Joshua 22
Contemporary English Version
The Two and a Half Tribes Return Home
22 Joshua held a meeting with the men of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh, and he told them:
2-3 (A) You have obeyed every command of the Lord your God and of his servant Moses. And you have done everything I've told you to do. It's taken a long time, but you have stayed and helped your relatives. 4 The Lord promised to give peace to your relatives, and that's what he has done. Now it's time for you to go back to your own homes in the land that Moses gave you east of the Jordan River.
5 Moses taught you to love the Lord your God, to be faithful to him, and to worship and obey him with your whole heart and with all your strength. So be very careful to do everything Moses commanded.
6-9 You've become rich from what you've taken from your enemies. You have big herds of cattle, lots of silver, gold, bronze, and iron, and plenty of clothes. Take everything home with you and share with the people of your tribe.
I pray that God will be kind to you. You are now free to go home.
The tribes of Reuben and Gad started back to Gilead, their own land. Moses had given the land of Bashan to the East Manasseh tribe, so they started back along with Reuben and Gad. God had told Moses that these two and a half tribes should conquer Gilead and Bashan, and they had done so.
Joshua had given land west of the Jordan River to the other half of the Manasseh tribe, so they stayed at Shiloh in the land of Canaan with the rest of the Israelites.
10-11 The tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh reached the western side of the Jordan River valley[a] and built a huge altar there beside the river.
When the rest of the Israelites heard what these tribes had done,[b] 12 the Israelite men met at Shiloh to get ready to attack the two and a half tribes. 13 But first they sent a priest, Phinehas the son of Eleazar, to talk with the two and a half tribes. 14 Each of the ten tribes at Shiloh sent the leader of one of its families along with Phinehas.
15 Phinehas and these leaders went to Gilead and met with the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh. They said:
16 (B) All of the Lord's people have gathered together and have sent us to find out why you are unfaithful to our God. You have turned your backs on the Lord by building that altar. Why are you rebelling against him? 17 (C) Wasn't our people's sin at Peor[c] terrible enough for you? The Lord punished us by sending a horrible sickness that killed many of us, and we still suffer because of that sin.[d] 18 Now you are turning your backs on the Lord again.
If you don't stop rebelling against the Lord at once, he will be angry with the whole nation. 19 If you don't think your land is a fit place to serve God, then move across the Jordan and live with us in the Lord's own land, where his sacred tent is located. But don't rebel against the Lord our God or against us by building another altar besides the Lord's own altar.[e] 20 (D) Don't you remember what happened when Achan was unfaithful[f] and took some of the things that belonged to God? This made God angry with the entire nation. Achan died because he sinned, but he also caused the death of many others.
21 The tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh answered:
22 The Lord is the greatest God! We ask him to be our witness, because he knows whether or not we were rebellious or unfaithful when we built that altar. If we were unfaithful, then we pray that God won't rescue us today. Let us tell you why we built that altar, 23 and we ask the Lord to punish us if we are lying. We didn't build it so we could turn our backs on the Lord. We didn't even build it so we could offer animal or grain sacrifices to please the Lord or ask his blessing.
24-25 We built that altar because we were worried. Someday your descendants might tell our descendants, “The Lord made the Jordan River the boundary between us Israelites and you people of Reuben and Gad. The Lord is Israel's God, but you're not part of Israel, so you can't take part in worshiping the Lord.”
Your descendants might say that and try to make our descendants stop worshiping and obeying the Lord. 26 That's why we decided to build the altar. It isn't for offering sacrifices, not even sacrifices to please the Lord.[g] 27-29 To build another altar for offering sacrifices would be the same as turning our backs on the Lord and rebelling against him. We could never do that! No, we built the altar to remind us and you and the generations to come that we will worship the Lord. And so we will keep bringing our sacrifices to the Lord's altar, there in front of his sacred tent. Now your descendants will never be able to say to our descendants, “You can't worship the Lord.”
