When Achan son of Zerah was unfaithful in regard to the devoted things,^[a]^(AE) did not wrath^(AF) come on the whole community^(AG) of Israel? He was not the only one who died for his sin.’”^(AH)

²¹Then Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh replied to the heads of the clans of Israel: ²²“The Mighty One, God, the Lord! The Mighty One, God,^(AI) the Lord!^(AJ) He knows!^(AK) And let Israel know! If this has been in rebellion or disobedience to the Lord, do not spare us this day. ²³If we have built our own altar to turn away from the Lord and to offer burnt offerings and grain offerings,^(AL) or to sacrifice fellowship offerings on it, may the Lord himself call us to account.^(AM)

²⁴“No! We did it for fear that some day your descendants might say to ours, ‘What do you have to do with the Lord, the God of Israel? ²⁵The Lord has made the Jordan a boundary between us and you—you Reubenites and Gadites! You have no share in the Lord.’ So your descendants might cause ours to stop fearing the Lord.

²⁶“That is why we said, ‘Let us get ready and build an altar—but not for burnt offerings or sacrifices.’ ²⁷On the contrary, it is to be a witness^(AN) between us and you and the generations that follow, that we will worship the Lord at his sanctuary with our burnt offerings, sacrifices and fellowship offerings.^(AO) Then in the future your descendants will not be able to say to ours, ‘You have no share in the Lord.’

²⁸“And we said, ‘If they ever say this to us, or to our descendants, we will answer: Look at the replica of the Lord’s altar, which our ancestors built, not for burnt offerings and sacrifices, but as a witness^(AP) between us and you.’

²⁹“Far be it from us to rebel^(AQ) against the Lord and turn away from him today by building an altar for burnt offerings, grain offerings and sacrifices, other than the altar of the Lord our God that stands before his tabernacle.^(AR)”

³⁰When Phinehas the priest and the leaders of the community—the heads of the clans of the Israelites—heard what Reuben, Gad and Manasseh had to say, they were pleased. ³¹And Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, said to Reuben, Gad and Manasseh, “Today we know that the Lord is with us,^(AS) because you have not been unfaithful to the Lord in this matter. Now you have rescued the Israelites from the Lord’s hand.”

³²Then Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, and the leaders returned to Canaan from their meeting with the Reubenites and Gadites in Gilead and reported to the Israelites.^(AT) ³³They were glad to hear the report and praised God.^(AU) And they talked no more about going to war against them to devastate the country where the Reubenites and the Gadites lived.

³⁴And the Reubenites and the Gadites gave the altar this name: A Witness^(AV) Between Us—that the Lord is God.

Footnotes

Joshua 22:20 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them.

John 4:1-26

New International Version

Jesus Talks With a Samaritan Woman

4 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John^(A)— ²although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. ³So he left Judea^(B) and went back once more to Galilee.

⁴Now he had to go through Samaria.^(C) ⁵So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph.^(D) ⁶Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.

⁷When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?”^(E) ⁸(His disciples had gone into the town^(F) to buy food.)

⁹The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan^(G) woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.^[a])

¹⁰Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”^(H)

¹¹“Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? ¹²Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well^(I) and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”

¹³Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst.^(J) Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water^(K) welling up to eternal life.”^(L)

¹⁵The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty^(M) and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

¹⁶He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”

¹⁷“I have no husband,” she replied.

Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. ¹⁸The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

¹⁹“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet.^(N) ²⁰Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain,^(O) but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”^(P)

²¹“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming^(Q) when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.^(R) ²²You Samaritans worship what you do not know;^(S) we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.^(T) ²³Yet a time is coming and has now come^(U) when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit^(V) and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. ²⁴God is spirit,^(W) and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”