³¹ So Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said to the people of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh, “Today we know that the Lord is among us, because you haven’t done a disrespectful thing against the Lord. Now you’ve delivered the Israelites from the power of the Lord.” ³² Then Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest and the leaders left the people of Reuben and Gad in the land of Gilead and came back to the Israelites in the land of Canaan. They brought word back to them. ³³ The Israelites agreed and blessed God. They no longer spoke of going to war against them to destroy the land where the people of Reuben and Gad were living. ³⁴ The people of Reuben and Gad referred to the altar in this way: “It is a witness between us that the Lord is God.”

Joshua’s word of warning

23 A long time passed. The Lord had given rest to Israel from all their surrounding enemies, and Joshua had grown very old. ² Joshua summoned all Israel, their elders, their heads, their judges, and their officers. He said to them, “I’ve grown very old. ³ You’ve seen all that the Lord your God has done to all these nations because of you. It is the Lord your God who fights for you. ⁴ Look. I’ve allotted to you these remaining nations as a legacy for your tribes, along with all the nations I have destroyed. They stretch from the Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea. ⁵ The Lord your God will force them out before you and remove them from you. Then you will take over their land, exactly as the Lord your God has promised you. ⁶ Be very strong. Carefully obey everything written in the Instruction scroll from Moses. Don’t deviate a bit from it either to the right or to the left.