But if they do say this, our descendants can answer back, “Look at this altar our ancestors built! It's like the Lord's altar, but it isn't for offering sacrifices. It's here to remind us and you that we belong to the Lord, just as much as you do.”
30-31 Phinehas and the clan leaders were pleased when they heard the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh explain why they had built the altar. Then Phinehas told them, “Today we know that the Lord is helping us. You have not been unfaithful to him, and this means that the Lord will not be angry with us.”
32 Phinehas and the clan leaders left Gilead and went back to Canaan to tell the Israelites about their meeting with the Reuben and Gad tribes. 33 The Israelites were happy and praised God. There was no more talk about going to war and wiping out the tribes of Reuben and Gad.
34 The people of Reuben and Gad named the altar “A Reminder to Us All That the Lord Is Our God.”[h]
Footnotes
- 22.10,11 western … valley: Or “the town of Geliloth, which is in the land of Canaan near the Jordan River.”
- 22.10,11 built a huge altar … tribes had done: According to Deuteronomy 12.5-14, the Lord wanted the Israelites to have only one altar for offering sacrifices. To build another altar would be to disobey the Lord.
- 22.17 our people's sin at Peor: See Numbers 25.
- 22.17 we still … sin: Or “There are still people in Israel who want to worship other gods.”
- 22.19 or against … altar: Or “by building another altar besides the Lord's own altar. That would even make us into rebels along with you.”
- 22.20 Achan was unfaithful: See 7.1,26.
- 22.26 sacrifices to please the Lord: See the note at 8.30-32.
- 22.34 named … God: Or “gave a name to the altar. They explained, ‘This altar is here to remind us all that the Lord is our God’ ”; most Hebrew manuscripts. A few Hebrew manuscripts and one ancient translation “named the altar ‘Reminder.’ They explained, ‘This altar is here to remind us all that the Lord is our God.’ ”
Joshua 22
New English Translation
Joshua Sends Home the Eastern Tribes
22 Then Joshua summoned the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh 2 and told them: “You have carried out all the instructions of Moses the Lord’s servant, and you have obeyed all I have told you.[a] 3 You have not abandoned your fellow Israelites[b] this entire time,[c] right up to this very day. You have completed the task given you by the Lord your God.[d] 4 Now the Lord your God has made your fellow Israelites secure,[e] just as he promised them. So now you may turn around and go to your homes[f] in your own land[g] that Moses the Lord’s servant assigned to you east of the Jordan. 5 But carefully obey the commands and instructions Moses the Lord’s servant gave you. Love[h] the Lord your God, follow all his instructions,[i] obey[j] his commands, be loyal to him,[k] and serve him with all your heart and being!”[l]
6 Joshua rewarded[m] them and sent them on their way; they returned to their homes.[n] 7 (Now to one half-tribe of Manasseh, Moses had assigned land in Bashan; and to the other half Joshua had assigned land on the west side of the Jordan with their fellow Israelites.) When Joshua sent them home,[o] he rewarded[p] them, 8 saying, “Take home[q] great wealth, a lot of cattle,[r] silver, gold, bronze, iron, and a lot of[s] clothing. Divide up the goods captured from your enemies with your brothers.” 9 So the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh left the Israelites in Shiloh in the land of Canaan and headed home to their own land in Gilead,[t] which they acquired by the Lord’s command through Moses.
Civil War is Averted
10 The Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh came to Geliloth near the Jordan in the land of Canaan and built there, near the Jordan, an impressive altar.[u] 11 The Israelites received this report:[v] “Look, the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built an altar at the entrance to[w] the land of Canaan, at Geliloth near the Jordan on the Israelite side.” 12 When the Israelites heard this, the entire Israelite community assembled at Shiloh to launch an attack against them.[x]
13 The Israelites sent Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, to the land of Gilead to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. 14 He was accompanied by ten leaders, one from each of the Israelite tribes, each one a family leader among the Israelite clans.[y] 15 They went to the land of Gilead to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, and said to them: 16 “The entire community of the Lord says, ‘Why have you disobeyed the God of Israel by turning back today from following the Lord? You built an altar for yourselves and have rebelled today against the Lord.[z] 17 The sin we committed at Peor was bad enough. To this very day we have not purified ourselves; it even brought a plague on the community of the Lord.[aa] 18 Now today you dare to turn back[ab] from following the Lord! You are rebelling today against the Lord; tomorrow he may break out in anger against[ac] the entire community of Israel. 19 But if your own land[ad] is impure,[ae] cross over to the Lord’s own land,[af] where the Lord himself lives,[ag] and settle down among us.[ah] But don’t rebel against the Lord or us[ai] by building for yourselves an altar other than the altar of the Lord our God. 20 When Achan son of Zerah disobeyed the command about the city’s riches, the entire Israelite community was judged,[aj] though only one man had sinned. He most certainly died for his sin!’”[ak]
21 The Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered the leaders[al] of the Israelite clans: 22 “El, God, the Lord![am] El, God, the Lord! He knows the truth![an] Israel must also know! If we have rebelled or disobeyed the Lord,[ao] don’t spare us[ap] today! 23 If we have built[aq] an altar for ourselves to turn back from following the Lord by making[ar] burnt sacrifices and grain offerings on it, or by offering[as] tokens of peace[at] on it, the Lord himself will punish us.[au] 24 We swear we have done this because we were worried that[av] in the future your descendants would say to our descendants, ‘What relationship do you have with the Lord God of Israel?[aw] 25 The Lord made the Jordan a boundary between us and you Reubenites and Gadites. You have no right to worship the Lord.’[ax] In this way your descendants might cause our descendants to stop obeying[ay] the Lord. 26 So we decided to build this altar, not for burnt offerings and sacrifices, 27 but as a reminder to us and you[az] and our descendants who follow us, that we will honor the Lord in his very presence[ba] with burnt offerings, sacrifices, and tokens of peace.[bb] Then in the future your descendants will not be able to say to our descendants, ‘You have no right to worship the Lord.’[bc] 28 We said, ‘If in the future they say such a thing[bd] to us or to our descendants, we will reply, “See the model of the Lord’s altar that our ancestors[be] made, not for burnt offerings or sacrifices, but as a reminder to us and you.”’[bf] 29 Far be it from us to rebel against the Lord by turning back today from following after the Lord by building an altar for burnt offerings, sacrifices, and tokens of peace[bg] aside from the altar of the Lord our God located in front of his dwelling place!”[bh]
30 When Phinehas the priest and the community leaders and Israel’s clan leaders who accompanied him heard the defense of the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the Manassehites,[bi] they were satisfied.[bj] 31 Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, said to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the Manassehites,[bk] “Today we know that the Lord is among us, because you have not disobeyed the Lord in this.[bl] Now[bm] you have rescued the Israelites from the Lord’s judgment.”[bn]
32 Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, and the leaders left the Reubenites and Gadites in the land of Gilead and reported back to the Israelites in the land of Canaan.[bo] 33 The Israelites were satisfied with their report and gave thanks to God.[bp] They said nothing more about launching an attack to destroy the land in which the Reubenites and Gadites lived.[bq] 34 The Reubenites and Gadites named the altar, “Surely it is a Reminder to us[br] that the Lord is God.”
Footnotes
- Joshua 22:2 tn Heb “You have kept all which Moses, the Lord’s servant, commanded you, and you have listened to my voice, to all which I commanded you.”
- Joshua 22:3 tn Heb “your brothers” (also in vv. 4, 7), but this does not refer to siblings or necessarily even to relatives. It refers to the Israelites of the remaining tribes.
- Joshua 22:3 tn Heb “these many days.”
- Joshua 22:3 tn Heb “you have kept the charge of the command of the Lord your God.”
- Joshua 22:4 tn Heb “has given rest to your brothers.”
- Joshua 22:4 tn Heb “tents.”
- Joshua 22:4 tn Heb “the land of your possession.”
- Joshua 22:5 tn Heb “But be very careful to do the commandment and the law which Moses, the Lord’s servant, commanded you, to love.”
- Joshua 22:5 tn Heb “walk in all his paths.”
- Joshua 22:5 tn Or “keep.”
- Joshua 22:5 tn Heb “hug him.”
- Joshua 22:5 tn Or “soul.”
- Joshua 22:6 tn Heb “blessed.” However, see v. 8, where rewards are given.
- Joshua 22:6 tn Heb “and they went to their tents.”
- Joshua 22:7 tn Heb “to their tents.”
- Joshua 22:7 tn Heb “blessed.”
- Joshua 22:8 tn Heb “return to your tents with.”
- Joshua 22:8 tn Heb “very many cattle.”
- Joshua 22:8 tn Heb “very much clothing.”
- Joshua 22:9 tn Heb “returned and went from the sons of Israel, from Shiloh which is in the land of Canaan, to go to the land of Gilead, to the land of their possession.”
- Joshua 22:10 tn Heb “and they went to Geliloth of the Jordan which is in the land of Canaan, and the sons of Reuben, the sons of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh built there an altar near the Jordan, an altar great with respect to appearance.”
- Joshua 22:11 tn Heb “the sons of Israel heard, saying.”
- Joshua 22:11 tn Heb “toward the front of.”
- Joshua 22:12 tn Heb “to go up against them for battle.”
- Joshua 22:14 tn Heb “ten leaders with him, one leader, one leader for a paternal house, for all the tribes of Israel, and each a head of the house of their father, they belong to the clans of Israel.”
- Joshua 22:16 tn Heb “What is this unfaithfulness with which you have been unfaithful against the God of Israel, turning today from after the Lord, when you built for yourselves an altar, rebelling today against the Lord?”
- Joshua 22:17 tn Heb “Was the sin of Peor too insignificant for us, from which we have not made purification to this day? And there was a plague in the assembly of the Lord.”
- Joshua 22:18 tn Heb “you are turning back.”
- Joshua 22:18 tn Or “he will be angry with.”
- Joshua 22:19 tn Heb “the land of your possession.”
- Joshua 22:19 sn The western tribes here imagine a possible motive for the action of the eastern tribes. T. C. Butler explains the significance of the land’s “impurity”: “East Jordan is impure because it is not Yahweh’s possession. Rather it is simply ‘your possession.’ That means it is land where Yahweh does not live, land which his presence has not sanctified and purified” (Joshua [WBC], 247).
- Joshua 22:19 tn Heb “the land of the possession of the Lord.”
- Joshua 22:19 tn Heb “where the dwelling place of the Lord resides.”sn The phrase where the Lord himself lives refers to the tabernacle.
- Joshua 22:19 tn Heb “and take for yourselves in our midst.”
- Joshua 22:19 tc Heb “and us to you rebel.” The reading of the MT, the accusative sign with suffix (וְאֹתָנוּ, veʾotanu), is problematic with the verb “rebel” (מָרַד, marad). Many Hebrew mss correctly read the negative particle אַל (ʾal) for the preposition אֶל (ʾel, “to”).
- Joshua 22:20 tn Heb “Is it not [true that] Achan son of Zerah was unfaithful with unfaithfulness concerning what was set apart [to the Lord] and against all the assembly of Israel there was anger?”
- Joshua 22:20 tn The second half of the verse reads literally, “and he [was] one man, he did not die for his sin.” There are at least two possible ways to explain this statement: (1) One might interpret the statement to mean that Achan was not the only person who died for his sin. In this case it could be translated, “and he was not the only one to die because of his sin.” (2) Another option, the one reflected in the translation, is to take the words וְהוּא אִישׁ אֶחָד (vehuʾ ʾish ʾekhad, “and he [was] one man”) as a concessive clause and join it with what precedes. The remaining words (לֹא גָוַע בַּעֲוֹנוֹ, loʾ gavaʿ baʿavono) must then be taken as a rhetorical question (“Did he not die for his sin?”). Taking the last sentence as interrogative is consistent with the first part of the verse, a rhetorical question introduced with the interrogative particle. The present translation has converted these rhetorical questions into affirmative statements to bring out more clearly the points they are emphasizing. For further discussion, see T. C. Butler, Joshua (WBC), 240.
- Joshua 22:21 tn Heb “answered and spoke to the heads of.”
- Joshua 22:22 sn Israel’s God is here identified with three names: (1) אֵל (ʾel), “El” (or “God”); (2) אֱלֹהִים (ʾelohim), “Elohim” (or “God”), and (3) יְהוָה (yehvah), “Yahweh” (or “the Lord”). The name אֵל (ʾel, “El”) is often compounded with titles, for example, El Elyon, “God Most High.”
- Joshua 22:22 tn Heb “he knows.”
- Joshua 22:22 tn Heb “if in rebellion or if in unfaithfulness against the Lord.”
- Joshua 22:22 tn Heb “do not save us.” The verb form is singular, being addressed to either collective Israel or the Lord himself. The LXX translates in the third person.
- Joshua 22:23 tn Heb “by building.” The prepositional phrase may be subordinated to what precedes, “if in unfaithfulness…by building.”
- Joshua 22:23 tn Heb “or if to offer up.”
- Joshua 22:23 tn Heb “or if to make.”
- Joshua 22:23 tn Or “peace offerings.”
- Joshua 22:23 tn Heb “the Lord, he will seek.” Perhaps this is a self-imprecation in an oath, “may the Lord himself punish us.”
- Joshua 22:24 tn Heb “Surely, from worry concerning a matter we have done this, saying.”
- Joshua 22:24 tn Heb “What is there to you and to the Lord God of Israel?” The rhetorical question is sarcastic in tone and anticipates a response, “Absolutely none!”
- Joshua 22:25 tn Heb “You have no portion in the Lord.”
- Joshua 22:25 tn Heb “fearing.”
- Joshua 22:27 tn Heb “but it is a witness between us and you.”
- Joshua 22:27 tn Heb “to do the service of the Lord before him.”
- Joshua 22:27 tn Or “peace offerings.”
- Joshua 22:27 tn Heb “You have no portion in the Lord.”
- Joshua 22:28 tn The words “such a thing” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
- Joshua 22:28 tn Heb “fathers.”
- Joshua 22:28 tn Heb “but it is a witness between us and you.”
- Joshua 22:29 tn Or “peace offerings.”
- Joshua 22:29 sn The Lord’s dwelling place here refers to the tabernacle.
- Joshua 22:30 tn Heb “the sons of Reuben, and the sons of Gad, and the sons of Manasseh.”
- Joshua 22:30 tn Heb “it was good in their eyes.”
- Joshua 22:31 tn Heb “the sons of Reuben, and the sons of Gad, and the sons of Manasseh.”
- Joshua 22:31 tn Heb “because you were not unfaithful with this unfaithfulness against the Lord.”
- Joshua 22:31 tn On the use of אָז (ʾaz) in a logical sense, see IBHS 667 §39.3.4f.
- Joshua 22:31 tn Heb “the hand (i.e., power) of the Lord.”
- Joshua 22:32 tn Heb “and Phinehas…returned from the sons of Reuben and from the sons of Gad, from the land of Gilead to the land of Canaan, to the sons of Israel. And they brought back to them a word.”
- Joshua 22:33 tn Heb “and the word was good in the eyes of the sons of Israel and the sons of Israel blessed God.”
- Joshua 22:33 tn Heb “and they did not speak about going up against them for battle to destroy the land in which the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad were living.”
- Joshua 22:34 tn Heb “a witness between us.”
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